California Educator - This Property Is Neglected

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This Property Is Neglected

Among the high school memories Smalley will carry with him the rest

of his life is the time a ceiling tile smacked him on the head during

history class.

" Yup, it fell right on my dome, " he says, patting the top of his blond buzz

cut.

The junior at C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento took a break from his

studies to point out that many of the ceiling tiles are also missing

overhead in the school library. The rest of the ceiling is water-stained. So

is the brown carpeting, which is moldy in spots.

The tile, water-logged with rain that leaked in, didn't really hurt much

when it hit him, says Smalley. But even at 16, he knows that it's a definite

sign his school is hurting for money.

" Our schools are falling apart, " he says, sounding a bit like Chicken

Little, who thought the sky was falling when an object hit her on the head.

Chicken Little was wrong, but Smalley isn't. California's schools, in some

cases, really are falling apart.

At McClatchy, for example, students in many classrooms must move their desks

to avoid the drips when it rains. Garbage cans have become water collectors.

And more than just staff and student morale is threatened.

Librarian Janet Bollinger says 115 books were lost when water fell on the

English section of the library. For the first time in her life, the

Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) member has developed asthma,

which she attributes to the moldy carpet. She has taught at McClatchy just

one year, and now must take daily medication to help her breathe.

" This summer, water poured all over my desk, " she recalls. To protect the

computers, she has purchased plastic tarps with her own money. She jokes

that her computers have raincoats. Other teachers in the district have made

similar investments, some even bringing pots and pans from home to catch the

dripping water.

" It never leaks in the same place twice, " says SCTA member Jim Herkenrath,

who teaches history at McClatchy. " You can move the buckets back and forth,

but, no matter where you put them, the water will come out somewhere else. "

Even when it's not raining, water drips out of the broken air-conditioning

unit.

His classroom has numerous gaping holes from missing ceiling tiles. Because

it is located in the inner core of the school, it has no windows or

ventilation. The smell of mold permeates the air.

" It's incredibly demoralizing for teachers to go to these classrooms every

day during the rainy season and wonder what's been destroyed overnight, "

says Tuttle, president of SCTA. " Our children really don't know any

better. But we adults do know better. We know that our children deserve

better. "

Tuttle said that the new school board has generated hope that things will

improve. Recently the school district borrowed over $5 million to put new

roofs on the high schools. " We're hoping to pass a bond measure so we can

pay the money back, " she says, noting that it will be the district's third

attempt to pass a bond measure in two years.

" We're desperate here, " she says. " Our schools need help. "

Unfortunately, McClatchy is not an isolated example of the state of

California's schools. If school facilities were to be graded on meeting

health, safety, comfort and technology standards, failing grades would be

common throughout the state.

A surprise visitor disrupted Pat 's Spanish class at Compton High School

recently. The small, black mouse wasn't aggressive, but some of the students

cowered in fear nonetheless. Such visits happen all the time.

, a member of the Compton Teachers Association, worries more about the

floor of the girls' restroom. The tiles are worn and the floorboards are

squishy from dry rot. " It seems like it might go any minute. But they

replace a tile or two at a time, instead of ripping up the whole ding-dong

floor. If I wore a high heel, my heel would go right through. "

About 12 years ago, some students scribbled gang insignia on the chalkboard

in her classroom. It has never been replaced. To cover it, she hangs murals.

" I sure would like a chalkboard, " she says wistfully.

With no alarms or securely locked doors and windows, " I don't dare leave

anything out for five minutes because...it will disappear. " For that reason,

she has no computers in her classroom.

In an area where sports might be a diversion from the streets, the school

swimming pool is in a state of disrepair. Students toss trash into it.

Because of the school's condition, says , students feel a lack of pride

and school spirit. " They say they don't care, that this is a dump anyway. "

She tries to decorate her classroom attractively, " but it looks like hell

here, which can be very depressing for the kids and the adults. "

While many communities' aging facilities range from neglected to just plain

awful, conditions in many inner-city schools are nothing short of

deplorable.

Just how bad it is statewide no one's really sure. Although in 1984, the

Legislature mandated that the state Allocation Board Office of Public School

Instruction conduct a facilities assessment, the office never followed

through, according to Henry Heydt, assistant director of the School

Facilities Planning Division for the California Department of Education.

