Geological Test Puts Pause on Northern California School Project

LOS GATOS, Calif. — Plans for a new elementary school have hit a setback over its proposed location on the San Andreas fault, one of the largest and most active fault lines in the country.

As part of its plan to rebuild Lexington Elementary School on a site that is partially on the fault line, Los Gatos Unified School District, like other nearby districts, is required to complete a geological evaluation to ensure it will withstand a high-magnitude quake. But the district must head back to the drawing board after its latest report failed to appease the California Geological Survey (CGS).

In a letter, the group said, “The engineering and seismology issues at this site are not adequately addressed” in a report completed by the district.

“The school had the model set with a magnitude 7.3 earthquake, but in fact it should be higher with a magnitude 8.0 earthquake,” said Jennifer Thornburg, senior engineering geologist at CGS.

The current school was built in the 1950s. Instead of renovating it, district officials had been planning to build a new elementary in June, but the report has put the project on pause for now.

“We’ve just hit another road block on the project with this recent CGS report,” said Diana Abbati, superintendent for Los Gatos School District.

The CGS report called for the district to perform additional site work to comply with its recommendations. While the geological advisers do not have the authority to cancel a construction project, they advise the state architects, who must approve all public education construction projects before they start. The school cannot be approved for construction until it addresses all hazards.

To comply with the recommendations, the school must draft a new report of the site and address the issues pointed out by CGS. The district has already spent $4 million to prepare for the future elementary school, Abbati said. She said if the school started construction in April, as scheduled, the costs would total near $21.4 million.

Now that the project has been put on pause, officials are crunching the numbers and meeting to figure out what happens next. If the site isn’t compatible for a new school, officials might have to find an alternative, Abbati said.

“The Los Gatos Union School Board of Trustees and administrators remain committed to finding solutions to meet the needs of all students. We are ready to tackle the scale of these challenges with collaboration and vigor,” said Abbati in a letter to Los Gatos Union School District parents, teachers, staff and community members.