Report Outlines Possible Seismic Issues with Dixon Schools

A report released today by California Watch – the state’s largest investigative reporting team – outlines potentially significant seismic issues within California schools and the state’s failure to hold the schools accountable by not fully enforcing seismic safety regulations.

At least three schools within – , and – were identified within the report as potentially having structural deficiencies or seismic safety issues, while the issue could be that all paperwork on the projects was not completed.

Assembly Bill 300 was passed in 1999 requiring the state to compile a seismic safety inventory of California’s K-12 school buildings. If the state deems schools might possibly be unsafe in the event of an earthquake, it will send an AB 300 letter to the school district.

While ending up on the AB 300 list of potentially seismically risky schools can indicate dangerous safety issues, it can also signify a simple lapse in certification paperwork, even if safety upgrades have already been made.

Letter 4 designation indicates that at some point during construction of this particular item at the school, an inspector, field engineer or other on site identified a possible structural deficiency or health safety issue. The issue may have been resolved but the proper documentation may not have been submitted to show the issue was resolved. 

According to California Watch, the DSA has a list of nearly 20,000 school projects that are uncertified – and about 1,000 of the schools on that list were at some point given Letter 4 warnings.

The report has not been reviewed by and district staff could not be reached for comment because the schools are in Spring Break. But Dixon Patch will follow up on the story once school gets back into session.

California began regulating school architecture for seismic safety in 1933 with the Field Act, but data taken from the Division of the State Architect’s Office shows 20,000 school projects statewide never got final safety certifications. In the crunch to get schools built within the last few decades, state architects have been lax on enforcement, California Watch reported. 

A separate inventory completed nine years ago found 7,500 seismically risky school buildings in the state. Yet, California Watch reports that only two schools have been able to access a $200 million fund for upgrades. 

The report states that has three projects on the decades-old AB 300 list with potential seismic safety issues; has one. According to the report, was issued a Letter 4, indicating that a possible structural deficiency existed at one time at the school.

California Watch also identifies schools that are in A-P fault zones, liquefaction zones and landslide zones, but no school within Dixon Unified was identified to be in any of the zones.

The entire California Watch special report can be found here.

California Watch’s interactive map gives an overview of the potential seismic issues in Dixon schools and all California schools.

This story was produced using data provided to Patch by California Watch, the state's largest investigative reporting team and part of the Center for Investigative Reporting. Read more about Patch's collaboration with California Watch.