" That office sent out a questionnaire and set up a system, but it sputtered

and puttered. "

This much is known: More than 60 percent of California's existing school

facilities are at least 30 years old and a substantial number are 40 to 50

or older. Teachers throughout California, especially in inner cities, report

that too many of the schools are neglected, overcrowded and downright

dangerous for students and teachers.

The California Department of Education estimates that, to fix up old schools

and build new schools to house additional students, it will take $42.5

billion over the next 10 years. Projections show that the number of K-12

students in California will increase by 1 million during the next decade.

With existing schools in a state of neglect and disrepair, the state is

ill-prepared to meet the challenges of the future.

California's campuses were once the centerpieces of communities, but in the

'90s, many schools inspire shame rather than pride. Hampered by budget

constraints, districts are forced to practice triage, fixing the emergency

of the moment. But without adequate funding, this approach sometimes takes

on the absurdity of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Indeed, some

teachers do feel as if they are aboard a sinking ship.

At Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach near the Mexican border, the gym

lockers are rusted through. But most students don't worry about using the

lockers because they don't take showers. The ancient boilers can't produce

hot water and most of the shower fixtures are so rusted that they just drip

instead of spray.

" The bathrooms are just terrible, " says Sweetwater Education Association

(SEA) member Cummins-Slovick. " There's no hot water, no toilet paper

dispenser and no soap dispenser. " Two bathrooms with eight doorless stalls

each serve 2,000 students. The school, which was built in 1952, is

overcrowded, with 38 or 39 kids in a class. " It's horrible, just horrible,

and parents complain all the time. "

In addition to an overpopulation of students, Mar Vista has populations of

roaches, mice, ants and termites, says Cummins-Slovick. " Everybody tries to

keep it under control; it's constant vigilance because of this old

building. " But with crumbling walls and missing ceiling tiles, it's hard to

keep the critters out.

Without air conditioning, classroom temperatures get into the '90s in some

seasons. Because the handles are broken, many of the windows won't open or

close.

" The school is maxed out electricity-wise, " she says. " We can't add another

phone or computer. We've tried to get wired up to the Internet, but we've

got to retrofit our technology.

" How can we give our kids the skills to go into the workplace or the 21st

century if they're in a school where they plug in a computer and blow the

electrical system? " she asks.

At nearby National City Middle School, " The walls are literally crumbling

around us, " says SEA member Wilcox. " The wood is eaten away; you can

see the sawdust from the termites. "

" Sometimes the state of our buildings is depressing, " says Wilcox. " When you

walk into a newer school, you think, 'This place means business.' We mean

business, too, but it's more difficult to present a professional image when

your school is crumbling around you. "

The price for neglecting schools is high, suggests a report from the Office

of the Legislative Analyst on Adressing the K-12 School Maintenance Problem:

" There is a growing body of educational research that suggests there is a

positive relationship between student achievement and the condition of the

facility in which they are schooled. "

" Interviews of teachers in public schools have found neglect of maintenance

to have a definite impact on the educational process, " according to

Committing to the Cost of Ownership: Maintenance and Repair of Public

Buildings, a 1990 study conducted jointly by the Building Research Board

National Research Council and the American Public Works Association. " Poorly

maintained school buildings were cited as demoralizing to teachers and

students alike.''

A statewide survey of all high schools in North Dakota in 1995 found a

relationship between student behavior and school condition.

" Neglected schools are very demoralizing for children and teachers, " says

Margaret Brown, a teacher at Thurgood Marshall/ Continuation

School in Sacramento and chair of CTA's School Management/Safety Committee.

" It sends a message...that tells our students they don't count for much. It

sends a message that our community doesn't care about its children because

it is not capable of providing them with a decent place to learn. I don't

think the community is actually uncaring, but that's the message that comes

out. "

Colorful artwork and posters adorn the walls of Lee's K-1 classroom

at Lake Elementary School in San Pablo (West Contra Costa County). Despite

her valiant attempt at creating a cheery, inviting environment for her young

charges, the first thing visitors notice is the gaping hole in the ceiling,

over two feet in length and width. When it rains, water drips near the

computers.

