Belmont School Panel Ready to Begin Study

An attorney for an environmental group was named Friday as the seventh member of a commission that will weigh the fate of the environmentally troubled Belmont Learning Complex.

Moments before the Los Angeles Board of Education voted to formalize the commission appointments, district officials identified David S. Beckman, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, as the final member.

Beckman had not been confirmed when the other six members were announced Wednesday.

The new panel has 60 days to make a recommendation on whether the $200-million downtown high school, now more than half complete, can be made safe for students and faculty despite the presence of explosive methane gas and toxic hydrogen sulfide on the 35-acre campus site.

Former Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner told the board the group will convene Monday at 2 p.m. in the boardroom and again Thursday at 10 a.m. to begin receiving comments from agencies with a stake in the school project, including the district’s environmental safety team and state regulatory agencies.

The board approved the panel membership on a 6-0 vote with one exception. Board member Valerie Fields declined to vote for former Assemblyman Charles Calderon after he volunteered the fact that he had been fined by the state Fair Political Practices Commission in 1995. Calderon told the board the $15,000 fine resulted from a disagreement over what constituted proper uses of campaign funds, “and I lost.”

Board President Genethia Hayes was absent.

At a news conference after the vote, panel members revealed that all had been solicited for the job by Barry Groveman, attorney for the district’s safety team.

Groveman said his goal was to assemble people “who are dispassionate but strong on environmental health and safety issues.”