Public Interest Investigations

Toxic Coverup

Daily News of Los Angeles (CA)
September 29, 1999
Author: Greg Gittrich, Staff Writer

Los Angeles Unified school officials routinely covered up serious environmental hazards at campuses throughout the district, jeopardizing students, according to a report released Tuesday.

The lengthy report concludes the nation's second-largest school district downplayed safety issues - including lead and asbestos contamination - because of pressure from district managers.

The report charges that politics - not science - ruled decisions about environmental hazards, warping the findings of the LAUSD Environmental Health and Safety Branch, the district's watchdog.

"There must be a change from the 'let's-not-scare-parents' approach to an open process that allows community monitoring and involvement,'' according to the report written by Keith Rohman, a private investigator for Public Interest Investigations, the Los Angeles firm that conducted the probe.

By concealing problems, students may have been exposed to lead-based paint in many San Fernando Valley schools, and children, teachers, and maintenance workers at several schools may have been exposed to asbestos, a carcinogen, the report contends.

Former and current employees cited in the report also charged that the corrupted oversight process contributed to the district's decision to build the Belmont Learning Center atop an active oil field plagued by explosive and deadly gases, and led officials to temporarily stockpile hazardous materials at Jefferson Middle School during its construction.

In many cases, district managers edited safety reports issued by inspectors in the Environmental Health and Safety Branch to remove information deemed "too scary for the community'' or that might "unduly pressure another district entity,'' Rohman wrote.

Superintendent Ruben Zacarias and school board members discussed the findings during a private session Tuesday morning. Although a district spokesman declined to comment, board member Victoria Castro said she feels betrayed.

"These reports are devastating to me personally. I depended on staff for many of my decisions,'' Castro said.

After learning that the Daily News had reviewed the confidential document, the district released the tome at 6 p.m. but did not provide copies. The board has scheduled a special public meeting for Thursday to present the findings. Rohman also declined to comment.

The school board ordered the investigation into the Environmental Health and Safety Branch in July 1998 after firing the division's director for what it called poor performance.

Before leaving, Hamid Arabzadeh made approximately 40 allegations about environmental safety issues. The probe found evidence to support many of the charges.

The schools

The bulk of the report chronicles allegations leveled by current and former staff members in the Environmental Health and Safety Branch.

"We found serious flaws in how EHSB functioned that affected its ability to ensure that schools were safe,'' the report said. "Primarily, these flaws were the result of an organizational culture that pressured EHSB staff and managers to underreport environmental and safety hazards, a practice directly at odds with EHSB's stated mission.''

Susie Wong, director of the Environmental Health and Safety Branch from 1989 through 1996, said oversight problems arose as the safety branch began to expand its duties and staffing between 1982 and 1990.

The district's efforts to build schools and the lack of clean sites in the city was the central issue in intradepartmental disputes.

"There were a lot of turf wars going on with us and (the) real estate (branch).'' Wong said in the report.

"It took a while for all that to get worked out.''

Altogether, investigators interviewed more than 60 people and culled through hundreds of pages of documents.

The allegations include:

A safety inspector measured "elevated readings'' of lead contamination in several freshly painted San Fernando Valley elementary schools. The inspector was concerned that the district had illegally used lead paint, likely purchased in Mexico, in the classrooms. It is unclear if anyone ever followed up.

A safety branch supervisor downplayed the extent of asbestos contamination at Van Nuys Middle School during a March 1998 meeting with faculty.

Between 30 and 40 construction workers at Portola Middle School in Tarzana may have been exposed to asbestos during maintenance work. A safety branch inspector documented asbestos around a broken pipe, but workers may not have been notified.

Administrators delayed closing down the physical education office at Wilson High School near downtown after finding asbestos. The delay exposed faculty to the carcinogen for a "few days'' longer than necessary.

District officials failed to evacuate students at South Gate High School during an asbestos cleanup on the same floor.

Fearing liability, a safety branch supervisor chastised an inspector for writing in a report that children at Cathay Center School were playing with broken pieces of floor tile. The tile was suspected of containing asbestos.

Administrators ignored warnings from safety branch inspectors about building Belmont on an oil field and cut the branch out of the process for at least two years, giving the inspectors "no real power or oversight authority.''

Supervisors in the Real Estate and Asset Management Branch demanded a safety inspector be removed from his duties monitoring Jefferson Middle School after the inspector sought additional testing.

Jefferson Middle School also was used as a collection point for hazardous materials during construction.

There was a widely-held perception that safety inspectors should "spin'' their reports of hazards and not confront other LAUSD managers with their findings, the report noted.

The fallout

Unlike a recent scathing audit of Belmont High School's construction, the Rohman report, reviewed by the Daily News, does not recommend disciplining or firing specific district employees.

However, the Belmont report and Rohman report both cite the actions of many of the same officials, including Wong; another former Environmental Health and Safety Branch director, Diane Doi; and Real Estate and Asset Management Branch director Robert Niccum.

Niccum said he had not received the report but disputed the report's charge that political considerations were put ahead of scientific ones when dealing with state environmental laws.

"Did we ever distort (state law) for political purposes? Certainly not,'' Niccum said.

Wong and Doi could not be reached for comment.

Assemblyman Scott Wildman, D-Glendale, a vocal critic of the district's environmental oversight at Belmont, called the report "another nail in the coffin of many high-level administrators at the district.''

"We need to clean house, but we have to clean house at the top,'' Wildman said, before praising the superintendent for allowing the investigation to go forward unimpeded.

``The superintendent has put us in a position where we have identified the problems and now can eliminate the people who have victimized the children and wasted millions of tax dollars.''

Pleased with report

While Arabzadeh, the whistle-blower, declined to cooperate with Rohman, the ousted environmental chief said he gave a great amount of detailed information to LAUSD auditor Don Mullinax's investigation into the Belmont fiasco.

Arabzadeh said he was pleased to hear that the report backs up some of the charges he leveled.

"I am very glad this is all coming out,'' he said. "Our kids deserve a lot better.''

He also disputed the idea that he did nothing to stop the mismanagement and doctoring of reports cited in the report.

The report advises the school board to give the Environmental Health and Safety Branch equal status to the real estate and maintenance divisions.

Rohman wrote that the school board should give the safety branch more money and hire a safety director with a strong scientific and technical background.

In addition, he recommends opening up more safety branch records to the public, with fewer documents labeled as "privileged.''

The investigation found three incidents where the district's application of the attorney-client privilege was "questionable at best,'' Rohman wrote.

"It appears that the privilege may have been misused for an entire category of documents.''

LAUSD General Counsel Richard K. Mason said he had not reviewed the Rohman report, but was aware of the investigator's concerns regarding the distribution of public information.

"There were issues related to some offices utilizing a confidential stamp, which when brought to my attention I rectified,'' Mason said.

"I have indicated to staff that they need to be vigilant in making sure documents are appropriately stamped confidential only when justified.''

HIGHLIGHTS OF REPORT

Administrators knew of lead and asbestos contamination in some San Fernando Valley schools but failed to alert parents, teachers and workers.

Decisions about environmental safety were based on a "let's-not-scare-parents'' approach, rather than science.

Staffers underreported environmental health safety hazards because of pressure from district managers.

A "turf war'' between safety inspectors and real estate supervisors led to many of the problems.

Classification of several documents as "confidential'' was "questionable at best.''

Staff Writer David R. Baker contributed to this story.

Copyright (c) 1999 Daily News of Los Angeles