SMMUSD officials take precautionary step to protect kids
MALIBU Approximately 2,300 students here will have another day out of the classroom today as firefighters continue to battle blazes that have claimed five structures and damaged one of the city’s public schools.
At the request of Malibu City Manager Jim Thorsen, officials with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District decided on Monday afternoon to close Malibu High School, Point Dume Marine Science School, Juan Cabrillo Elementary School and Webster Elementary School for at least another day. The schools were also closed on Monday.
Webster Elementary School, located next to Pepperdine University and less than a mile south of the Presbyterian church that was destroyed in the fire, sustained damages and could stay closed for a while longer even if the other public schools open later this week.
Two facilities staff members from the district visited Webster on Monday morning and reported finding damage to 12 classroom doors and the exterior of four buildings. The interior of three classrooms will require some clean up and roughly 50 percent of the school’s rooms are plagued by the stench of smoke, Superintendent Dianne Talarico said on Monday afternoon. The emergency earthquake and general storage sheds were lost in the fire and the electricity is currently down, she added.
Talarico added that she plans to pay a visit to the campus on Wednesday and will determine if classes will be able to resume any time soon.
“I can’t get people through to even go out to begin to clean up yet,” Talarico said.“I was able to get two of my employees out because we heard some of the doors were damaged, which meant the school was vulnerable and wasn’t secure.”
Malibu accounts for 2,300 of the students in the unified school district, approximately 500 of which attend Webster Elementary School.
The outlook appeared brighter at the three other public schools which are located at a safe distance from the fire.
Juan Cabrillo Principal Barry Yates spent a few hours at school on Monday, the lone figure on the entire campus.
From one direction of the Morningview Drive campus, he could see the smoke from the Santa Clarita fire, in the other direction, the smoke hovering above the Pacific Ocean from the Malibu blaze.
During his visit to campus on Monday not one parent or student stopped by the facility, mistakenly believing that classes were still in session, Yates said.
Parents were notified through each schools’ phone message system of the closures. A message was also posted on the unified school district’s Web site.
Lack of access was the leading factor causing administrators to close schools that weren’t in imminent danger. Pacific Coast Highway, the main artery through Malibu, remained shut down throughout Monday.
“Access is a big issue because we can’t get students and staff into the school,” said Malibu High Principal Mark Kelly.
Approximately 10 percent of the Malibu fire has been contained as of Monday, according to Ron Haralson, the inspector for the L.A. County Fire Department. More than 2,400 acres have burned, destroying seven structures and damaging 16 others. The fire was reported early Sunday morning and is believed to have been caused by a downed power line.
Along with the Presbyterian church, the fire also destroyed the Kashan Castle and five single-family homes. Also, ten homes and six businesses were damaged.
The castle, which was constructed in the 1970s and overlooks the Malibu lagoon, was listed for sale earlier this year for a whopping $17 million.
Many local fire agencies have deployed resources to help combat the blazes that have spread throughout Southern California, including one in San Diego that has claimed the life of at least one person. More than 250,000 people have been evacuated across the Southland, more than 1,500 of which are from Malibu. No injuries have been reported as a result of the Malibu fire.
The Santa Monica Fire Department sent three engines to help fight the region’s many blazes — two to Malibu and one to Santa Clarita, according the Santa Monica Fire Capt. Scott Ziegert.
There seems to be no signs of relief in the near future as temperatures are expected to stay in the high 80s to low 90s through Wednesday. Making matters worse, low humidity is expected for that time period.
In Yate’s 12 years at Juan Cabrillo, he has seen the school shut down about a dozen times due to flood or road closures caused by other disasters. In terms of wind conditions stoking fires, this is one of the worst situations that Yates said he has ever seen.
Yates plans to apply for a waiver to the state Department of Education to excuse the two days of absence. Many schools on the east coast that are forced to close due to severe wintery conditions make up the missed days later in the year.
“We anticipate the waiver to forgive the missed two days,” Yates said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 23, 2007. Read the original PDF.