Ventura Schools to Get $711,300 in Quake Funds

Bracing bookcases, strapping down computers and sealing windows are among the retrofitting plans for the Ventura school district, the largest county recipient of earthquake preparedness funds announced Friday by the federal government.

Of $1.9 million in grant money approved for 15 Ventura County school districts and the county superintendent of schools, the Ventura Unified School District will receive $711,300 to help protect students and equipment during the next shaker.

“We’re elated any time we get money,” Ventura Supt. Joseph Spirito said. “It’s like manna from heaven. This is definitely going to help.”

Joe Richards, Ventura’s assistant superintendent of business services, said retrofitting will be done first at the district’s four high schools.

He estimated that more than $1 million is needed to complete all of the district’s retrofitting projects.

Ventura was one of dozens of school districts that applied for grant money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. A total $10.7 million will go to districts in three counties, with a majority of the most recent funds going to Los Angeles County, FEMA spokesman Alex Newton said.

In Ventura County, the second-largest grant recipient is the Simi Valley Unified School District, which will receive $275,829. The Oxnard Elementary School District was next with a $195,377 grant, followed by the Oxnard Union High School District, with $190,659.

“The Hazard Mitigation Program has existed for many years but this is the biggest grant program because of the size and magnitude of the quake. We’re talking about a humongous disaster,” Newton said.

“There are things we can do to minimize the effect of future disasters,” he added. “Earthquakes are not going to go away and we can’t continue to finance these tremendous losses.”

The Northridge quake caused more than $30 billion in damage, making it the largest federally declared disaster to date, Newton said. So far, a total of $360 million in statewide preparedness funding has been approved.

“Probably the most dangerous thing in an earthquake is unshielded glass. This will help us fix that,” said Gary Nottingham, Simi Unified’s director of maintenance and operations.

Nottingham said window reinforcement had already been completed on about 25% of the district’s 18 schools. Previous state and federal funding was used to secure light fixtures, and the new funding would be used to finish sealing windows and securing computers.

So far, the district has spent more than $3 million retrofitting its school buildings, he said.

The FEMA grant money was scheduled to be given to the state treasury office, which will kick in about $4 million more before doling out the funds to the school districts.

Other grants announced Friday include $177,498 to the Hueneme Elementary School District, $91,656 to the office of the Ventura County superintendent of schools, $81,474 to the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District and $54,579 to the Ojai Unified School District.

Also, $28,455 will go to the Oak Park Unified School District, $24,855 to the Moorpark Unified School District, $21,200 to the Briggs Elementary School District, $16,593 to the Somis Union Elementary School District, $12,132 to the Santa Paula Union High School District, $15,525 to the Mesa Union Elementary School District, $2,298 to the Santa Clara Elementary School District and $1,452 to the Mupu Elementary School District.