суббота, 22 сентября 2012 г.

EDITORIAL ULTIMATE BETRAYAL THE REVIVED BELMONT LEARNING CENTER IS THE CURSE OF THE LAUSD - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

WITH their decision to complete the Belmont Learning Center, theflip- flopping Los Angeles school board and Superintendent Roy Romerhave committed the ultimate betrayal of parents, students, teachersand taxpayers.

This betrayal began years ago, when the board decided to depriveteachers and students of classroom funds, using the money to buy theland that now houses the infamous school atop an earthquake faultand oil field spewing dangerous gases.

Now the board has compounded that betrayal by signing off on anew Belmont plan that would put a 2,100-seat high school and 500-seat academy on the site, as well as a library/auditorium, parentcenter and 10- to 12-acre park.

The park will be run by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy,for which it will pay a symbolic $1 a year - symbolic of what littleregard the LAUSD has for taxpayer money that's supposed to educatechildren.

The original, unfinished Belmont Learning Center already has costtaxpayers at least $166 million and probably quite a bit more if atrue accounting were made. At that price, it's the nation'scostliest school ever built or, in this case, not built.

Completing the project is expected to cost (at least) $111million more, which brings the total price to nearly $300 million -or an astonishing $100,000 per seat.

Romer and the board now plan to spend Measure K funds to help paythe bill, despite repeated promises that none of the bond moneywould be used for the star-crossed project.

Chalk it up as just another betrayal.

But the even greater betrayal is the LAUSD's violation of thepublic trust.

The board had previously decided - twice - to abandon Belmont dueto the health and environmental risks.

That was then. Now, expedience rules the day.

Without thorough study of the risks at hand, the board has pushedforward, rushing to complete a school that will be a target forlawsuits every time somebody gets a headache.

And that's the best-case scenario.

What if there's an earthquake and the LAUSD's disregard of thedanger leads to deaths and injuries? What if the explosive and toxicgases seeping up from below kill or sicken children of staffmembers?

Given the flagrant disregard of safety and common sense, theliability will be enormous.

The real victims are the students and parents in the Belmont areawho have waited for years for a new school, and very likely willwait a lot longer if someone sues to block construction for one of100 reasons.

For a man of his age, Romer has proved himself to be quite anacrobat on Belmont, turning somersaults and handstands to pleasevarious special interests.

He didn't start this monument to the failure of the LAUSD, but heclearly intends to finish it.

Maybe it should be called the Roy Romer Learning Center.

That way, long after Romer has returned to his ranch in Colorado,everyone will know whom to thank - or blame.