Milken High to Honor Completion of Final Building

Sprawled at the top of the Sepulveda Pass with a spectacular view of the brushy hills and city below, Milken Community High School is among the nation’s largest non-Orthodox Jewish high schools.

At the college-like campus, ancient Jewish traditions share class time with such modern disciplines as robotics and biotechnology. The 10-acre campus cost nearly $40 million to build.

Video cameras allow each classroom to “video conference” with people around the world, and each seat in the school’s six science labs has a fiber-optic hookup so students can plug in laptop computers.

On Sunday, administrators will celebrate the completion of the school’s fourth and final building, a 16,000-square-foot structure with 12 classrooms, two science labs and an art studio equipped with a skylight.

“This is heaven,” said Dori Kulwin, chairwoman of Milken’s art department. “It’s spacious, and I’ve never taught in anything like this before.”

The $8.5-million building was financed by the Milken Family Foundation and private donations.

“It’s very modern, with the finest technology,” said school founder Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin during a recent tour.

Zeldin will help lead the celebration Sunday at 4 p.m. in the school’s 300-seat Margolis Performing Arts Center. The student orchestra will perform, local politicians are expected to speak and so is children’s TV show host Art Linkletter.

More than 700 people, including students, their families and dignitaries, attended a ceremony last year when the campus opened. It has a broadcast studio and a 600-seat gymnasium. The library’s technology center has 25 computers and a computer specialist to assist students.

Each of the school’s 500 students pays an annual tuition of $15,000.

The Milken Family Foundation--headed by former junk bond king Michael Milken--financed a third of the new school’s total cost. The rest of the money came from private donations.

“It’s a fabulous campus,” Zive said. “I love it here.”