S.O.S. SINK OR SWIM
- Erin DiMaggio
- Apr 8
- 15 min read
Updated: Apr 10
Fix The Foundation Or Go For a Dip?
CLIFFNOTES:
PVPUSD has about $75 million to spend now on facility improvements, but the total amount needed to fix everything on the facility master plan may be closer to a billion dollars. The most urgent needs are retrofitting vulnerable buildings, installing new electric panels in some schools, and installing HVAC in schools without mechanical ventilation. The Board is also considering spending over $2 million to upgrade the Miraleste Swimming Pool. The District has failed for years to prioritize real safety issues. The District is taking community feedback now and will vote on a priority list for spending in May. Will they finally fix the seismic issues?
You can email the Board your feedback:
Bond Committee:
mailto:bond@pvpusd.netBOARD MEMBERS;
Linda Kurt, President
Term Expires: 2026
email: kurtli@pvpusd.net
Sara Deen, Vice-President
Term Expires: 2026
email: deens@pvpusd.net
Julie Hamill, Clerk
Term Expires: 2026
email: hamillj@pvpusd.net
Ami Gandhi, Member
Term Expires: 2028
email: gandhia@pvpusd.net
Eric Alegria, Member
Term Expires: 2028
email: alegriae@pvpusd.net
The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified (PVPUSD) School District placed a bond measure on the November 2024 ballot. Measure SOS passed in 2024, which means the District now has money to spend on critical facility upgrades. I shared many reasons why I voted against Measure SOS in previous blogs—it was both personal and rational. To summarize my big feelings, “I don’t trust our current School Board to be good stewards of our property tax money.” Regardless of how I felt, the Bond passed, so now we must ensure our Elected Representatives use our Tax Dollars responsibly.
HISTORY OF PVPUSD FACILITIES
In 2016, PVPUSD hired the DLR Group to assess all District Facilities.
2024: DLR Group, an architect group in Omaha, NE, – donated $20,000 to the YESONSOS Campaign Committee.
Master Plan was published on November 30, 2016 (Rancho Del Mar).
According to the DLR group, in 2016, the District needed $521,965,790 for critical repairs at all District School Sites. In March 2020, PVPUSD tried to pass Measure PV, authorizing the district to issue up to $389.385 million in bonds at an estimated property tax rate of $38 per $100,000. Measure PV was rejected by voters, with 61.83% voting.
Since 2016, as far as I can tell, no one from the District has updated the current cost of carrying out the Facility Master Plan originally presented by DLR. Construction Inflation Rates from 2011 to 2020 for nonresidential buildings: inflation's 10-year average (2011-2020) was 3.7%. In 2020, it dropped to 2.5%, but for the six years 2014-2019, it averaged 4.4%. In 2021, it jumped to 8%, the highest since 2006-2007. In 2022, INFLATION hit 12.8%, the highest since 1980-81. We can expect an immediate impact of the tariffs and increased costs for essential construction materials. Steel and aluminum, critical for various construction applications, have seen price hikes. This affects everything from structural steel used in buildings to rebar and ductwork.
In 2019, PVPUSD hired Cumming Construction Management, Inc. to do another Facility Master Plan.
Why did they need a new one? Couldn't they use the one they already had from the DLR Group?
According to the 2019 Board Reports, the FAC (Facility Advisory Committee) requested an independent cost estimator because the initial report of DLR was too high.
In 2019, the PVPUSD FAC wrote, regarding another report by DLR published in 2018,
The Board retained a consultant, DLR Architects, to prepare a facilities modernization report. This report completed in 2018 anticipated a complete District-wide modernization that resulted in a list of projects costing over $700 million, thus this project list required prioritization.
The FAC recommended an independent cost estimator to be done by https://cumming-group.com/
The scope of work included the probable cost for seismic and ADA upgrades, insulation, new finishes, HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, lighting, and electrical rewiring. Sitework includes new ADA parking stalls and railing, interior perimeter fencing, resurfacing existing paving, landscaping, and upgrading utilities.
2019
Concerns were raised with the total cost - and with the accuracy of the estimate. Concerns were also raised with proposed scope of Facilities Advisory Committee Final Report and Recommendations October 1, 2019 -10- work: it was widely acknowledged that the scope of work described in the DLR Report was aspirational and contained everything required or desired to modernize every school site in the District and that it was unaffordable.
