Picture this: CSArts students in rain jackets crowd the pathways to classes, umbrellas crashing together, it’s rainy season in Southern California. The problem is some parts of Southern California received their annual rainfall in just two days, with parts of the San Gabriel Valley getting 10 inches for the first storm, and another 3 inches last week. Students who love the rain are all happy and delighted, but other students are used to the California sun, and hate the wet weather on our “outdoor campus.”
The tarps around campus are meant to provide shade to students and can’t handle rain at this intensity, which leads to students getting splashed and soggy. Throughout the rainy season, the campus has witnessed flooding in many different parts of the school due to the heavier than normal rain. Plus, leaves, wood chips, and other objects clogging up the drains.
One of the major challenges is outdoor nutrition and lunch lines. CSArts administrators have addressed these issues, discussing moving the lines to a covered area. Also, there are shade covers near these lines that are not being used due to the fact that the shade covers cannot handle the amount of rain with these record breaking storms.
The buildings in the 400s have leaks in the roofs. With all the umbrellas, it causes traffic jams in the narrow path when students are heading to classes.
CSArts admin are working on solutions for problems on campus, but the problem extends outside of campus, with Duarte’s infrastructure being challenged by mudslides from the foothills. With the way the sewage and water works in Duarte, everything comes from the high mountains and hills to the low streets, creating more collection and more standing water. CSArts does their best to address possible problems before it rains.
The leakage in the gym was affected by Duarte Unified putting new air exchangers on the roof and those connections aren’t fully sealed as well as they could be. So there were leaks in the gym,”
assistant principal Mr. Metoyer said. He is also aware of the water puddling up in the 100s, 200s, and the Quad. The problem is that cash, unlike rain, doesn’t fall from the sky.
We have a limited capital budget and that’s the budget that we use every summer to fix things,”
Metoyer said.
It will be hard to spend a decent amount of that budget when it rains, which is only a few days a year.”
Admin is being focusing on what they can control and fix, with these goals:
- Replacing the tarps with one individual durable tarp that slightly bends at both ends so there are no open spaces
- Mats that soak up water efficiently to be put near the front doors of each classroom
- 2 buckets for each classroom to put umbrellas
You can always reach out to admin with any concerns or ideas on how to better deal with the rainy weather.
Wrestling with the Words