District to Reconsider Belmont Vote

Bowing to pressure from prosecutors, Los Angeles Unified School District officials agreed Friday to rescind a closed-door vote on the Belmont Learning Complex and to reconsider the matter in a public meeting.

The school board, in a private session Dec. 12, gave Supt. Roy Romer permission to explore proposals from the private sector for opening or selling the unfinished high school near downtown.

But newly elected Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley accused the school board of violating the state’s open-meeting law--known as the Brown Act--and demanded that it reverse its action.

School district lawyers maintain that the board complied with the law. But in a letter sent to the district attorney’s office Friday, general counsel Hal Kwalwasser said the school district wants to ensure that Belmont discussions are carried out publicly.

“We decided there’s no value in having any dispute lingering over this issue,” Kwalwasser said in an interview. “As a consequence, we decided this would be the best way to proceed since it’s what the district attorney said he wanted.”

The school board will reconsider its closed-door decision during its next public meeting, on Tuesday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Chasworth praised the school district’s response.

“I think it’s a victory for the [public],” she said. “This will be a message not only to [the school district] but to other legislative bodies, that we will take seriously any violations of the Brown Act.”

One legal expert said the district attorney’s efforts and the school district’s compliance were unprecedented.

“So far as I can recall, it’s a first in this particular circumstance,” said Terry Francke, general counsel for the California First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group that keeps an eye on public agencies. “I don’t recall any legislative body deciding to rescind and revisit an allegedly unlawful action at the insistence of a district attorney.”

Kwalwasser noted in his letter to the district attorney’s office that Romer has the authority to solicit bids for work on Belmont without the school board’s consent. Kwalwasser said the board’s 4-3 vote on Dec. 12 was a show of support for Romer’s plan.

On Tuesday, the school board will vote on rescinding its Dec. 12 action and take a new vote, Kwalwasser said.

But the pledge to reopen the Belmont debate did not dissuade another group from continuing its legal challenge.

Local 11 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union--a foe of Belmont’s developer--filed a lawsuit last month asking a Superior Court judge to overturn the school board’s Dec. 12 decision.

The union will monitor whether the school board fully complies with the district attorney’s demands before reevaluating its position, a spokesman said.

“We’ll believe it when we see it,” said David Koff, a research analyst for Local 11, which has long opposed the Belmont project. “Kwalwasser’s letter is no substitute for action.”