'An unsafe condition': After dry rot forces red-tagging of Longfellow Middle School, campus will relocate for the next two years (2024)

Longfellow Middle School’s campus will likely be closed for at least the next two school years after the Berkeley Unified School District discovered dry rot damage so severe that it threatens structural integrity of the building.

Classes at the middle school will be moved to the Berkeley Adult School about a mile and a half north of the South Berkeley middle school’s campus.

District and school leaders discovered extreme dry rot to the primary structural beams that support the southern side of Longfellow’s three-story classroom building on June 7, according to a Friday letter distributed to school families from Principal Salita Mitchell.

Construction had begun early this year on a $33 million renovation of the school campus that was slated to include renovated classrooms, a redesigned courtyard and garden area, a new glass entryway and a pedestrian walkway.

But officials discovered the dry rot damage when stucco was removed from the southern facade of the building so that windows could be replaced, Mitchell’s letter shared.

“The supports of this building are crumbling and have created an unsafe condition,” Mitchell wrote. “The level of potential structural damage on other sides of the building cannot be determined without further demolition to allow for inspections.”

A design team that includes structural engineers is investigating the damage, Berkeley Unified School District Senior Communications Officer Trish McDermott shared in an email. They will submit mitigation and repair designs to the Division of the State Architect, which is the state office in charge of overseeing construction projects at California’s public K-12 schools and community colleges.

McDermott said that while it’s still in the early stages, the district anticipates it will take two years to complete the reconstruction of the building. Officials will better estimate the completion after the plans are approved by the state.

The structural engineers working on the site have red-tagged the campus — meaning it is designated as unsafe to occupy — and a fence now surrounds it to keep students, staff and community members out. According to district officials, the main academic building is at risk of collapsing, which would threaten other school buildings.

Thus, officials announced a plan on Friday to move Longfellow operations to the Berkeley Adult School for the next two school years.

According to Mitchell’s letter and a memo from the district, BUSD staff are working with Berkeley Adult School principal Thomas Reid to relocate the adult school classes to other sites in Berkeley for the next two school years, giving Longfellow full access to the adult school campus. The adult school, located on San Pablo Avenue, was once an elementary school and has sufficient classroom space and other facilities for Longfellow, according to a memo from the district.

“We are fortunate that BAS is a large site, already operating as a school, and has enough classrooms and facilities to support the Longfellow Community during this period,” Mitchell’s letter notes. “While we believe we can continue to offer most Longfellow programs, and we don’t anticipate changes to our bell schedule, please understand that we are still in the planning phase of this emergency situation and will continue to provide updates to Longfellow families, as they become available.”

McDermott, the district’s communications officer, said students who qualify for the bus program will continue to get transportation, and the district is “exploring logistics and options” over the summer for the middle school population.

It’s not the first time in recent history that a Berkeley school site has been forced to relocate due to building safety issues: In 2020, North Berkeley’s Oxford Elementary School was relocated to 1222 University Avenue after a geological survey showed it was at risk of endangering students if a major earthquake were to occur.

Regarding Longfellow, district officials insist there was no way to determine earlier that the building was in such danger.

While the district has a preventative maintenance program that includes inspections throughout the year, McDermott said, no inspections caught the deeper damage.

“While some testing was done on the site in accordance with design standards, there was no way to discover the level of damage behind the stucco, which could not be discovered until the stucco was removed,” officials wrote on a “Frequently Asked Questions” page published to the district’s website regarding the middle school’s construction.

The State Architect’s office will review the plans and oversee the construction of the repairs, according to a spokesperson, Fallon Okwuosa, who serves as Assistant Deputy Director for Public Affairs at the department that houses that office.

The district plans to add to its FAQ pages published in English and Spanish over the summer with more information, and it is accepting suggestions for more questions from the community that can be submitted via a Google form.