With the independent cost estimator, the FAC brought the cost down from DLRs' $700 million to $427,948,681, and they created a three-tier system from Bare Bones Must to Nice to Have.
SEISMIC ISSUES - 2019 WARNING!
The FAC stressed, "The Palos Verdes community has to address the seismic safety of our schools. Palos Verdes is bordered by a series of active faults that present near-term seismic risk. Our understanding of the number of faults in our area and the threats posed by those nearby faults is evolving and has recently increased. Palos Verdes is also faced with the risk of the San Andreas “big one,” a warning issue with such regularity that many have become immune to the threat. The probability of a major earthquake occurring along the San Andreas is 99% over the next 30 years....PVPUSD must also face the fact that some of its buildings are vulnerable and may not survive such an earthquake. We are putting our children and staff at risk by leaving them in unreinforced buildings."
2020
In March 2020 — PVPUSD tried to pass Measure PV, authorizing the district to issue up to $389.385 million in bonds at an estimated property tax rate of $38 per $100,000. Measure PV was rejected by voters, with 61.83% voting NO.
Arguments against Measure PV are listed in detail here:
For over ten years, the District has not fixed the major seismic issues in buildings throughout the District. Instead, they have spent money covering the grass with cancerous turf, showing no concern for the Environment and the known risks of PFAs.
Who installed the Turf at Ridgecrest Intermediate?
The biggest donor to TheYESONS Committee: DLR
The District has LOTS OF CONTRACTS WITH The DLR Group.
SWIMMING?
In 2022, the Board Voted to hire the DLR group again for $280,500.20 To make plans for the Miraleste Swimming Pool. On the day of the meeting, current School Board Member Linda Kurt (who was not on the Board then) advised against this expense.
PVPUSD Proposal from DLR For the Miraleste Intermediate Pool - The Board Voted Yes to approve the proposal on November 29, 2022.
2023
A NEW SUPERINTENDENT:
In August of 2023, The PVPUSD School Board hired Superintendent Dr. Serrano. Superintendent Serrano immediately went to work to convince the Board and the Community to pass the Bond. From day one, she started talking about the Bond at a community meeting at The Yellow Vase. Superintendents and District Staff may not use District Resources to pass a Bond, so she met outside with the community to get around the law. She also worked with the PTAs across districts who seem exempt from using district resources to pass a bond.
FALL 2024
The District did not have an up-to-date Facility Plan with today's construction costs when they started promoting Measure SOS. I exposed that on Nextdoor, and then immediately after, someone within the District suddenly updated the date on the Old Facility Report on the District Website, but they did not update anything else. The trolls on Nextdoor reported me for telling the truth, and the minions who call themselves the Nextdoor Moderators suspended my account. Then, the District started to refer to the old reports as “living documents” to change them whenever they wanted or needed to. When you visit PVPUSD.Net, click on the Facility tab and follow all the links. The links will take you to old reports from 2016 and 2017. With the cost of inflation and the new tariffs, the district will most likely need well over a billion dollars to fix everything on the Master Facility Plan from 2016.
FALL 2023-WINTER 2024
I met with Superintendent Serrano twice in her office, believing she genuinely cared about how The District and previous Board Members treated us during COVID. I told her about our Lawsuit over the HVAC and the mask mandate. In addition, I showed her the complaint I filed about various Teachers violating codes of ethics. After everything I said, she started talking about the Bond and asked if I could get on board and help. While at first, I admit, I was flattered, then it sunk in. The Teachers who were following kids on Social Media and others promoting Gender Ideology are still gainfully employed, and, with the help of her Husband, who worked on the YesOnSOS Campaign Committee, Serrano got what she wanted. In November of 2024, Measure SOS passed with 57.43% of voters supporting the authorization of PVPUSD $297,800,000 in bonds requiring property owners to pay an additional estimated property tax of $29.49 per $100,000 in assessed property value.
FEBRUARY 20, 2025
The sale of the first series of $75 million of general obligation bonds for Measure SOS was completed on February 20, 2025. The Board is now engaging in discussions regarding how to prioritize spending. Then, on January 22, 2025, the PVPUSD Board of Education reviewed and voted on selected candidates to act as an Oversight Committee. Jeremy Vanderhal and John Cruikshank, two engineers and Republicans, applied for the committee but were rejected by most of the board. Julie Hamill voted yes for Jeremy Vanderhal, and Eric Alegria and Julie Hamill voted yes for John Cruikshank. The majority of the board selected nine members to comprise the CBOC. The Majority of the PVPUSD Board Voted for Keith Murphy, the mastermind behind the YESONSOS Campaign Committee.
