Longfellow Middle School to close for 2 years due to dry rot
The school building has been red-tagged and deemed unsafe to occupy, officials said in a statement.
Longfellow Middle School will be closed for the next two years due to "extensive dry rot" found in its structural beams, Berkeley Unified announced Tuesday.
The Scanner asked BUSD about the issue early Monday evening but did not get a response until Tuesday afternoon.
According to a statement that has now been posted on the school district website, officials learned about the structural issues on Friday and have been working to find a solution.
According to the statement, dry rot was discovered in the primary structural beams "that support the southern side of the three-story Longfellow Middle School classroom building," which has been undergoing modernization.
The school is located on Derby Street just east of Sacramento Street in South Berkeley.
"The dry rot was discovered when the stucco was removed from the southern facade to replace windows," BUSD said. "The supports of this building are crumbling and have created an unsafe condition. The level of potential structural damage on other sides of the building cannot be determined without further demolition to allow for inspections."
For now, the entire Longfellow campus has been closed pending further analysis.
"Although damage has only been verified on the southern face at this time, the structural integrity of this building has been compromised to the point that the structural engineers have red-tagged the building," the district said. "When a building is red-tagged in California, it is designated as unsafe to occupy until all unsafe conditions have been properly mitigated."
The district plans to relocate Longfellow operations to the Berkeley Adult School campus at 1701 San Pablo Ave. (at Francisco Street), likely for the next two school years.
Meanwhile, the Berkeley Adult School will relocate to "other BUSD sites for the next two school years."
The full BUSD statement appears below.
Longfellow Middle School red-tagged: All the details
Construction at Longfellow Middle School on Derby Street on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Emilie Raguso/TBS
On Friday, June 7, BUSD learned of a structural safety condition with extensive dry rot to the primary structural beams that support the southern side of the three-story Longfellow Middle School classroom building that is currently undergoing modernization. The dry rot was discovered when the stucco was removed from the southern facade to replace windows. The supports of this building are crumbling and have created an unsafe condition. The level of potential structural damage on other sides of the building cannot be determined without further demolition to allow for inspections.
Although damage has only been verified on the southern face at this time, the structural integrity of this building has been compromised to the point that the structural engineers have red-tagged the building. When a building is red-tagged in California, it is designated as unsafe to occupy until all unsafe conditions have been properly mitigated.
While we are working quickly to understand the scope and larger implication of this damage, based on dry rot already uncovered and the timeline to design a fix, receive approval by the State Architect, and then reconstruct the building, we believe that students and staff will not be able to occupy the building for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. Additionally, due to the scope of the reconstruction work ahead and the extent of the current hazard, the entire Longfellow campus is closed. We believe the Longfellow campus will be unavailable to students and staff for at least the 2024-2025 and 2025-26 school years.
While this level of damage was unforeseen, and we understand this sudden news is a lot to take in, it is not uncommon in public education that schools are closed and temporarily moved.
Temporary Locations for Longfellow Middle School and Berkeley Adult School
Since June 7, district administrators and staff have been meeting regularly to ensure Longfellow students and the school community have a safe, welcoming school site for Fall 2024. We have found a temporary home for Longfellow for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years at BUSD’s Berkeley Adult School (BAS), located at 1701 San Pablo Avenue.
So that Longfellow students and staff can enjoy the full use of BAS, district staff is working with BAS principal Thomas Reid to coordinate the relocation of BAS classes to other BUSD sites for the next two school years. We are fortunate that BAS is a large site, already operating as a school, including once as an elementary school, and has enough classrooms and facilities to support the Longfellow school community during this period.
While we believe this plan will allow the district to continue to offer all Longfellow classes and programs at BAS and all BAS classes and programs at a new location for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years, we are still in the early stages of this process. We appreciate our community’s patience as we formalize our plan. The district will continue to update information as it becomes available.
Where to Find Additional Information During the Summer
An FAQ on the Longfellow and BAS emergency moves can be found at this link. This FAQ will be updated regularly over the summer and is also available in Spanish at this link. Community members can suggest questions to be added to the FAQ and provide additional thoughts and feedback via this Google form.
