Quake Forces Renewed School Safety Planning

The Los Angeles Unified School District admitted on Friday that it is not fully prepared for a large earthquake with students on campus and said that officials will revamp disaster plans that left many schools without basic emergency provisions Jan. 17.

Assistant Supt. Francis Nakano called the earthquake a blessing in disguise that will force the huge district to pay more attention to emergency plans. He said more money will be sought to stock schools with supplies such as water, blankets and bandages that could be needed if many students were injured or stranded on campus.

Currently, schools with staff members or parents who made disaster preparation a high priority are the most likely to have adequate provisions. Schools where it was of less concern tend to lack many of the basics, in part because the Board of Education never set side money for earthquake preparations.

“We will be better off for it,” Nakano said of the Jan. 17 quake. “In the next few weeks or months, everyone will be ready (to handle a disaster) and be adequately prepared.”

Among the top priorities will be to bolster the district’s Office of Emergency Services, which for years has been a one-person operation with no budget, Nakano said.

“Now we are going to have to redirect some funds or reprioritize and we will put together an office,” he said, adding that the district will still have to seek donations for emergency supplies.

The quake damaged at least 1,500 classrooms at nearly 200 schools, and left some of those campuses heavily damaged and without power or communications. All schools were closed that day for the Martin Luther King holiday and remained closed for the week.

Although schools were ordered as recently as last year to obtain supplies and store enough water and food to supply students for 72 hours after a quake, no money was provided by the Board of Education to acquire provisions.

“We told the schools the district could not afford to buy all that stuff,” Supt. Sid Thompson said. “Remember, we are talking about a time when there was a question on our budget as to whether we were going to be solvent. . . . We talked to the state about giving us some money to buy equipment. We didn’t get it.”

Since the late 1980s, the district has been able to offer formal disaster training to only about 200 administrators in a giant system that includes 645 schools and about 30,000 teachers and principals. Some schools have independently obtained training for their staffs.

In 1988, the district provided basic first aid kits for every school, which even now constitute the bulk of disaster supplies on some campuses.

“I think all schools have some kind of supplies, but I am not at all impressed with the universality of having water, for example,” Thompson said. “Does every school have sufficient water? I don’t think so.”

Left to fend for themselves, most schools have relied on parents, or local businesses to obtain supplies. Some PTA chapters were formed solely to raise money for earthquake supplies.

Schools with the most active parents or with staffs motivated to prepare for earthquakes have written sophisticated emergency plans and amassed caches of supplies, complete with stretchers, wheelchairs and large quantities of food and water.

Others, however, have the bare minimum, with scant first aid and water supplies.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), author of a state law requiring schools to have detailed disaster plans, sharply criticized the Los Angeles district Friday.

“I would imagine if this had happened during school hours and there had been a significant loss of life or injuries, they would have a real hard time avoiding the liability simply by saying we did not have enough money to make (preparedness) a priority,” Katz said. “In my mind, safety should have the first call on funds.”

The spottiness of quake preparations was attacked this week by Helen Fallon, the chairwoman of a Parent Teacher Student Assn. disaster/earthquake preparedness committee, who testified at a hearing of the state Seismic Safety Commission in Van Nuys.

“How much longer do we parents have to put our children at risk every day that they attend a school that has not bothered to prepare for earthquakes?” said Fallon, who charged that first aid kits have been emptied, medicines are out date and equipment such as hard hats and crowbars is scarce.

“Frankly, how much longer do parents in this district have to listen to employees argue that preparedness does not need to be a priority at their school and that it is not their responsibility or obligation to prepare?”

State law requires that school disaster plans “maintain the safety and care of students and staffs.” Safety drills and staff training are also required.

Although state law does not require schools to be equipped with emergency supplies, Los Angeles district policy calls for schools to be able to care for at least some of their students for 72 hours.

