Karli Wallace
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Emilee Ray
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Manhattan Beach School District officials approved an Indoor Air Quality Managment Plan (IAQMDP) for the newly announced construction plans for Pacific Elementary, Mira Costa High School and Grand View Elementary during a Dec. 12 board meeting.
The IAQMP was initiated after the district and MBUSD families suffered from asbestos exposure in the Costa library and after multiple findings of mold in other MBUSD schools started having an effect on students’ health. According to action item D4 from the board meeting, the incidents highlighted the importance of attention to indoor air quality and other environmental concerns and will help the district to develop and sustain effective and comprehensive IAQ management programs or overall health and safety initiatives.
“We are sort of guinea pigs, but it’s part of the process,” Pacific Elementary School Principal Rhonda Steinberg said. “I was included in meeting with the architect and with the district office, and I also had parent and teacher input. The architect and district office took into consideration recommendations from them before finalizing any plans.”
Costa and the two elementary schools will receive their renovations as a part of Measure C, which Manhattan Beach voters approved on November 8, 2016. The measures will be implemented at all MBUSD schools by 2023, with renovations on each campus based on their individual needs, according to MBUSD. Specifically, plans are intended to ensure high-quality learning environments for students, including modern heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, repairs to roofs throughout the district, and other upgrades to electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems, MBUSD Deputy Superintendent Dr. Dawnalyn Murakawa-Leopard said.
“We will do as much of the construction during summers as possible,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “Some construction, especially where the work is more extensive or involved, will take place during the school year, and in those cases we will work to do everything we can to minimize the impact to classroom instruction.”
The District’s IAQMP also enlisted the service of environmental consulting firms and remediation contractors. MBUSD hired consulting firms Alta Environmental, A-Tech Consulting and Environmental Network Corporation Inc. and remediation contractors American Technologies Inc. and Environmental Remediation Contractors, Inc. The consulting firms are responsible for identifying the locations of hazardous materials and developing plans to address those areas as needed. Through MBUSD, remediation contractors are to carry out the plans developed by the consulting firm. The consulting firms will monitor the remediation firm as they work, ensuring that they carry out the plan as written and will conduct testing after the fact to make sure that there are no remaining hazardous materials, Dr. Murakawa-Leopard said.
“The Indoor Air Quality Management Plan is designed to help us to make sure that we are providing healthy classroom environments for our students,” Murakawa-Leopard said. “These procedures and policies are to make sure that we are being as effective and proactive as possible in addressing any issues that arise, and that we are protecting the safety and wellbeing of our students.”
In addition to the plans concerning the hiring of consulting firms and remediation contractors, the IAQMP calls for additional measures of precaution in lieu of the newly announced modernization plans. These precautions include building evaluations, walkthrough inspections, preventative maintenance, training and communication procedures to help MBUSD identify and address issues, and provides specific guidance related to hazardous materials, such as asbestos, lead, mercury, vehicle emissions, pest management, and the impact of plants and animals on indoor environments.
“I know with the companies hired to do demolition, MBUSD went through prior backgrounds and a variety of other information to make sure they were hiring the right people for the right job.” MBUSD Student Representative and Associated Student Body Vice President Parker Lynch said.
MBUSD hired consulting firm ENCORP for approximately the last two years and they have been responsible for conducting Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act inspections for the district on MBUSD campuses by regulation, as well as aiding MBUSD in creating abatement plans. Earlier this year, ENCORP was responsible for producing reports in the aftermath of the asbestos exposure incident in Costa’s library in August.
“We had three rooms that were displaced due to mold problems this year,” Steinberg said. “A company, presumably ENCORP, came in after teachers were moved back into classrooms to ensure that they were safe. So, in that regard, I think we are looking pretty good.”
Other construction plans have been announced for Manhattan Beach Middle School in the summer of 2021, Meadows Elementary, Robinson Elementary, Manhattan Beach Preschool and Pennekamp Elementary in the summer of 2020. MBUSD anticipates completion at Pennekamp in the fall of 2021 and Grand View in the winter of 2022-23.
“I try to put myself in the shoes of students, and I know that I wouldn’t want potentally contaminated dust in my classrooms,” Lynch said. “MBUSD is doing so much to prevent what happened in the library, and if I were the average student, I would feel safe.”
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