Roos’ Idea for Site Problem--Taller Schools

Assemblyman Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles) proposed a partial solution Friday to one of the Los Angeles school district’s most intractable problems: How to build the schools that are so urgently needed in the most crowded parts of the city without destroying many of the neighborhoods the schools are intended to serve.

School officials said the proposal has considerable merit, but it may come too late to save many homes already targeted for demolition under the school district’s construction plans. In recent weeks, thousands of homeowners in Central City, South-Central Los Angeles and the southeast region of the district have been notified that the district intends to purchase their property to make way for the new classrooms.

Standing in front of one such threatened home on Madison Avenue in the Wilshire area, Roos unveiled legislation that would offer school districts financial incentives to build multistory schools that would require less land--and thus would displace fewer residents.

Roos said the legislation was written in response to numerous complaints his office received in recent weeks from constituents whose homes are on the endangered list.

“This proposal will save these neighborhoods,” he said, from the “meat-ax” approach taken by the district.

To cope with an enrollment that is expected to grow by 14,000 students annually for the next several years, the district has already received state approval to build 18 schools and expand 32 existing campuses. Plans for 43 additional projects--22 new schools and 21 expansions--will be submitted to Sacramento by May 1.

Under current state codes, school districts receive funding for school construction through a complex formula that allows a district to purchase a certain number of acres per hundreds of students. The standard formula for an elementary school, for example, allows 10 acres for 500 students, Roos said.

Shortchanged by Formula

The state formula, however, shortchanges Los Angeles and other large urban districts that need to build schools in congested areas, where open land is scarce and extremely expensive. In Los Angeles, district officials say, it is impossible to find 10 acres of vacant land, particularly in the neighborhoods where schools are needed.

According to Max Barney, who helps oversee school building, the standard size of an elementary school in the state is 10 acres, but in Los Angeles the average is five acres and often even less. For high schools, the state allows up to 40 acres, but in Los Angeles a 10- or 11-acre campus is typical.

The Roos bill proposes a bonus system for districts that agree to build multistory schools in congested areas. The bonus would consist of 50% of the savings that result from the smaller land purchase. The bill stipulates that the bonus must be spent on enhancing the physical environment of the school, such as adding atriums to make up for the lack of grass, playground area or open space.

The bill would also limit such schools to a maximum height of four stories.

Ronald Prescott, the district’s legislative advocate, said district officials like the bill because it would provide equity to large urban school systems like Los Angeles.

“We have a school with 800-plus students that is less than half the size of a playground in other districts,” Prescott said.

‘A Wonderful Idea’

School board member Jackie Goldberg, whose Hollywood and Central City district includes some of the most crowded schools in the district, said the bill is “a wonderful idea” because it removes a “disincentive” in the current law that has discouraged the building of multistory schools.

The existing law provides money for a limited number of hallways and stairwells, more of which are needed in a multilevel school. The Roos bill would grant a 15% increase in allowable space to cover interior hallways and stairs.

School board member Larry Gonzalez, who is chairman of the district’s building committee, said the bill, if passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor this year, might result in some homes being saved. But he stressed that building multistory schools would not solve all the problems created by the district’s enrollment boom and that it is inevitable that many private residences will still have to be sacrificed.

“The issue that many people don’t understand is that we are building schools in communities that are overcrowded,” Gonzalez said. “People say, ‘Why don’t you build in the San Fernando Valley?’ The answer is that we have to build where the children are, and the acute crowding is taking place in the center of the city, in the southeast and in South-Central Los Angeles.”

Concern for School Density

Gonzalez said he is concerned that the bill does not address the issue of school density. Although it does set a limit of four stories, it does not place a limit on enrollment. A “grave” problem the district faces on many campuses, the board member said, is inadequate playground and lunch areas.

“You have to ask whether a multistory school is educationally a good idea,” he said. “Theoretically, you can build 20 stories . . . but we’re not building office buildings. We’re building educational centers for our young people.”

Robyn Morningstar, a resident of the Madison Avenue neighborhood threatened by the construction of a elementary school, said she and her neighbors are not opposed to building schools.

“We know the need for schools. We just think this is an inappropriate site,” she said, motioning to the street lined with small, well-kept homes. “Neighborhoods such as ours help enhance the city,” and the school board has not adequately studied the negative consequences that would result from its loss.