PORT ANGELES — A new report form the Washington Department of Natural Resources found that most of the 222 school buildings that officials examined across our state, including here in the Port Angeles School District, would be unsafe to occupy after a powerful earthquake.
Roosevelt Elementary School’s main building was the only school evaluated in our district. The engineering reports for some of the schools studied are included on the DNR website, but Roosevelt does not appear to be among them. No schools in Sequim or Forks School Districts were looked at.
District spokeswoman Patsene Dashiell told us she was not aware of the study and that school Superintendent Marty Brewer would not be available for comment until after the holiday.
Officials determined that the most vulnerable buildings are those built before 1998, the first year when buildings began to be constructed to “modern” seismic standards. Roosevelt Elementary was built in 1978.
Assessments by the Washington Department of Natural Resources found that about a quarter of the schools would not be able to be repaired and 43% posed a high or very high risk for loss of life from quakes.
The results of the study are meant to inform schools, districts, and public officials of the policy and funding needs for improving the seismic safety of our state’s K–12 public school buildings.
Banner photo: One page of geologic site study for Roosevelt Elementary School.