Adams may take 6 months to repair
For six months of this school year, the auditorium at John Adams Middle School will be off limits as the district fixes the roof.
The approximately $540,000 repair is needed because 10 of the 13 beams that support the ceiling above the stage have sustained severe damage and must be replaced, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District officials said. So far, they say it’s unknown how the beams were damaged.
“Obviously we are replacing them because they are damaged and they don’t meet safety criteria,” said Wally Berriman, the district’s director of facilities management. “The only way someone would have been in danger is if we had had a significant earthquake and further damage had been inflicted on those weakened trusses.”
Workers completing improvements to the middle school’s auditorium noticed some of the rigging above the stage that holds lights and curtains was askew.
When they climbed into the crawl space above the ceiling to investigate further, they found that of 13 beams supposed to be holding up the roof, only three were actually supporting any weight, officials said.
Officials aren’t sure how the damage occurred.
“There are a number of possibilities how this happened, but the best thing to say is that it was uncovered that the roof trusses had retained some damage and needed replacement,” Berriman said.
The stage area has been roped off but until construction begins at the end of the month, the school will continue using the auditorium area. Because of space constraints, every room has to be used at the school, officials said.
“We have grown so much as a school that literally every space is used for instruction,” said principal Lise Reilly, adding that the damage has disrupted the school and forced some classes that used the auditorium to move elsewhere.
“The impact on our instructional program is that we may not be able to use our auditorium for assemblies or for concerts,” she said. “We’ve just added a drama elective class and we have a drama club this year, and it means those students won’t have access to that facility now.”
As those classes have been moved to other rooms, a domino effect of switching classes has occurred. For example, a room typically used for physical education classes is now being used for musical instruction, which uses the auditorium.
“We’re trying to make alternative plans,” Reilly said. “There tends to be a trickle-down affect.”
But drama and music teachers say they are trying to come up with creative solutions. For example, instead of using the auditorium for its performances, the drama club will broadcast them over the school’s cable channel.
“Every classroom can turn on channel 14 and watch the performance from their classroom,” said Marcia McCarthy, a drama and language arts teacher. “We’re being flexible, but it has definitely impacted us.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 19, 2002. Read the original PDF.