To comply with the state law, the district requires every school to complete an eight-page, fill-in-the-blank form each year in which principals identify teams to handle first aid, search and rescue and fires.

Another district bulletin lists the emergency supplies that campuses should stockpile and offers a list of vendors that sell survival products, including tents, radios and body bags.

The district, however, does not certify the plans or check on supplies, citing a shortage of staff.

“After all the years we had in budget cuts we are squeezed down,” Nakano said. “We have a skeleton crew for everything.”

A survey will be conducted to determine the status of earthquake supplies and disaster plans at all schools, Nakano said. The district expects to complete the review in about a month.

The state law does not carry any punitive measures if schools are not in compliance. Katz said Friday that he is considering amending the law to take state funds away from school districts that are not adequately prepared.

Harriet Sculley, the president of the 31st District Parent Teacher Student Assn., which covers the San Fernando Valley, said she does not believe the organization should be the only provider of earthquake supplies.

“It does not seem appropriate that parents should be responsible for earthquake supplies in a public school system,” Sculley said. “If it’s needed, we’ll help out, of course, but we shouldn’t be solely responsible.”

Balboa Boulevard Gifted/High Ability Magnet’s parent committee stocked the school with walkie-talkies, stretchers, a wheelchair, search-and-rescue equipment, basic medical supplies, water and blankets.

“I’d say that every school needs about $5,000 worth of equipment to be fully prepared for three days,” said Gail Lang, a Balboa parent who is active in the preparedness program. “Unless there’s a real gung-ho mother demanding earthquake preparedness, it’s probably not going to be a priority.”

At Langdon Avenue Elementary in North Hills, the school has basic supplies--such as bandages and tape--but no storage container for tools or enough blankets for all students. Jacqueline Howard, the assistant principal, said she believes the school could ensure student safety in a quake but not keep students on campus for an extended time.

“It really depends on the emphasis put on it by the principal, the staff and the teachers,” Howard said. “There isn’t any district standard. If some schools opt not to do it, then there’s nothing.”

Board of Education President Leticia Quezada said she has found a worrisome disparity of quake supplies in her district, which stretches from the Eastside to the East Valley. Quezada said she will encourage the school board to fund earthquake preparedness during this spring’s budget deliberations, when school reform and restoration of the 10% pay cut imposed on teachers, among other things, will be competing for district dollars.

Quezada said she is concerned that schools in poor communities are not as well equipped as those in more affluent neighborhoods.

“It’s uneven and I’d like it to be even,” she said. “One way or another we have to have these provisions available for all our schools.”

Assistant Principal John Chernow of Paul Revere Middle School in Brentwood said the school is fortunate in having fund-raising events that have enabled it to buy a three-day supply of protein bars and water for every student.

“We don’t have to make choices between school supplies and quake supplies,” Chernow said.

But at Hollywood High, Assistant Principal Dick Rippey said the school is somewhat prepared, but not fully equipped. Supplies include flashlights, district-provided first aid kits and search equipment held in a cargo container.

The water supply for the 2,400 students, kept in two 55-gallon drums, is enough for 110 students for one day.

Principals and other staff members said that with severely limited funding, it is sometimes difficult to make earthquake preparedness a priority.

It is a low priority, Rippey said. “Naturally, improving test scores and improving your instructional curriculum is obviously No. 1 on your list and should be. You get down to other things, safety on campus . . . graffiti cleanup, campus beautification, where are you going to spend the money you have? (Preparedness) does get shoved down to the bottom.”

The Pasadena Unified School District spent about $160,000 on cargo containers of about 70 items, ranging from search and rescue equipment to whistles and dust masks. Employees are trained in disaster preparedness and the district currently is buying portable radios and batteries.

“My philosophy is the more you prepare, the better you can handle any emergency,” said Geraldyne Fillhart, Pasadena’s administrator for disaster preparedness. “You want it to be an automatic response.”

* RELATED QUAKE COVERAGE: A26, A29, B1-B2