Another High School for LAUSD, starting at $66.5 Million in Huntington Park. .

From the Tuesday LAUSD Board of Education agenda, there's a simple listing under "D. Open Session Items" that seemed pretty bland until I got to the price tag, $66.5 Million. It's O.K., that's just an authorization and like most things in LAUSD, this is subject to change. This price tag will probably look like a bargain after the work has begun and more changes are made to boost the price to something more noteworthy.

At least you won't see this match the Beaudry High School, aka Roybal Learning Center. It was going to be named "The Belmont Learning Center" http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-belmont10-2008aug10,0,1095667.story "New name, new life for Belmont school."

Here's the agenda item:

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Governing Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District
SPECIAL MEETING ORDER OF BUSINESS
333 South Beaudry Avenue, Board Room
10:00 a.m., Tuesday, November 17, 2009

D. Open Session Items
1. Board of Education Report No. 127
- 09/10 - Postponed from 11-10-09 Regular Board
Meeting.
Facilities Services Division
(Authorization for Staff to Enter into a Development Agreement for the Delivery of South Region High School No. 7) Recommends authorization for staff to enter into an agreement with McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. for approximately $66.5 million for the delivery of a 1,620 students high school to be located at 6361 Cottage Street in the City of Huntington Park, and adopts the plans and specifications for the school
pursuant to the requirements of Education Code Section 17406.

So, am I being to critical on this project? I don't think so and I just look back to the other projects that support this idea. Back to Belmont/ Roybal (and for a time, "Vista Hermosa"):

"$400M High School Opens 10 Years Behind Schedule," from the CBS-KCAL television story of Oct 18, 2008. http://cbs2.com/local/Roybal.Learning.Center.2.843826.html
This is the most expensive school in the United States, built over an earthquake fault line (like most of L.A.) and over an oil field (Do you remember when there were oil wells there on that slope before the land was graded?).

Over at the old Board of Education headquarters on Grand Ave., you have the recently opened High School #9, the Arts High School, coming in at a price tag of $232 Million, at least that was the figure from the story last year in the L.A. Weekly- the L.A. Times story this year has some updated information on cost and how they choose students, but that's for another blog day.

"Art School or LAUSD Folly?" in the L.A. WEEKLY on September 03, 2008, http://www.laweekly.com/2008-09-04/news/art-school-or-lausd-folly/ gives you a sample of the things that run up costs and delay completions of schools. This school is very close to Roybal and its the second most expensive school in the U.S. to build. Only in L.A.

By the time the schools are done, the original population that the building plan was based upon has changed by more students leaving the neighborhood entirely as there's more "gentrification" happening in L.A., pricing out people, or the students head to charter schools or Catholic or other private schools. And don't forget that there's lots dropping out so that a 9th grade class has a high casualty rate by the time a 12th grade graduation day arrives.

I read a while back that the plan for construction will complete 2 schools a month until 2011 when the project is done.

And for those of you in the Cypress Park, Glassell Park area, High School #13 (if I remember the numbering correctly) is quickly taking shape. That property in the old train yard off San Fernando Road next to the Fed Ex facility only cost LAUSD $50 million two years after a firm bought it for $30 million undee the noses of the LAUSD Board 2 years earlier after the LAUSD did not move quickly enough to get its act together. Mayor Villaraigosa's friend and campaign contributor was part of this deal. A $20 million profit in 2 years? But then that firm filed for bankruptcy as the real estate market dried up. It was reputed to be the biggest single owner of downtown real estate.

Well, we will see how long it takes and how much it costs for this school- and there's also a chance that they are building this school for it to be taken over by a charter school. Somehow that doesn't sound right that LAUSD should be building schools that it realistically has a chance of not operating. Again, as memory serves me, the number may be up to 250 sites. Well, that's LAUSD.