Schools OK Ambassador Hotel Report : Education: The board’s approval of the environmental study allows planning to begin for the demolition of the structure and building of a high school on the site.

Taking the latest step in a battle over the Ambassador Hotel site, the Los Angeles school board Tuesday approved an environmental impact report that allows district officials to begin planning the demolition of the historic building and construct a high school in its place.

The board’s unanimous decision gives planners the go-ahead to draw up architectural blueprints for a school that will serve approximately 3,000 students from crowded campuses in the mid-Wilshire area. Those students currently are bused to schools as far away as the San Fernando Valley, according to Roger Rasmussen, director of the district’s Independent Analysis Unit.

The next step is for a court to decide the value of the hotel property. The district wants 17 acres of the 23.5-acre site, and has offered to pay nearly $48 million to acquire it. But owners of the property, who include wealthy developer Donald Trump, have said the land is worth far more. The case is expected to be heard in late October, Rasmussen said.

The state has agreed to give the district up to $50 million to buy the land, but if the court decides the land is worth a substantially higher price, “it would be difficult for the board to complete the purchase,” Rasmussen said.

The supplemental environmental impact report explored various ways to develop the site, including saving sections of the hotel and making them part of the school. The report ultimately recommended tearing down the hotel entirely to make way for the school.

But several board members emphasized they are open to ways to preserve the hotel for residential and other uses, in addition to the school, if outside financing becomes available.

“I’m concerned we don’t rule out all options to work with the private sector on funding and utilizing the (existing) building,” said board member Barbara Boudreaux. “We must try to work as a group to try to preserve (it).”

But board member Jeff Horton said the immediate priority is creating a new school for students who currently must travel outside their community to get a seat in a classroom.

“We have several thousand students riding a bus over an hour to go to school when they should have a school in their neighborhood,” Horton said. “That’s why we need to move full (speed) ahead to build a high school.”