Dear Fowler Elementary School District Parents and Community Members:

As you are aware, on May 23, 2009, the roof of the cafeteria at Santa Maria Middle School collapsed. Fortunately, no one was injured as a result of this incident.

Since that time, we have worked to determine the cause of the collapse, and to ensure that all of our schools are safe. We retained expert structural engineers—Gervasio and Associates—who have investigated the cause of the collapse and have determined that the roof’s failure related to errors committed during the original design and construction of the roof.

We continue to investigate the party responsible for the roof’s failure, and we will take all appropriate steps to hold those responsible for the collapse accountable. Contractors have been working diligently to replace the roof of the Santa Maria cafeteria, and construction of the new roof is nearing completion. In addition, our structural engineers have visually inspected the roofs of all of our schools and have confirmed that there are no signs of roof failure.

Our structural engineers will perform additional inspections of the roofs of our schools to confirm that the roofs remain free of defects. The safety of our students and staff is our top priority, and we will continue to update you as we receive additional information. Thank you for your continued support of our school.

Marvene Lobato

Superintendent