Sierra House update: After Action parent/teacher team being formed

December 4, 2018 - Sierra House Elementary School Principal Karin Holmes has been providing parents and the community with updates since a fire on November 11 destroyed a section of the school.

Parent concern over communication and transparency surrounding the Lake Tahoe Unified School District's handling of the aftermath came to a head during a PTA meeting last week. Teachers and students reported being sick from the soot, fumes and leftover chemicals. On Saturday the lastest tests for asbestos came back negative and on Sunday the VOC testing also came back negative.

On Tuesday, December 4 Sierra House had a Site Safety team meeting and they discussed the fire at length with Fire Chief Tim Alameda of Lake Valley Fire, according to Holmes. The cause of the fire was with the misuse of a power cord, so Alameda and the team discussed protocols for teachers moving forward with electrical outlets and power cord safety.

On Wednesday they will continues the discussion during a staff meeting.

Belfor has a new project manager on board, Jim Aguiar. He did a building walk through to familiarize himself with the school and the prescribed protocols. He will be on the school grounds every day going forward.

Four surface lift samples (settled dust and debris on flat surfaces), including a worst case from within the affected fire area, came back negative for asbestos, said Holmes. One remaining test is being analyzed, which is a soot sample.

Results are expected later this week. Labs are behind on sampling soot due the extra volume being tested from the Camp Fire.

There will be an “After Action” process meeting on Monday afternoon at 4:00 at the Education Center Board room. Any parent interested in participating in the process need to contact Karin Holmes at Sierra House by this Friday.