Dear MHS Community:
As Superintendent Lyon presented to the Board of Education in its general meeting on Thursday, March 6, 2014, Environ, the newly hired environmental engineering firm, is in the process of gathering information to create a plan for investigation of the Malibu High School (MHS) and Juan Cabrillo Elementary School (JCES) campuses, as part of our goal to assure school health. Their work has begun, and their first step is focusing on data collection. This includes reviewing all documents pertaining to the properties and environmental work done to date, including the work conducted by Mark Katchen, who did our preliminary testing. Last Thursday, Environ employees walked the Malibu High School campus with district staff and Mark Katchen. I want to clarify a few points to address school community members’ questions.
- Mr. Katchen is no longer affiliated with the environmental investigation in any way; as part of Environ’s research, he was asked to provide a tour of the site and specify the work that he conducted to date.
- Environ will outline a plan to implement best management cleaning practices throughout the district, as appropriate.
- We have made clear to Environ that further testing, including soils testing at MHS and testing at JCES, must be included in the work plan.
The Superintendent has requested a timeline from Environ, which our District will make available to the commmunity.