For Lee in West Contra Costa County, leaky roofs are the bane of her

existence

Lee, a member of the United Teachers of Richmond, says her room has no

ventilation and no windows. A teacher in an adjacent area has filed a

grievance because the wet carpet that grew mold aggravated a student's

asthma.

" But I've worked in worse places, " says Lee. " In Livermore, when they turned

on the sprinklers, water came inside my room. "

" It still shocks me, " says Lee. " I really thought, when the Lottery started,

we'd have money for our children. The jackpots keep accumulating and people

keep winning. But, at our schools, nothing really changes at all. "

The children are not shocked, says Lee, " because they are so poor that

conditions may be worse at home. When this is all they see, they may even

think this is what they deserve. "

like the Baby Boomers they were built to house. They are thinning on the top

and desperately in need of new roofs. Surfaces from playgrounds to hallways

are lined and cracked. Infrastructure cannot support technology that

students need to enter the workforce.

Marta Dragos, president of UTR, notes that 22 of the 49 school sites in the

district need new roofs. The average age of the schools is 42. Many have

their original roofs, heating and plumbing systems. Playgrounds have huge

cracks in the blacktop where children (and teachers) trip and fall. Athletic

fields have gone to seed and many are unusable. Drinking fountains no longer

work. Some of the campuses lack proper heating and ventilation.

A few years ago, Dragos counted the holes in her classroom ceiling at Mira

Vista Elementary School in Richmond and found 37 spots where rain had seeped

in. At least she thinks there were 37 holes. She isn't absolutely sure

because it was difficult to see with so many light fixtures not working.

When one of her students left a workbook on her desk and it got soaked, she

mailed it to the governor. " I'm still waiting for a response. "

Dragos, whose own children have attended the district's schools, says that

they've worn long underwear, doubled up on coats and even brought blankets

to school during winter, because heating systems frequently give out.

" Working under these conditions is extremely detrimental to kids' learning

and teachers' teaching. "

The district doesn't have nearly enough money to fix up its aging facilities

under the current state formula for deferred maintenance funding, says

Fresch, the district's building and grounds director. For 49 school sites,

which average 40 years of age and have a total replacement cost value of

$750 million, there is just $1.5 million available per year for maintenance.

That funds just a fraction of what's needed

At El Cerrito High School, Fred teaches art in a 20-year-old

" portable " classroom that has become permanent despite its deteriorating

condition. He has filed four grievances this year for health and safety

violations.

Many ceiling tiles are missing in the 20-year-old portable where Fred

teaches in El Cerrito

When he steps in certain spots on the floor, his feet sink into the rotting

foundation. Since there's no insulation, the room is either very hot or very

cold. Wires dangle from the ceiling. The ceiling has many missing tiles

because they became waterlogged during last year's storms. When it rains,

water seeps in and damages his students' artwork.

His classroom isn't the only disaster area. The three-story main building at

the school, built in 1938, has the original plumbing and heating system.

Windows are cracked, but aren't being replaced because the putty surrounding

them contains asbestos and can't be disturbed without an abatement program.

Many of the faucets and fixtures could be antiques.

" The only thing that bothers me is that kids have to deal with this every

day, " says , a UTR member. " The students do well, all things

considered. No matter what happens, the kids come here and work. "

From the outside, they look like nice, old buildings, says Jim Murdoch, a

spokesman for the Coalition of Adequate School Housing (CASH), an

education-lobbying firm. " You have to go inside to see that our schools are

deteriorating. "

" If we continue to ignore the problem, our urban schools will continue to

deteriorate at a faster rate. Boilers, air conditioning and plumbing wear

out over time. Roofs have to be replaced. But schools take the Band-Aid

approach because of limited dollars. This is not good for our children. It's

not conducive to good learning. "

Ignoring the situation can also cause health problems for students and

employees alike. People who work in buildings with poorly maintained

heating, ventilation and air conditioning are more susceptible to illness.

Symptoms can include fatigue, headaches, shortness of breath, sinus

congestion and dry or itchy skin, according to the National Education

Association's Indoor Air Quality Program, formed in cooperation with the

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Studies have shown that the indoor air in schools can be two to five times

more polluted than the air outside.

