Local News in Brief : School Project Begins
Los Angeles school district officials on Monday turned the first shovelful of dirt in the construction of a new East Los Angeles high school for students interested in health professions.
The Lincoln Medical Magnet High School will “help meet the manpower needs” of hospitals, nursing homes and medical laboratories, Supt. Leonard Britton said during ground-breaking ceremonies at the site near Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
Students will study all the regular, required high school courses but in addition will be offered special classes to prepare for a variety of health-oriented careers.
Completion of the five-story, 2,000-student campus is expected within two years--far quicker than the usual five or six years it takes to build a school, officials said. The key to speeding up the project is an unusual financing plan that uses funds raised by the sale of private bonds. Schools are usually built with state money that is granted in phases, a time-consuming process.
The school will be built by Stolte Construction Co., a division of National Medical Enterprises, which owns or operates more than 300 hospitals across the country. Construction will cost $25 million. Furniture and interest payments will bring the total cost to $45 million.
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