Slavkin Urges Report on Quake Response

Convinced that lessons lie in the crumpled bookshelves, fallen light fixtures and structural damage left at many schools by the Northridge earthquake, Los Angeles school board member Mark Slavkin is calling for a comprehensive report to evaluate the district’s response to the disaster.

“I just don’t think anybody can go through an earthquake of this magnitude without learning something,” Slavkin said Wednesday.

He introduced the motion asking for the report hoping to formalize the evaluation process and keep a priority on the issue of earthquake preparedness. It is set to go before the school district board for a vote on March 21.

“It’s part of human nature to let the sense of urgency slack and get diverted,” Slavkin said. “But we can’t just say we were lucky and move on.”

If the motion is approved, the evaluation process will include input from parents and district employees about what went right as well as wrong at Los Angeles Unified School District campuses during the quake.

Slavkin said that a variety of issues, from cracked walls to employee disaster training, need to be addressed. While most schools fared well structurally in the quake, Slavkin said the report must examine why some suffered more damage than others.

Inside the schools, books, chemicals and other materials tumbled from cabinets. Bookcases and filing cabinets toppled. Light fixtures and ceiling tiles fell from above. Slavkin said the report must address how to make internal fixtures and supplies more secure to prevent injury to students.

Other preparedness measures, which were not tested in the pre-dawn quake, such as communication systems, water and food supplies and employee training, he said, also need evaluation.