*Disclaimer: At the time this article was written, two of the school’s four elevators were out of service. On the morning of Monday, May 12, all elevators passed inspections and were operational by the afternoon, according to SMUHSD Director of Maintenance, Operations, and Facilities Use Linda Carlton. Later that day, Principal Jen Fong confirmed in an email to staff at 1:44 p.m. that “all elevators were cleared and are now fully operational again.”
In April, senior Reese Bardsley fractured her left tibia and fibula, an injury that required her to use a wheelchair. Upon returning to school, she had difficulty navigating through campus: at the time, all the elevators were out of service. Unable to reach her food and nutrition class on the second floor of the F-Building, she was forced to drop the course.
“That’s my one class where I’m unfortunately not able to go, for the time being, just because there is no option for me to be able to get there, because I’m not physically able to go up any stairs, and because they can’t give me any access to the elevators,” Bardsley said.
Due to safety concerns, a Cal/OSHA Elevator Unit inspector from the California Department of Industrial Relations red-tagged Burlingame’s four elevators on Friday, April 4, according to San Mateo Union High School District Director of Facilities and Construction Charlie Royce. Referring to the Cal/OSHA General Industry Safety Orders, Royce explained a red tag means “danger,” which is why the elevators at Burlingame were not allowed to be used.
The inaccessibility of elevators on campus has posed significant challenges for students with mobility impairments, including junior Adam Zimmer, who broke his ankle playing baseball and now relies on crutches. With an injury that prevents him from putting weight on his ankle, Zimmer said the absence of working elevators makes it more difficult to get around campus.
“Day by day, it’s a lot more work getting around school, which isn’t a small campus, so I mean, by the end of the day, especially the first few days, I was really tired from using crutches all the way around,” Zimmer said. “It took me a lot longer to get between my classes, especially upstairs to get into C-Building, which I luckily have after lunch, but I have to take a lot of extra time to get my way up the stairs, since the elevator is broken.”
Echoing Zimmer’s sentiment, junior Keira Au has used crutches on multiple occasions in the last few years. In April, she too was on crutches for a fractured ankle and was forced to use the ramps in the A-Building as an alternative — a task that has been challenging for her.
“The ramps are very hard to [climb] up because they’re pretty steep… I don’t have upstairs classes, but in my freshman and sophomore year, I would just use the elevator there,” Au said. “But there’s also stairs to get to the first level on the other side [of the A-Building], and I’m not [going to] use the ramp and crutch all the way down the hall, so I usually take the stairs, and it’s just all very inconvenient.”
On Thursday, May 8, elevator inspections took place in the C-Building and F-Building between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. After the inspections, Principal Jen Fong informed staff via email at 8:20 a.m. that “the F elevator passed inspection today and is usable. The C [elevator] failed. And the others are on hold due to AP Testing.”
