The Army to the Rescue

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with its reputation for completing projects on time and on budget, promises a level of expertise, efficiency and oversight missing from the botched and bloated way in which the Los Angeles district sites and builds new schools.

Yes, the Corps of Engineers is having to ride to the rescue of the Los Angeles Unified School District. It’s come to that.

The corps, under an agreement signed with the LAUSD this week, is expected to save the district money. We hope that the involvement of the corps, even on an interim basis, also will discourage the fierce political infighting over contracts and lessen the potential for corruption in lucrative land deals.

The proposal to use the corps originated with Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Mission Hills). After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, the corps repaired and built schools in south Florida, and it took on similar tasks in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Georges. For the past three years, it has overseen window, roof and boiler repairs in District of Columbia public schools.

In Los Angeles, the corps is expected to participate in teams that pick locations for new schools, recommend developers, negotiate contracts and manage projects. Building 150 primary centers will be a district priority. These small schools house students in kindergarten through the third grade and require less space and land than traditional elementary campuses. In addition to overseeing that construction, the corps is expected to manage the proposed reconfiguration of some elementary schools that will become middle schools and some middle school campuses that will be converted to high schools to accommodate a rapidly increasing student enrollment.

Under this week’s agreement, the corps will not be involved in the Belmont Learning Complex, the $200-million combination high school-retail development that from the start was too complicated to be taken on by the LAUSD alone. Construction began without adequate environmental review, and today the campus stands more than half-built on an abandoned oil field tainted with explosive methane and toxic hydrogen sulfide. Work has been suspended until the school board decides whether to proceed with an expensive mitigation plan or abandon the entire project.

Though not a permanent fix to the school construction mess symbolized by the Belmont Learning Complex fiasco, the Army Corps of Engineers could do what the district has failed to do: deliver problem-free new schools on time and for a reasonable price.

It does seem absurd to have to bring in a part of the armed services to help save Los Angeles’ efforts to build public schools. But as the Belmont experience has fully demonstrated, this district has shown no limits when it comes to thoroughly bungling a complex project. If it takes the Army Corps of Engineers, so be it. Marines, stand ready.