Kasey Asberry

Neighbors of Balboa High School are wondering if the 1100 students, supporting staff and teachers who attend there are put at risk in the event of fire or earthquake by the routine practice of padlocking emergency exits.

During NERT (Neighborhood Emergency Response Training) exercises held at the school this month neighbors from the Cayuga Improvement Association and North Mission Terrace were being trained to identify exits in the event of a disaster. To their surprise exits appeared to be chained & padlocked. When Mary Harris, children’s advocate and District 11 Council President, asked the firefighters conducting the training about the locked exits she was told that even though it is against regulations, if the firefighters asked the school administrators to take off the chains they’d just put them back as soon as firefighters left. "It is unacceptable to us as a community that we should be putting kids at risk like this." Ms Harris stated.

A visiting parent questioned a Balboa High School staff security guard about this practice when she found exits locked during mid-morning. He answered that the only way out was through the front gate "except when there’s an emergency, and then there’s about fifteen of us who have keys and we’re all responsible for an exit". He explained that gates were locked to keep gangs out.

Passing by the school you may be struck by its elegant Mission-revival arcades in contrast with the 8-foot black bars that surround its lawns. If you enter via the front gate only 2 people can pass side-by-side. On a bright spring morning this feels somewhat confining, what would it feel like to students trying to escape a catastrophe?

According to San Francisco Fire Code any public or commercial building has to maintain unlocked fire exits. If doors are electronically locked they must be controlled centrally and default to unlocked state in the event that electricity is shut off. The code states that this ordnance can only be waived by the Fire Chief.

Fire Inspector Hampton, responsible for fire safety in the City’s public high schools and himself an alum of Balboa (Class of ’61), said that the school has had an agreement on file with the City for many years to apply supervision (monitoring of exits) in place of code compliance. This is needed due to budgetary constraints and the need to prevent adults coming on campus to sell drugs to the kids.

After a fire alarm sent firefighters to the school on February 24 Principal Patricia Gray stated that there had been "no fire, only smoke." And that "no exits were left chained."

Inspector Hampton visited the school later that week on Feb 26 with SFUSD Safety Coordinator Bruce Giannini to inspect the exits. He said that after walking around with the guards he was convinced that no fire doors were locked even though some of them may have had padlocks and chains in place to appear locked. No one is locked in the school during business hours, except inside the perimeter fence which is always kept locked. Inspector Hampton said that the guards are very experienced and that with a $350 million budget deficit it is unrealistic to expect the school district to spend the millions it would take to upgrade fire exits. The fence alone cost $100,000. "You know we fought for this school, to keep it open." he reminisced, "It’s a real shame that it’s gotten so dangerous." He said that to his knowledge no other school locks its exits.

School Board Member Jill Wynns didn’t return calls (Feb 12, 17 and 24) made to understand more about the district’s policy on fire safety.

To learn more see SF Fire Code http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll?f=templates&fn=default.htm&vid=alp:sf_fire, or call the office of the SFUSD School Board at 415-241-6000.