09 Aug Problems at Stege Elementary, Now Temporarily Closed, Had ‘Happened Too Long’

Stege Elementary has served central Richmond since it was built in 1943. The school is named after the wealthy frog farmer Richard Stege, who owned the estate the school was built on. (Denis Perez-Bravo / The CC Pulse)

By Mitzi Pérez-Caro

During summer repairs, environmental hazards — including asbestos — were found last month at Stege Elementary School in Richmond. The repairs were halted and the school temporarily closed with a stand-in campus to be set up elsewhere. The closure took families by surprise. But the reason why did not.

Saving Stege, a group of community members invested in making the local community more knowledgeable about conditions at Stege Elementary, hosted a Stege Elementary Family Meeting on Thursday at Booker T. Anderson Community Center.

Throughout the day, Lakisha Mitchell-Keith, a school site council member, gave recurring 20-minute presentations about the conditions of the regular campus and how the district intends to rebuild the school.

“What has happened now is that the heart of Richmond has been activated,” says Mitchell-Keith. “We’re rallying around the families and the parents, because they need our support.”

The day the closure was announced, West Contra Costa Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Kenneth “Chris” Hurst said Stege would be closed for the start of the 2024-25 school year.

“This will ensure the safety of students and staff, and allow our facilities department to begin the Stege rebuild project ahead of schedule,” he said in an update on the district website.

In another update the following day, he announced plans to bus the Stege students to the Lovonya DeJean Middle campus, which will have separate sites “with limited interaction between the school communities.”

The update continued, “Sufficient space is available to ensure both communities can operate effectively and independently.”

Hurst also said lunch would continue to be provided to all students and parking areas designated for Stege families, though “due to bus transportation, traffic is expected to be minimal.”

The sudden relocation of the campus was a surprise to families. However, the hazardous materials found on the campus in July was not news to the Stege community.

Last year, The Pulse reported that the school board identified Stege as “one of the schools most in need of renovation” and that it was slated for “demolition to make way for site improvements in the future.”

Stege was closed “days after the district was sued for failing to address and remedy 45 complaints of poor building conditions at the school,” EdSource reported. The lawsuit, which was filed July 19, “ alleges the school has moldy walls, broken tiles, and classrooms exceeding 90 degrees with windows that won’t open.”

There have also been reports of “toilets overflowing with sewage,” “missing fire extinguishers,” exposed wiring and “pest and vermin infestations running amok,” among other issues, according to the East Bay Times.

“It’s time for everybody, every board member, the superintendent, every district employee to recognize that this is happening. It’s happened too long,” says Mitchell-Keith. “You asked for the parents to get involved; 50 of them wrote letters complaining. You asked for the community to get involved; we went to a meeting and could barely ask questions.”

Mitchell-Keith is referring to the Williams Complaint letters that Stege staff and families wrote in the 2023-24 school year. A Williams Complaint is a Uniform Complaint Procedure complaint, regarding instructional materials, emergency or urgent facilities conditions that pose a threat to the health and safety of pupils and staff.

Families and staff wrote several Williams Complaint letters to the district. The facilities team in the district then was required to look into the issue.

In a settlement from the district, the site visit report concluded that the overall facilities passed with a 92.69% rating. The systems, cleanliness, restrooms/fountains, safety, structural, and external conditions were all rated well. The only problem areas indicated were interior and electrical.

Yet the sudden closure of the campus and the shift to prioritize the rebuild of Stege indicates it was not in compliance as the Williams settlement originally indicated.

The current Stege building was constructed in 1943. The hope of Saving Stege is to have Stege be a state-of-the art campus matching the new Michelle Obama and Lake elementary campuses.

“We are working behind the scenes with the powers that be to get this done,” says Michele Jackson, a Saving Stege member and chair of the education committee for the NAACP El Cerrito branch. Jackson is also a Stege alumna and a retired community member. “We’re trying to build relationships. We’re not trying to hit anybody over the head, but we are telling the truth.”

Both Mitchell-Keith and Jackson said it is an equity issue that the district does not plan to build Stege in the same manner as Obama and Lake elementaries. When asked why, the facility team told Mitchell-Keith that funding was an issue.

In November of 2020, voters passed Measure R, a $545 million bond measure, to improve several WCCUSD campuses.

The Stege community is left in a state of limbo wondering why a school with about 39% of its student population identified as African American is being overlooked. It is the only district school in which Black and African American students together make up the largest portion of the enrollment.

The district will host a community meeting Aug. 14 to present the temporary relocation plan to the Stege community. It will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Booker T. Anderson Community Center, 960 S. 47th St., and on Zoom. Space will be limited at the center, but people can RSVP here to reserve a spot.