Army Engineers Agree to Help Build L.A. Schools

Los Angeles school officials on Monday signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to oversee the construction of at least 150 new schools, a move prompted by their concern over incompetence and potential corruption in the district’s school-building program.

Also Monday, interim superintendent-to-be Ramon C. Cortines said he has concluded that the district should finish the half-completed Belmont Learning Complex, a $200-million high school now being put in mothballs because of environmental hazards.

“How can you have spent that much money and not finish it?” Cortines asked.

The developments, which marked a dramatic shift for two downward-spiraling efforts, were among the new leaders’ first responses to the crises that helped bring them to power in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

By endorsing Belmont, Cortines has given the beleaguered project a powerful champion, something it has lacked since disclosures earlier this year that environmental hazards had been inadequately assessed before construction began.

Similarly, by calling in the branch of the armed forces responsible for building massive flood control projects, chief operating officer Howard Miller hopes to restore efficiency and integrity to the district’s school-building program.

“I think the Corps of Engineers brings substantial increased credibility to the district’s building activities,” Miller said. “It is an unimpeachable partner that is external and has a highly distinguished reputation.”

The move was also designed to stave off corruption, said one source.

The senior staff official, who asked not to be quoted, said the district’s new leadership has been “stunned” by the high degree of political infighting, incompetence and situations ripe for corruption.

“Every land deal being negotiated is structured with suspicious cash flow,” the official said.

Schools Needed for Tens of Thousands

At a news conference announcing the agreement, Miller said the Corps of Engineers would provide personnel to oversee the selection of new school sites, environmental clearance of the land, and design and construction of buildings.

Miller, who said he will present a budget for the corps’ participation to the board Dec. 14, said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills) proposed the idea to him and that he first contacted the corps a week ago.

The agreement is the second stage of his initiative to build schools for tens of thousands of students expected in the next decade, Miller said.

Last month, he announced that the district would concentrate its building program on small schools. That plan calls for building 150 primary centers, for kindergarten through third grade, changing elementary schools to grades four through eight, and converting middle schools to high schools.

Besides the Belmont fiasco, the school-building program recently took another blow when district staff were unable to acquire land fast enough to qualify for state bond funds that expire in June. Miller said he expects the district to lose out on about $850 million.

The agreement calls for the corps to provide engineers and other technical staff to the district as needed. By law, the corps can share its capabilities with other government agencies and be reimbursed for costs only, allowing the district to keep excess funds and overhead, Miller said.

The district would retain overall management of the construction program, and the actual work would still be performed by commercial contractors.

But Miller said the corps will help the district select those contractors.

“I think it is a great idea,” said board member Caprice Young. “They’ve got one of the strongest track records in project management. There is a tremendous dearth of qualified project management experience, especially on the scale we are talking about.”

Corps Has School Experience

The corps has experience in school construction both in providing facilities for the military and in some public school systems, said Col. John P. Carroll, Los Angeles District engineer for the corps.

The corps has helped repair dilapidated schools in Washington, D.C., and hurricane-damaged schools in South Florida and Puerto Rico, Carroll said.

During the news conference, Miller declined to comment on whether the corps would oversee Belmont if the school board decides to complete it.

Miller, who said he expects to deliver a recommendation to the board Dec. 14, refused to say whether he would propose finishing the project.

A critical piece of the Belmont picture is whether the state will provide money to complete the badly needed high school west of downtown, he said.

So far, the state has paid about $61 million to purchase the 35-acre site but has not approved construction funds. The district has borrowed more than $90 million to build the 5,000-student school.

“If it can only be built out of general funds because the state won’t contribute capital money, that adds complexity to the decision-making,” Miller said. “It is very difficult as a matter of judgment to do capital expenditures out of general fund money.”

Miller said he hopes the use of the Corps of Engineers to oversee construction will help eliminate state legislators’ distrust, but in the meantime, the district has to explore other options for a school in the downtown area.

“Until you know that the state will provide alternate funding, you have to go through the whole range of ways,” he said.

Cortines, who will become interim superintendent when Supt. Ruben Zacarias’ contract buyout takes effect Jan. 15, said he believes Belmont should be finished with or without state money, but that he believes the state should contribute.

The $200-million high school, he said, is a story of “courage . . . of communities coming together to solve problems.”

Referring to public fears about methane and toxic hydrogen sulfide at the former oil field, Cortines said the district administration and the Board of Education should set an example by moving its own offices into the space originally designated for retail tenants.

“If it’s good enough for the kids, it’s good for the superintendent,” Cortines said.