Perhaps the most extreme cases of air pollution can be traced to older,

poorly maintained portable classrooms, which generate mold when water leaks

in.

" With the way schools are maintained and the amount of rain we get in

California, we shouldn't use carpeting in school [portables] at all, " says

Jed Waldman, chair of the California Interagency Working Group on Indoor Air

Quality at the state Department of Health Services. " You turn carpets into

mold factories. And most molds, under various conditions, will produce

toxins. "

For Mitch Trubio, a good day is when she doesn't vomit several times and can

drive home without an excruciating migraine headache. Sometimes the pain is

so bad, " it's like someone stuck a pencil up my nose into my eyeball. "

Trubio, a speech pathologist who belongs to the Fontana Teachers

Association, blames her illness on the time she spent teaching in several

leaky portables at Southridge Middle School in San Bernardino County from

1991 to 1996.

" At first, on rainy days, I saw water coming through two circuit breaker

boxes on the wall onto the carpeting, " she recalls. " My health started to

deteriorate, and I became allergic to the world overnight. " She broke out in

hives on 80 percent of her body and ended up in an urgent care medical

facility.

In yet another portable where she worked, " all of the ceiling tiles looked

full and ready to pop. " In fact, many did pop while class was in session,

leaving " mushy stuff all over. " She recalls a white fungus growing on the

wall paneling, reddish-green slime covering the baseboards, and rust

speeding the deterioration of furniture. When the moist environment brought

an infestation of bugs, the portable was sprayed with pesticide. Questions

have been raised about the role the pesticide may have played in the death

of a student who had health problems.

At least seven other staff members say they have experienced symptoms like

Trubio's after working in damp portable classrooms. " I'm lucky, " says

Trubio, who has transferred to another school. " I got out. "

" It isn't vouchers that's going to bring down public education, it's

deferred maintenance, " says Alison Denning, another Southridge teacher

suffering health problems. " Maintenance has been deferred throughout the

nation, and the cost in human lives is horrendous. I think we're in a scary

situation. "

Unfortunately, preventative maintenance has become a thing of the past in

California. Ideally, a district should set aside three to five percent of

its general fund for this purpose, but only one percent of California's

school districts can afford to do so, says Henry Heydt at the California

Department of Education.

The next-best alternative is " ongoing maintenance, " which means that when

something breaks, it gets fixed. But, says Heydt, only 10 percent of

districts can afford to do that. Because of budget constraints, most school

districts must follow the path of " deferred maintenance, " which means

waiting until there's a crisis.

" I would say that 89 percent of districts are deferring maintenance, " says

Heydt. " And the longer you defer it, the worse it gets and the more

expensive it is to fix. At some point, depending on your equipment or

materials, things are no longer fixable. Then you slip from deferred

maintenance into capital outlay, which means replacement. "

Recently Polytechnic High School in Long Beach turned 100 years old. But Jim

Deaton, a member of the Teachers Association of Long Beach, sees no cause

for celebration.

" I wish more people could just see my classroom, " he seethes. " These wood

floors were once beautiful; now they look terrible. My floor is buckling

from all the water. " Water cascades out of a hole in the steam pipes onto

active electrical outlets in the floor of what was once a typing lab.

In the next room, a computer lab with new equipment has been installed

despite '40s era wiring. When the computers are turned on, they trip all the

fuses.

" We need new lighting and electrical systems. The acoustic tiles are

constantly falling down. When it rains, the basement floods, and that's

where the power is. " The paint is flaking off and the walls have holes in

them.

" Parents would refuse to work under such conditions, " asserts Deaton, who is

chair of CTA's School Safety Training Modules Task Force. " They would not

work in buildings that are falling apart. They would not work where

temperatures reach 95 or 100 degrees or where there is no heat. Yet, we

expect our kids to do it. I think that's criminal. "

" How much longer can we wait? " asks SCTA President Tuttle. " When I look at

the state of our schools, I want to say, 'Shame on you. Shame on everyone.' "

" To me, it's outrageous that one generation would cheat another generation

out of something they had - decent schools, " she says. " One day, people will

look back on this as being very short-sighted and very bad for our society.

Of course, it won't be easy to fix the problem. If something is worthwhile,

we must find a way to pay for it. Our children's future depends on it. "