Alameda school likely to close amid quake danger
An Alameda elementary school will probably close after the school year because structural engineers discovered the soil beneath it could liquefy during an earthquake, the district announced.
Engineers discovered the risk at Donald Lum Elementary School on Sandcreek Way in February during preparation for construction of a new classroom building.
They conducted more tests on the property and concluded the existing buildings could sink 5 inches and become structurally unsafe, said Alameda Unified Superintendent Sean McPhetridge.
“District staff will be recommending that Lum Elementary School be closed at the end of this school year and that Lum students be enrolled in other, nearby school sites to protect their safety,” McPhetridge said. “I know this is terrible news to hear.”
The school board was planning to listen to community reaction at a special meeting Friday night and vote on the closure May 9, said district spokeswoman Susan Davis.
After the tests at Lum, officials said, the district studied its other campuses. Soil at several schools was found to be subject to liquefaction — turning from solid to liquid — but the foundations at those schools were deemed adequate to withstand an earthquake. The buildings at Lum are a series of hexagonal “pods” built on a shallow slab foundation instead of deep piles.
Retrofitting Lum would not be cost-effective, Davis said, because buildings would have to be torn apart to install foundations. The board is expected to move Lum’s 500 students to four other elementary schools in Alameda starting in the fall.
The announcement rocked the close-knit school community. Some parents said they agreed with the need to close the school, while others said the district was in too great a hurry to do so, according to postings on the PTA website.
“Safety is obviously important, but if our school community can remain together, that’s equally as important to us,” wrote parent Joe Keiser. “We love Lum.”
Davis said the district was open to moving the entire school to a suitable site, but that no such site has been identified. The board could decide to delay or overrule the recommendation to close Lum, she added.
“It’s not a done deal until the board says it’s a done deal,” Davis said.
School principal Jesse Woodward said in a letter to parents and students that he is visiting each classroom to explain the crisis. He added that the district sent substitutes to the school to “relieve teachers who were having a hard time, (but) I am happy to report that teachers mostly refused the substitutes, preferring to stay in their classrooms with their students.”
On the school website, one kindergarten teacher posted a picture made by a student of four children divided by a black line. The caption said “dot spit as a prt” — which the teacher translated to “don’t split us apart.”
“When I heard this terrible news I almost started to cry,” wrote a third-grade student on the school website. “We need to find a solution to stop this.” Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle. com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF