Collapse of School Ceiling Prompts Inspections

Forty-six schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, including about a dozen in the Valley, will be inspected after a ceiling collapsed last week at an elementary school’s outdoor cafeteria, authorities said Wednesday.

A school district structural engineer inspected the outdoor lunch shelter at Pinewood Avenue Elementary School on Saturday and found it structurally sound, said Julie Crum, director of maintenance and operations for the district.

Several earthquakes over the years could have contributed to the collapse, Crum said.

“There was no evidence of dry rot and leaks and things one would normally associate with a collapse,” she said.

Eleven students attending a summer program in the building were evacuated five minutes before Friday’s collapse when a playground supervisor heard a rumble that shook the structure. The outdoor cafeteria, equipped with long tables and benches, has a capacity of about 600 students.

The school auditorium, which was built in the late 1960s with materials similar to those used in the cafeteria, also remained closed. Suspension wires will be installed in a portion of the ceiling for extra support, Crum said.

Over the weekend, LAUSD carpenters and maintenance workers inspected about 300 schools with similar suspended stucco ceilings and marked 46 for further inspection, Crum said.

If the ceilings need to be torn down, they will be replaced with lightweight fireproof and soundproof material, Crum said.