Board Reaffirms Romer’s Belmont Plan in Public

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday bowed to demands from the district attorney’s office and reconsidered a closed-door vote on the Belmont Learning Complex.

The school board, after a contentious hearing, gave Supt. Roy Romer the go-ahead to seek proposals from the private sector to buy the half-finished high school or clean it up and complete it.

The board had taken the same action behind closed doors last month. Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley objected, accusing the board of violating the state’s open meetings law by acting without public input. Cooley demanded that the decision be made in a regular meeting.

Romer has been pushing his private sector idea as a way to resolve lingering questions over Belmont. Those questions include whether environmental hazards at the campus can be alleviated and, if so, how much cleanup and construction would cost.

Romer said Tuesday’s 4-3 vote to proceed with his plan did not guarantee the school will be finished. Instead, he said, it opens the door to finally resolve the fate of the controversial campus in the heart of one of Los Angeles’ most crowded communities.

“We’re on the road,” he said. “We’re going to get answers to this issue. We’re simply getting facts.”

Romer’s plan calls for three options.

Under the first, private firms would clean up environmental hazards at the site, finish the school and ensure that the district is protected against lawsuits. Under the second, the district would sell the property to a buyer, who would clean it up, finish the campus and lease it back to the district.

The final scenario calls for the district simply to sell the property and end its involvement.

The district will begin seeking proposals from the private sector on Feb. 1 or soon after. Outside firms will have 90 days to respond. Romer expects to make a recommendation to the school board by late June.

Board members were visibly testy with each other as they discussed the matter Tuesday. At one point, they narrowly rejected a motion, 4 to 3, to sell the property outright without entertaining Romer’s other options.

Several board members told Romer that they were voting for his plan as a show of support despite misgivings about opening the school, which sits atop a former oil field that contains explosive methane gas and toxic hydrogen sulfide.

“I am terribly concerned about the environmental problems at the site,” board President Genethia Hayes told Romer before she voted in favor of his plan.

Tuesday’s meeting had been eagerly anticipated by Belmont stalwarts, but it attracted only a few speakers. The board’s meeting room was virtually empty by the time the item came up at 6 p.m.

Among the audience were a few Belmont parents and Latino leaders, who are eager to see the campus built to relieve overcrowding at the existing Belmont High School.

“We want to make sure the Belmont Learning Complex gets built,” said Gina Alonzo, of the group Latinos For Excellence in Education. “We want to make sure we support Mr. Romer so students in the Belmont area have a safe school once and for all.”