Braxton and Caceres are prepping these students as tour guides for their peers, parents and visitors. So what would people want to know? asked Caceres.
"The names of the things on top of the lights," offered Christian Ledesma, 16, an incoming junior. He was referring to small, umbrella-like caps atop some poles through which methane vents into the open air.
Overall, the school's layout situates buildings away from where the most oil drilling occurred. Vapors are probably heaviest there.
In the playing fields, the gases can dissipate harmlessly when they hit the open air. This process is assisted by a layer of sand beneath the turf, which allows vapors to spread out and dilute before rising to the surface.
The buildings -- where gases could potentially accumulate in dangerous concentrations -- are protected by a plastic liner below the concrete slab. And below the liner are tubes to collect gas and carry it outside. Sensors that detect gas will trigger blowers to force it out more quickly. Backup blowers are available if needed. The whole system links to a touch-screen computer in the main office that has a live view of sensor readings, which are recorded in a database.
If the district had to start over, it "might opt to pick another site," said former district safety director Angelo Bellomo, now the county's director of environmental health. "Can the school be operated safely? Yes. But it also has to be monitored and maintained for the life of the school without failure. That's the biggest concern many people have had: that, over time, people would become less concerned and think less about the purpose of the system."
The concerns at Belmont and other L.A. Unified campuses built over oil fields or polluted ground ultimately led to independent oversight of environmental issues at schools through the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control. In addition, in L.A. Unified, the safety division no longer reports to facilities administrators intent on holding down costs and keeping projects on schedule.
Roybal Learning Center sits above part of the 800-acre Los Angeles Oil Field, one of many now-developed areas of oil drilling in the L.A. Basin. District experts and consultants said they know of no building -- schools included -- that has more levels of protection than Roybal, which helps explain the high price tag.
Some construction professionals consider the safety system needlessly cautious and expensive, but given Roybal's history, such an approach became virtually inevitable.
