Thursday, April 30, 2026

School District Announces Completion of Environmental Sampling At Altadena Arts Magnet

Environmental samples collected from both floors of the fire-adjacent school; lab results for lead and other metals expected as early as this week

The classrooms at 743 East Calaveras Street have been empty for more than 16 months. Last week, environmental testers worked through both floors of Altadena Arts Magnet for the first time, collecting samples from walls and air for laboratory analysis.

According to a district communication sent Tuesday, the Pasadena Unified School District has completed indoor environmental sampling at the school’s Calaveras Street campus — wipe samples and air samples collected from both floors, now in a laboratory.

Initial results for metals including lead are expected as early as this week, according to the district. When all analyses are complete, PUSD said, a full detailed report will be shared with the school community, and those findings will guide any next steps — including what happens to soft goods and porous materials like carpet, blinds, and acoustic tiles.

The district included the two maps for the first and second floors, showing all locations where indoor wipe and co-located air sampling were conducted:

• Indoor Sampling Locations – Map 1
• Indoor Sampling Locations – Map 2

The Eaton Fire, which ignited January 7, 2025, and burned more than 14,000 acres across Altadena and surrounding communities, did not directly damage the school. But it destroyed more than 9,400 structures region-wide, according to PUSD’s Board Report 1933-F, and approximately 75 of those structures were within 250 yards of the Calaveras Street campus, the report states. That proximity — along with burned commercial properties nearby, including laundromats and grocery stores — drove community demands for indoor testing.

In May 2025, more than 300 Altadena residents signed a petition calling on PUSD to conduct comprehensive indoor environmental testing at the school. Petitioners noted that the campus, built in 1953, is a Title I school where 63 percent of students are socioeconomically disadvantaged, and that the community deserved the same level of post-fire scrutiny being applied at other schools, the petition stated. By that point, PUSD’s own exterior soil testing had found elevated levels of fire-related toxins at the Calaveras Street site.

The PUSD Board of Education voted 7-0 on March 26 to approve a contract with Verdantas Inc., a state-licensed environmental consulting firm, along with its teaming partner Vista Environmental Inc., to carry out the indoor testing. The not-to-exceed contract totaled $33,226, including a base amount of $28,226 and a $5,000 contingency allowance, according to the board report. Costs are being covered through the district’s General Fund under a wildfire recovery budget code, with potential reimbursement from insurance recovery proceeds, FEMA disaster assistance, or other disaster recovery sources, the report states.

The testing covered surface wipe sampling at a minimum of 24 locations and co-located air sampling, following methodology established by the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s Technical Guide for Wildfire Impact Assessments, according to PUSD. Samples were analyzed for Title 22 metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and asbestos. No state or federal agency currently requires indoor environmental testing after urban wildfires, according to Board Report 1933-F — the district was taking the step voluntarily.

“Our top priority is the safety and well-being of our students, employees and school communities,” Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco said in a statement on PUSD’s fire recovery page. In Tuesday’s community communication, Blanco and Michael Dunning, the district’s Director of Facilities, Maintenance, Operations and Transportation, said the district is “grateful for your continued engagement and for the trust you place in us to protect our students.”

Parents at the March 26 board meeting had urged that sampling focus on surfaces within six feet of exterior openings and HVAC ducting, and that all results be made fully public. Verdantas representatives told the board a walkthrough would occur the following week and that a detailed sampling protocol could be shared with the community shortly after. The email sent Tuesday includes maps showing sampling locations on both floors.

PUSD had previously completed exterior pressure washing, professional interior cleaning, HVAC system and duct cleaning, and exterior soil testing at the campus, according to the board report. The indoor sampling now completed is a required step before AAM’s students are anticipated to return to Calaveras Street in August, according to Board Report 1933-F.

The test results, pending in the lab, will also figure into a broader legislative moment. AB 1642, the Wildfire Environmental Safety and Testing Act authored by Assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena), passed its first Assembly policy committee in March and is now before the Assembly Appropriations Committee. If enacted, the bill would require California to establish statewide science-based standards for indoor and soil contamination testing after wildfires by July 1, 2027 — filling a regulatory gap that currently leaves schools like AAM without a mandatory framework to follow.

The district said results will be shared with the school community once all analyses are complete — a moment 16 months of waiting has been building toward.