COMMUNITY INPUT:
PVPUSD must conduct comprehensive needs assessments involving community input, stakeholder consultations, and expert analyses. The PVPUSD Community includes everyone paying more in property taxes each year. According to the District's Advisors, the "community" is the 46,106 voters. The District says it is asking for community input, but unless the 46,106 voters subscribe to District Emails, they will not have the opportunity to give feedback.
So WHO's Giving INPUT?
So far, parents with kids attending or about to attend Miraleste are giving the most public input. The PTA and Booster Clubs within the District will have the loudest voices.
And what do they want the District to do with the sale of the first Bond?
Swimming...let's go swimming...
It appears that since Keith Murphy worked on the YESONSOS Campaign Committee and brought in the big donors from construction companies—over $150,000 from developers and construction companies, including the Twenty Grand from the DLR Group—the DLR group is most likely banking on another project with PVPUSD to fix up the Miraleste Swimming - While Mr. Murphy is free to advocate for his children, as a Member of The Citizen's Oversight Committee, he doesn't meet the requirements to evaluate information objectively and then to arrive at a fair and unbiased conclusion for what is best for the Tax Payers in PVPUSD to ensure they get a return on their investments to the District.
The purpose of The OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE IS TO PROTECT ALL 46,106 voters - NOT JUST THE YES ON SOS FANS.
Under the Tab for Estimate Of Probable Costs for Miraleste:
It states the total cost for Phase 1 at Miraleste is:
49,536,416 |
According to the Facility Report, the most urgent repairs needed at Miraleste is NOT the swimming pool.
The most urgent repairs include:
AB 300 Seismic Upgrade. Classrooms, specialty rooms, new finishes, lighting, HVAC, electrical, low voltage, insulation, and energy-efficient windows. |
I posted on Instagram/SAVEPVSCHOOLS and made a public comment at PVPUSD.NET. My one post was met with 13 pages of mainly copied-and-pasted appeals to the Board, with the overwhelming attitude that kids need swimming for their social and emotional health. There was no mention of how much it would cost to carry out DLR's plans for renovating the pool or the money that will be diverted away from earthquake-proofing the buildings if the District prioritizes swimming over safety.
I reached out to the Board via email. I wrote,
Please do not let emotional people with personal motivations sway you from common sense.
This is what the District said the Bond Money will be used for:
Local Funding for Classroom Repairs and Student Safety
Repairing or replacing leaky roofs
Fixing failing pipes to prevent sewer and gas leaks
Fixing inadequate and failing electrical systems
Repairing failing classrooms, restrooms, and school facilities
Replacing outdated and inefficient heating and cooling systems
Removing hazardous materials like asbestos and lead
Replacing deteriorating 30+-year-old portable classrooms that exceed their lifespan
Improving earthquake and fire safety and campus security
Updating aging science labs and classrooms to meet current educational standards
Board President Linda Kurt responded to my email on March 28, 2025:
As you probably know, I am responding on behalf of the Board; other Board members will see your email but may or may not respond. To your first point, regarding the MIS pool, I have asked for community input on whether the community supports using bond money for the pool. I have now received your email and one person's spoken comment stating that the pool should not be a priority and two people's written comments saying that it should since 1) it serves as a backup pool for the many times that Pen's or PV's pools are "down," and 2) it took a significant amount of money to build the pool and that fixing this one is much less expensive than building a new one someday. Neither of the "pro" pool emails were emotional pleas; they just shared facts to support their opinions.The Board will discuss the staff's recommendations for facilities prioritization at our meeting on Wednesday night. Then after spring break there will be several community meetings where the public can voice their thoughts and concerns and in May the Board will approve the final prioritization list. Throughout this process I will be very interested to hear what the public thinks, particularly with regards to the pool.
I also expressed my disappointment to the Board that they did not pick John Cruikshank to serve on the Oversight Committee. Cruikshank is a civil engineer with over 30 years of experience retrofitting buildings and other projects. To that, Linda Kurt responded:
“after I received numerous messages from community members who perceived him to have a conflict of interest (since his company had determined which buildings were in need of seismic repair) even though his contract with the district has since expired, I selected someone else so as not to cast a doubt upon the committee.”
