Whale Gulch School At Risk of Closure Due to Superintendent’s Liability Concerns–Community Devastated

On Thursday, July 11th, a Leggett Valley Unified School District Board meeting hit a bump when the potential closure of Whale Gulch School was examined as a discussion item due to a problem with the school’s Division of the State Architect structural certification. The Whale Gulch community had only just been informed of the risk of closure on June 27th. Tensions were running high.

The Board took no action and was supportive of finding solutions, pledging to pursue open discussions about avenues for Whale Gulch School’s continuance. However, a concerned parent was still “troubled by the fact that the outcome seemed to be telegraphed before the discussion.” Certain that no real pressing structural problems exist at Whale Gulch School, parents cited frightening implications for other similar rural independent schools.

“To me it sounded like a done deal,” the parent continued at the meeting. “But we shouldn’t be talking about closing the Whale Gulch School. We should be talking about saving the Whale Gulch School,” a Necessary Small school under the Cal. Ed. Code § 42283.

Former student Leif Larson stood up, saying, “My daughter went here…the really fantastic base education allowed her to excel. A lot of this community has depended on this educational institution. The students that have graduated from here have gone on to lead really successful careers.”

His father Christopher Larson chimed in, “I’m really curious how many places in the state are out of compliance and still operating, you know? … Our sister school in Big Sur is also off the grid, and has been functioning for a long time with varying degrees of difficulty complying…and is still operating as a school.”

Parent Paige Finley added, “I don’t believe that any parents feel that our children are unsafe in a building on this campus.”

Finley continued, facing Superintendent Sierra Lahera (who attended on Zoom), “Why is it your priority to dig for unknown problems instead of solving the issues that we already face on a daily basis?” She went on to add, “Your lack of action prioritizing our children is deeply concerning and makes me question your integrity and ability to be our Superintendent.”

According to an “ABC–Allow us Back on Campus” factsheet compiled by the Whale Gulch School Education Association last week, in 1996, all parties—the Whale Gulch Community and Leggett Valley Unified School District–were told by the Mendocino Deputy County Counsel, Mendocino County Building & Planning Department, and the Mendocino County Office of Education that the Mendocino Building Department is the entity that has jurisdiction over the school buildings. Therefore, it was through them that all building permits were sought. The staff, the former district superintendents and school boards, and the community believed that the buildings were in compliance.

The Whale Gulch School Education Association states that the buildings are safe according to all of the rigorous earthquake standards that Mendocino County imposes and according to all of the building codes at the time that they were built.

No one has flagged the buildings as unsafe, and the school passes their FIT inspections every year. It feels like very much a “bureaucratic issue,” as multiple parents reiterated at the July 11th School Board meeting.

Uniquely, the school district doesn’t own the Whale Gulch School property—it’s always been leased. This all started with the negotiations for the renewal of the ten year lease agreement with the Whale Gulch School Education Association (WGSWA).

The Division of the State Architect (DSA) did not technically notify the school district that the Whale Gulch School buildings aren’t DSA certified. The discovery that the buildings lack DSA certification was made during the Superintendent’s lease investigation.

In June, during the lease negotiations, the district removed the fire insurance clause which had been in place for 30 years. The district’s attorney, after first stating that it was due to extremely high cost, subsequently stated that it was actually because the district’s JPA insurance company would not insure leased land.

However, it was brought to light that there hadn’t actually been any threat by the insurance company to cancel the building’s insurance. The School Board President Jessica Roemer assured the Association that she believed insurance was no longer an issue. However, a few days later at the June LVUSD Board meeting on June 24th, the Board came out of closed session saying that there would need to be new, stronger wording in the Memorandum of Understanding regarding DSA compliance included in the new lease in order for the insurance company to reissue the fire insurance policy, according to Whale Gulch School Education Association.

Thus, the new spotlight on the school’s lack of DSA certification did not come from the Division of the State Architect–but instead arose from the insurance question, also stirring up new concerns about the personal liability of the Superintendent and School Board members.

The Whale Gulch School Education Association requested the June 27th meeting as a working meeting to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding that would accompany the updated lease. That was when the Superintendent, Sierra Lahera, came out with the alarming new information that it is her belief that students cannot be in buildings that are not DSA certified. At that point, the insurance representative attending via Zoom said that both liability and fire insurance would not be available for Whale Gulch School.

While the Whale Gulch School buildings, since they are privately owned and not school district-owned, are not under the jurisdiction of the DSA, any building can request DSA certification. Whale Gulch School’s “non-compliance” with the DSA centers on the fact that DSA certification wasn’t actively sought out by the Leggett Valley Unified School District.

According to the Whale Gulch School Education Association, although the district may have once investigated DSA compliance in the past, they really didn’t think they had to, given that it had been determined, as prior stated, that the Mendocino Building Department held authority. Thus, the personal liability of the various School Board members and Superintendents over the last three decades may have been left exposed, a possibility which only came to light in June. “We are finding this out at a late date,” School Board President Jessica Roemer confirmed via phone interview on July 22nd. “It wasn’t until June that we really discovered” that “we would be individually liable.”

No inspector has come in and said that there is anything wrong with the buildings. According to the Whale Gulch School Education Association, the issues that could close the campus are: 1) the DSA certification that the insurance companies want, 2) the personal liability of the Superintendent and School Board members that the lack of certification imposes, and 3) the inability of the school to operate without any liability insurance. Despite these bureaucratic problems, the Whale Gulch School Education Association is pursuing actions to address these issues, such as completing Form 91, which puts them in “process” with the DSA and will “hopefully satisfy the insurance group as to our intention and purpose,” as well as contacting their representative for assistance.

Lead Teacher Julia George stated via email interview on July 21st, “There are many people working hard to solve this issue because we want parents to be confident that there is a plan in place and that their children’s educational career at Whale Gulch School is assured.” Board President Jessica Roemer added on July 22nd via phone that “We’re working actively with the Whale Gulch School Education Association to come up with good solutions.”

When asked to respond in an email interview on July 22nd, Sierra Lahera stated, “The 10-year sublease agreement for the school property between the District and WGSEA was set to expire June 30, 2024. We started renegotiating the sublease this spring. As we were working through the maintenance responsibilities and insurance language in the sublease, we discovered that the buildings were built with county permits but not DSA approval, which is required for schools. Late May/early June, when working with our insurance company on the details, they were unaware we did not own the buildings, or that they were not DSA-certified, and they informed us that any claims at the school would be denied. Mid to late June, as I was researching how to get the buildings retrofitted to become DSA-certified, we discovered that putting students in non-DSA certified buildings is against Ed Code and now that the School Board is aware, the individual Board members take on personal liability if something were to happen.”