Is MVMS Down in the Dump?
Is MVMS sinking? The answer is yes. The buildings themselves aren’t sinking, but the ground around them is. Tim Ryan, Director of Maintenance and Operations for the Mill Valley School District, was asked a few questions about this problem.
According to Ryan, the ground MVMS is built on used to be the Mill Valley dump. The buildings were built on big concrete pillars going all the way down to bedrock. The biomaterial from the dump is decomposing, and getting smaller, so there is now less trash for the ground to be on and the ground is
settling.
The ground is curving downward, and the water fountain adjacent to the gym is tipping.
“The water main cracked last year because of this,” explained Ryan. “The school went without water, no water in the toilets, nowhere.”
The school has been sinking for 25 years and will keep sinking. The lumps in the ground near the 7 and 8 grade pods are also caused by this. Students will not really be affected by this; the only danger will be tripping. “I think it’s kinda weird” says Edward, a 7th grade student here at MVMS, “I never knew this.”
In order to make an improvement to this, the District would have to hire a geo-technician to check out and fix the problem.
By Mohammed
STAFF WRITER