I replied,
I can understand how selecting John Cruikshank could be perceived as a conflict of interest. Still, then the same must be said for those who are writing numerous messages to you and for those who donated to the YesOnSOS campaign committee. Superintendent Serrano’s Husband, Keith Murphy, Elliot Levy, Heather Fowler, John Tabiss, etc… worked on and promoted the YesONSOS Campaign Committee. The Committee raised, as of October 25, 2025, $142,786 in donations for promoting Measure SOS:
91% ($129,650) were from people and organizations outside the Palos Verdes peninsula.
9% ($13,136) were from residents on the peninsula.
Will the Board then preclude the top donors to the YesOnSOS Campaign Committee who have conflicts of interest to ensure no conflicts of interest?
DLR Group, an architect group, Omaha, NE, – $20,000. (contracts with the District)
Ledesma & Meyer Construction Co. Inc., Rancho Cucamonga – $15,000
Barnhart-Reese Construction Inc., San Diego, CA – $15,000
Ruhnau Clarke, Riverside, CA, architect – $10,000
Lord Architecture Inc., San Diego, CA – $8,000.
ProSOC Inc. Proficio, system security, San Diego, CA – $5,000.
Balfour Beatty Construction, Dallas, TX – $5,000.
TELACU Construction Management Inc. Los Angeles, CA – $5,000.
PacificWest, an energy company, Tustin, CA – $5,000.
HED, Royal Oak, MI. – $3,000.
Vanir Construction Management, Inc. Sacramento, CA – $3,000.
PKB, architect, Rancho Cucamonga, CA– $3,000.
Urban Futures Inc Isom Advisors, Walnut Creek, CA – $5,000. (contract with the District)
Atkinson Andelson Loya Ruud & Romo, Cerritos, CA – $5,000. (contract with the District)
YOU SCRATCH MY BACK - I WILL SCRATCH YOURS
The answer to my rhetorical question is NO. PVPUSD has several contracts with Urban Futures Inc. and has had a longstanding business relationship with the DLR group. In addition, on March 12, 2025, the Board approved a two-year contract with the Law firm Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo .
It pays to be a lawyer and a big donor to YESONSOS.
The purpose of an Oversight Committee is to be the community's eyes and ears—to protect Homeowners (taxpayers) from Government Representatives who might take advantage of large sums of money to use for personal interest projects rather than the intended purpose of the Bond.
Proposition 39, officially titled the “Smaller Classes, Safer Schools and Financial Accountability Act,” was approved by California voters in November 2000. It was difficult for most tax increase measures to receive the required two-thirds approval needed to issue general obligation bonds for school construction.
The proposition reduced the voter approval rate required for school districts to issue general obligation bonds from 66 2/3% to 55%. Proposition 39 limits the use of bond proceeds to school facilities projects listed or described in the language of the ballot measure approved by the voters. Because of the lower voter approval requirement, Education Code Sections 15264-15282 contain provisions ensuring public oversight and accountability concerning the expenditure of facilities bond revenues. The district board must appoint a citizens’ oversight committee within 60 days of the school's governing board recording the election results in its minutes (Education Code Section 15278 (a)).
Review Board actions in spending bond funds and report the findings with respect to such actions to the public.
To promptly alert the public to any waste or improper expenditure of school construction bond money. Educ. Code §15264(c).
Ensuring that bond revenues are expended only for the purposes described in the Constitution; that is, for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or replacement of school facilities, including the furnishing and equipping of school facilities, or the acquisition or lease of real property for school facilities.
Ensuring that no funds are used for any teacher or administrative salaries or other school operating expenses. Calif. Const. art. XIII A, §1(b)(3)(A); Educ. Code §15278(b)(2).
The District, Members of the Board, The PTA, and The YESONSOS COMMITTEE MADE IT SOUND as if the Buildings would collapse if we didn't vote YES ON SOS.
At the Board meeting on April 2, 2025, PVPUSD District Staff prepared a slideshow with Draft Considerations for prioritizing the spending of the money made from the sale of the Bonds taxpayers are funding.
How did the Miraleste Pool make it SECOND on the Priority list?
Remember: PVPUSD paid the DLR Group (the big $20,000 donors) $280,500.20 for plans for the Miraleste Pool.
