As the first day of school nears on August 19, the district announced the reopening of more Malibu school buildings this week.
Two buildings at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School and two Malibu High buildings were deemed safe after dust and air samples were taken. As of Tuesday, August 12, the administrative building and classroom building C at Juan Cabrillo were reopened. The music building and the media/graphic arts building were reopened at Malibu High.
To date, seven of nine buildings being tested and cleaned at Malibu High have been reopened, while three of six have reopened at Juan Cabrillo.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District also announced that soil tests conducted at the schools indicated “PCB levels are either non-detectible or within the health-based EPA threshold – safe for students and employees.”
Parents and stakeholders became alarmed about the presence of PCBs, known human carcinogens, in school soils after the district removed several tons of PCB-laden soil from the middle school quad in 2011 without notifying parents.