Parents show up at school board meeting to voice Sierra House fire concerns

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Attending the December 6 special meeting of the Lake Tahoe Unified School Board were concerned parents, teachers and staff from Sierra House Elementary, enough to fill the room and into the hallway. They were there to ask the Board why the school was reopened just two days after the November 11 fire that took out a hallway, a reading room, teacher's room and caused damage to ducts and panels above the ceiling. They were there to thank the board for what they've done since bringing on an environmental hygienist, but voiced their concerns over the lack of air quality testing before students and teachers were allowed back in.

The meeting was called as a special closed session special meeting to discuss the possibility of litigation that may come from the fire, though no such actions have come forward at this time.

But before that could happen, the parents spoke up.

One mother told of her son having hives and vomiting after attending school on November 14, enough to where their doctor was concerned about his weight loss. He has since been homeschooled with his sibling who also attends Sierra House.

Another mother said her son had a sore throat, was vomiting and coughing. At the time of his illness there was no associating the symptoms with the fire damage as this parent, as well as others, thought the air had been tested prior to the school's opening.

"We assume an open school is a safe school," said another.

Parents are happy that the district is now having more conversation with parents and teachers, have a new company on board to continue the cleanup of the fire affected areas, and have plans to move the 2nd and 3rd graders to another campus once the big projects begin next week.

They are also very happy being part of the Sierra House family and are appreciative of their principal, that was voiced several times.

But the big question in the room remains the same...why was the school opened without it being safe?

Since it was public comment there could be no interaction with the Board, they could only listen and take notes due to Brown Act guidelines.

Once the Board heard from ten parents they closed the public meeting and moved into closed session.

Principal Karin Holmes issued her ninth bulletin since the November 28 parent meeting, updating her school community on the day's actions. She said Premier Environmental Consulting was on campus Thursday to do another round of VOC air quality testing. Those results as soon as they are available.

She said their plan for the upper pod classes move to the Al Tahoe campus is coming together with Bob Grant taking on the acting principal duties at that site along with a secretary, school nurse, reading intervention and RSP staff. Additional staff will be present to cover library and PE time as well as assist with classes. Lunches will be served at Al Tahoe. At the end of the day, parents will be able to pick up students at Al Tahoe, if they wish, or students can ride the bus back to Sierra House and complete their regular bus route. If students attend Boys and Girls Club they will just stay at that building and not return to Sierra House.

At this time Belfor and Premier are putting together a proposal and timeline for remediation plans. As their plan is completed and approved by insurance, the specifics will be shared.