FACILITY PROBLEMS - SEISMIC ISSUES!
(screenshots protected by The Public Records Act (PRA) give you access to public records maintained by public schools)
The district has some major facility issues. For example, in 2023, PVPUSD hired the Civil Engineering Firm JMC² to assess buildings across the District seismically. They recommended:
that thirty-six (36) structures of medium and high vulnerability be further evaluated by a registered design professional to determine their seismic performance based on the American Society of Civil Engineer’s 41-17 standards. Seven structures were identified as having “high” risk to be further evaluated by June 2024. If building strengthening is required, then it Is the California Division of State Architect that reviews school construction documents and repairs not individual Peninsula cities.
Each building has received a Total Vulnerability Point score which has allowed them to be categorized into three ranges: Low (0 to 5 points), Medium (6 to 10 points), and High (11 or more points) Vulnerability. The Miraleste Intermediate School (MIS) Building A Library falls into the High Vulnerability category with a total of 15 points, the highest of all buildings. Even though the building condition is “Good” (1 point), the library is a “High Occupancy Building” (2 points) with four structural irregularities: Reentrant Corner (2 points), Pre-Northridge Steel Moment Frame (4 points), Vertical Geometric Irregularity (4 points), and Diaphragm Discontinuity (2 points).
In addition to known seismic issues in multiple buildings across the District, some electrical panels are outdated. During the bond's promotion, Superintendent Serrano called it "An Antique Roadshow."
The District has failed for years to prioritize real safety issues. For example, during COVID, on September 1, 2020, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) published a study finding that classrooms providing improved ventilation for unmasked occupants presented equal or less risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with fully-masked occupants in an inadequately ventilated classroom of equivalent size and occupancy. All government agencies must follow a systematic set of ministerial duties - namely, they must implement policies using evidence-based criteria to ensure safety first. Ministerial duties are tasks or acts that a public official must perform in a prescribed manner without exercising their judgment or discretion, as dictated by law or legal authority. According to the law, these duties are mandatory and leave no room for personal interpretation or choice.
PVPUSD received massive payouts totaling over $20 million in one-time funding. Instead of installing new HVAC with mechanical ventilation, they put the burden of disease management on children, forcing them to social distance even when masked. We filed multiple complaints, which were mainly ignored, and we were constantly harassed by community members.
According to the facility master plan from DLR Group - The EMG Corp:
The HVAC equipment appears to have been installed mainly in 2001. The HVAC is generally limited to heating. No mechanical ventilation or air conditioning is provided to the vast majority of the spaces. The classrooms are stuffy, and many lack operable windows. The controls for the HVAC system do not allow adequate climate control within the individual classrooms and other interior spaces.
The District had $2 million to use for Disease Prevention. They bought some new filters for "existing" outdated HVAC and continued to enforce the mask mandate without shame. The Board took advice from the Budget Advisory Committee Members. The District had $2,040,016 to spend on implementing public health protocols. That money should have gone to proper ventilation, but the District spent the bare minimum on air filters, and the rest went to faulty test kits, plexiglass boxes, and masks.
Finally, in 2022, we received a response to our complaint; the District claimed they had done their job. But you will notice the omission of the truth. THE TRUTH IS THEY HAD MONEY FOR A NEW HVAC, AND INSTEAD, THEY BOUGHT FILTERS FOR THE OLD HVAC.
FINALLY, with major seismic issues, non-existing ventilation systems, leaking roofs, and faulty antique electrical systems, I wish I could say it's shocking that the Miraleste Pool is on the first $75 million priority list. Sadly, nothing shocks me anymore. There is a reason why members who served on the FAC opposed the passing of MEASURE SOS. They don't trust the District.
In Conclusion, the current Board is not responsible for the past Board's mistakes. They have an opportunity now to prove to the public that it knows the difference between urgent safety threats and a dip in the pool. They need to, as the FAC said in 2019, "PVPUSD must also face the fact that some of its buildings are vulnerable and may not survive such an earthquake. We are putting our children and staff at risk by leaving them in unreinforced buildings."
Those who want to go swimming should utilize Proposition 28, the Arts and Music in Schools (AMS) Act, which provides an annual funding source for arts education in California, between $800 million and $1 billion. Since the argument for spending money on swimming is that it's good for social and emotional learning, why not tap into that and add some synchronized swimming to the list of Art activities?
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