Quake Pushes Back Usual School Repairs

Long before the Northridge earthquake saddled the school district with hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to about 160 campuses, schools needing exterior painting, roofing or plumbing repairs had to take a number and wait.

With a districtwide maintenance backlog of more than $600 million, delays for school repairs not deemed urgent often stretched for years.

Now, with many of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s maintenance workers dispatched for earthquake repairs, schools that had expected such projects to begin this summer are facing yet another round of delays.

At Strathern Street Elementary School in North Hollywood, for example, administrators who have waited years to have the school’s exterior repainted from green to white with a teal trim, were set for the face lift to begin in July.

Because of the earthquake, the $165,000 repainting job has been pushed back at least several more months.

“We’ve had to shift some people,” said Jim Samples, deputy director of maintenance for the district. “The earthquake threw us behind.”

According to Strathern’s office manager, Kathy Low, who attended the school as a child, the dingy green exterior walls have never been fully repainted since the school was built in the late 1950s.

“It’s frustrating,” Low said. “Here we are thinking how good the school is going to look.”

Samples said the Strathern painting and several other projects slated to start in the spring or summer should begin within the new school year.

He added that although the earthquake tacked several months onto an already overwhelming wait for repairs, the real concern is the backlog itself.

“It seems to grow every year,” Samples said.

“Unless something drastic happens, we’ll never get caught up.”