Features

Heavy rains over the holiday break left a number of teachers and students at Malcolm X Arts and Academic magnet school without classrooms after water from the surrounding area came spilling into the annex building, forcing a major cleanup and renovation that will keep ground-floor rooms closed until the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Day.  

Rhonda Bacot, Director of Maintenance for the Berkeley Unified School District, said the water piled up after heavy rains hit the area Dec. 29. Neither Bacot nor the Berkeley Public Works department know the exact cause of the backup, but they’re guessing it came from neighborhood storm drains overwhelmed by the storm.  

Brush and leaves also gathered over the school’s drains, leaving the water no place to go but into the building. 

A security guard discovered the problem the middle of last week, and by Saturday the school had mobilized a cleanup that drew parent volunteers and administrators.  

A contractor is now stripping carpeting and wallboard from the damaged areas and an environmental consultant has also been called in to ensure air and structural safety. 

Bacot said there was no danger of contamination from sewage because the sewer and storm drains each have separate systems. A small amount of hydraulic fuel leaked from the school elevator but that was isolated and cleaned up immediately, he said. 

Thus far, the cleanup has cost $49,000. Once it’s finished, another contractor will replace and repair the damaged areas. 

Meantime, students and administrators have had to come up with creative space solutions to accommodate those displaced. 

“The teachers, parents and kids have been so good,” said Principal Cheryl Chinn. 

Dyanthe McDougal, a first grade teacher with 19 students in her class, has had to relocate to a smaller classroom, but she says everyone involved has been extremely helpful. 

“Everyone helped me move things from the old room and it was a really quick response,” she said. 

Rene Cardinaux from the Berkeley Public Works department said the office did not receive a service call about the flood until recently and therefore have not looked into it yet. 

The school’s north border runs along Ashby Avenue, where neighbors have repeatedly complained to the Daily Planet about poor drainage resulting in flooded basements. Cardinaux said reports have come in about poor drainage in the area but said it’s not considered one of the city’s problem spots. 

“I don’t think there is a design problem. Ashby, like University Avenue, runs downhill the whole way so it’s like a canal. If there is any obstruction [in the drains] there is overflow and flooding,” he said. 

This is not the first time the school has been flooded, according to Chinn, but it was the most severe. 

At least one parent, who declined to give her name, complained that her son was affected by the flood, saying that the smell left over from the water made her son nauseous and wheezy. She is also concerned with the school’s decision to reopen the cafeteria which was affected during the flood. 

“I like the school, but they cannot in good conscience let kids have lunch in a place that smells so bad,” she said. “I think it’s unsanitary and unsafe.”. 

Chinn and Bacot dispute her claim and say the area was only opened after a thorough cleaning and an inspection by the Berkeley Health Department.  

“If it was a health and safety problem, we would have never used [the cafeteria],” said Chinn.  

Bacot said the cafeteria, unlike the rest of the ground floor on the annex, reopened quickly because the floor and lowest portions of the walls are concrete and weren’t affected by the water. Unlike the annex, where wallboard is being removed to prevent mold, the cafeteria only needed to be emptied of water and cleaned. 

Bacot said the smell has also been mostly removed by using large fans that circulate air, helping to dry affected areas and prevent molding.