Geological land movements at Marquez Charter Elementary School have led to the closure of three classrooms, a restroom and parts of the lower yard on campus, school officials announced Tuesday.
According to school officials, the land movement has affected the northwest portion of the Marquez Elementary lot that includes portions of the playground, and the building with classrooms seven, eight and nine, and the sloped area northwest of the school.
Kindergarteners, first and second graders “will be relocated to other rooms on campus in an effort to minimize disruption to the classrooms when testing and sampling of the soil occurs, and if any repairs to the impacted classrooms are required,” according to a statement by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
LAUSD School officials said “that the remaining classrooms will continue normal use of their rooms during the investigation and testing of the soil. Our engineers report that the building is safe, but have restricted access to those three rooms only.”
Works crews were seen Tuesday drilling parts of the northwest side of the campus. A small portion of the playground in this area has been fenced off while testing and soil sampling takes place.
“Right now the students are accommodated, but if it gets worse we might have to order bungalows,” said a Marquez administrator, who asked not to be quoted. “The classrooms and a restroom in that area show a noticeable tilt.” Classes resume Tuesday, August 13.
The problem was first noticed in April when there were reports of recurring cracks on the playground, cracks on the interior and exterior walls, separation of several ceiling/wall joints, and cracked window and door frames in classrooms seven, eight and nine, according to LAUSD officials.
Based on these visible occurrences, facilities staff determined that a review by a licensed Structural Engineer was necessary. For now, LAUSD has issued a task order to contract geotechnical structural and civil engineers to do further tests and determine a solution to the landslide issue. On Tuesday, work crews were seen drilling core samples. The schoolyard will remain closed to the public as district officials address these issues.
An invitation to an informal meeting to discuss the land movement has been announced for Tuesday, August 13, at 6 p.m. inside the Marquez auditorium.
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