Board Weekly Update on Environmental Issues: Week ending Friday, January 10, 2014

Environmental Issues:
Malibu HS vacated classrooms

As discussed previously, some (relocated) teachers and many parents had expressed a desire to return to their MHS classrooms. With the goal of returning these teachers and students to the vacated rooms as quickly as possible, the process of testing and best management practices (BMP) cleaning of the rooms began immediately at the beginning of winter break. The sequence for this process was: pre- cleaning air sample testing, followed by best management practices cleaning, followed by post-cleaning verification and sample testing in order to be thorough and to build trust. The pre-BMP cleaning air sampling and the BMP cleaning itself took place over the winter break, concluding on December 30, 2014, with a follow-up visit on January 3, 2014 by National Response Corporation, who conducted the best management practices for cleaning of the Blue Building, the Library, the Music Rooms and gym faculty office by the boys’ locker room of Malibu High School.

Post BMP-cleaning air samples of rooms 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, 17, 302, 303 and the gym faculty office by the boys’ locker room were taken on January 4 through January 6, 2014.

The post-BMP air samples, along with the verification wipe wipe/air sampling in rooms 1, 5, 8, 303 and the Library that took place January 2 and 3 (with an EPA Region IX staff on-site to ensure quality control and review chain of custody procedures) were sent to the lab for processing, with the raw data results anticipated January 14, 2014. These raw data results will be sent to the Superintendent directly.

Pre-BMP sampling raw data and analysis was provided to the District on January 2, 2014, and the District in turn submitted the air concentration measurements to EPA Region IX for review and comment on January 3, 2014. EPA reviewed the air concentration measurements. Per the January 8, 2014 email from Steve Armann of EPA Region IX: “These results, as well as the air sampling from November 2013, are all at reported PCB concentration below our acceptable level for Schools of 0.2 ug/m3 for air and are within our acceptable risk range for residential exposures, including the maximum concentration of PCBs in air.”

Informational binders/CD-ROMs for each room that was cleaned using best management practices were provided to the District. These binders include photographs of the rooms before, during and after the best management practices cleaning.

Teachers had the option of returning to their vacated classrooms on January 6, 2014, upon the return from winter break.

Environmental Engineering Firm interviews

The deadline for submission to the District’s RFQ was December 20, 2013. Four companies responded to the RFQ: Exponent of Oakland, CA; Environ of Irvine and Los Angeles, CA; AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc. of Irvine, CA; and Terraphase Engineering of San Diego, CA. The responding companies’ were each deemed to have submitted a qualified response, and were each invited for interviews on Monday, January 13 at the District Office.

The interviews are scheduled to each last 1 1⁄4 hours, with the first 30 minutes devoted to a firm presentation to the panel summarizing their response to the RFQ, and the remaining 45 minutes devoted to questions and answers between the panel and the firms. Panelists will be provided with ranking matrix forms for both the presentations and the question-and-answer sessions. Deliberations and determination of the firm to be selected will take place after the interviews. We will announce the

committee’s recommendation following the interviews and after the Board members are notified of this recommendation. We will submit the name of the successful firm and seek direction for the Superintendent to enter into a contract for the work to the Board of Education for review and approval at the January 16th meeting.

The interview panel members include: Trustees Jose Escarce, MD, PhD, who is a Professor of Medicine at UCLA and a senior natural Scientist at RAND, and Laurie Lieberman, JD, who has participated in the Malibu Schools Environmental Task Force since its inception in October; district administrators Jan Maez, Associate Superintendent and Chief Business Official and Terry Kamibayashi, Manager of Facilities and Maintenance; teacher representative Lisa Lambert; parent representative Seth Jacobson; and environmental engineers Dr. Shala S. Craig and Dr. Andrew Sheldon, who both have many years of experience investigating and remediating hazardous wastes in air, soil, groundwater and wastewater. Dr. Craig is currently employed by Parsons and Dr. Sheldon is with the City of Malibu.

Documents associated with the interview process are being posted on the District’s website.