State Schools Chief Pledges Support for Bond Measure

A San Fernando Valley elementary school formed a backdrop Thursday for the latest and highest-level endorsement of the local school repair and construction bond measure on the November ballot.

During a tour that highlighted maintenance problems at the World War II-era Monlux Elementary School in North Hollywood, state schools chief Delaine Eastin pledged her support for the $2.4-billion bond for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The bond had previously drawn the backing of many local Democrats, including Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City) and state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), and an array of business, community and union leaders.

“For too long LAUSD students have sat in classrooms where roofs leak, the paint is peeling and air conditioning is all but nonexistent,” Eastin said. “If we allow these conditions to continue, we are not doing right by Los Angeles’ children.”

Monlux fourth-grader Cassandra Villa told the state’s superintendent of public instruction: “The school is old and sometimes things don’t work.”

Like many of the 679 schools that would gain repairs, additions, air conditioning and computers if the bond measure passes, Monlux has some chronic needs.

Eastin was shown classrooms where the floor tiles are all detached and one with a gaping hole in the ceiling caused by a leak on the roof, which the school has stopped repairing because it reopens during every rainstorm. A school bathroom emits a stench despite scrubbing and steam-cleaning because bacteria have seeped into the walls.