School Closure: Lum Elementary Expected To Be Shuttered

ALAMEDA, CA — Alameda Unified School District staff will recommend that Lum Elementary be closed at the end of this school year and students be enrolled in other, nearby schools to protect their safety. A special Board of Education meeting will be held this Friday, April 28, at 6:30 p.m. A vote is planned on May 9.

The unexpected move comes after an engineering report indicated that during a strong earthquake the soil beneath the school would be subject to liquefaction, a process by which sandy or silty soils lose their strength during strong ground shaking and behave like a liquid. As a result, the safety of students and staff would be at risk.

The Lum community was told of the situation on Wednesday.

“I know this is terrible news to hear,” Superintendent Sean McPhetridge said. “Our schools are our communities, and Lum Elementary School is a fabulous community. But as staff we will be recommending closing the site in 2017-18 due to our concern for the safety of students and staff.”

The risk was discovered when the district was preparing to build a new classroom building on the Lum campus. The structural engineer determined the building could sink as much as 5 inches in a 100-year earthquake and become structurally unsafe.

The district ordered five more samples to be taken from around the Lum campus. Each sample came back with similar results, causing concern for the existing campus buildings. Peer review of the findings have confirmed that the Lum soil could be subject to liquefaction.

Board President Gary Lym said, “We are fully committed to doing everything in our power to make this process of fact-finding, community engagement, and decision-making as smooth as possible.”

Geotechnical engineers have tested the soil at several other AUSD campuses and found that earthquake-induced settlements do not pose safety concerns at those sites.

“I have seen this community pull together time and time again to take care of each other,” McPhetridge said. “If we all work together and support each other, I know we can get through this. We must work together deliberately and thoughtfully to face this challenge, and we must cooperate and coordinate our actions going forward to take care of our community and the Lum Elementary School families we serve.”

The district has set up a website with more detailed information on the issue here and will be adding to it over the next several weeks.

-Image via Google Street View