Grading the Nation's Most Expensive School

The pricey schools have come during a sensitive period for the nation's second-largest school system

The reviews of LA's $578 million school project are coming in this week, one month before the campus is set to open.

"The hubris of the American education establishment is on full display." -- Atlanta Journal Constitution

"...a breathtaking sum." -- The Washington Post

"My jaw dropped." -- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"...the creme de la creme of 'Taj Mahal' schools." -- The Associated Press

They're referring to the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools campus. The schools are built on the former Ambassador Hotel property, where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.

The $578 million tag makes it the most expensive public school project ever.

"It is the most costly school, and I think that we forget there was a great deal of litigation," said Superintendent Ramon Cortines. "The historical society was involved. There were politics galore.

"This is not one school. This is multiple schools. Instead of duplicating expensive physical education, auditortium, libraries, things like that, it's not duplication. While there were some cosmetics that did cost a great deal of money, I look at the classrooms and they're state of the art. It's what children should have. It is going to be around for 100, 150 years as a school."

The litigation costs that Cortines mentioned totaled $9 million. Another $33 million was spent on methane mitigation.

About $15 million went to hisotric preservation efforts. The historic features include a wall of the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub. A Paul Williams-designed coffee shop is now a faculty lounge.

The K-12 complex will house 4,200 students. It has art murals and a marble memorial depicting RFK. It also has  a manicured public park, state-of-the-art swimming pool and preservation of pieces of the original hotel.

"There's no more of the old, windowless cinderblock schools of the '70s where kids felt, 'Oh, back to jail,'" said Joe Agron, editor-in-chief of American School & University, a school construction journal. "Districts want a showpiece for the community, a really impressive environment for learning."

"Architects and Builders Love This Stuff"

The pricey schools have come during a sensitive period for the nation's second-largest school system: Nearly 3,000 teachers have been laid off over the past two years, the academic year and programs have been slashed. The district also faces a $640 million shortfall and some schools persistently rank among the nation's lowest performing.

Across the country, some of the most expensive schools are found in low-performing districts. The AP reported that New York City has a $235 million campus; New Brunswick, N.J., opened a $185 million high school in January.

"Architects and builders love this stuff, but there's a little bit of a lack of discipline here," said Mary Filardo, executive director of 21st Century School Fund in Washington, D.C., which promotes urban school construction.

In Los Angeles, officials say the new schools were planned long before the economic pinch and are funded by $20 billion in voter-approved bonds that do not affect the educational budget. Connie Rice, member of the district's School Bond Oversight Committee, noted the megaschools are only three of 131 that the district is building to alleviate overcrowding. RFK "is an amazing facility," she said.

"Is it a lot of money? Yes," she told the AP. "We didn't like it, but they got it done.''

Construction costs at LA Unified are the second-highest in the nation -- something the district blames on skyrocketing material and land prices, rigorous seismic codes and unionized labor.

James Sohn, the district's chief facilities executive, said the megaschools were built when global raw material shortages caused costs to skyrocket to an average of $600 per square foot in 2006 and 2007 -- triple the price from 2002. Costs have since eased to $350 per square foot.

After buildings were demolished at the site of the 2,400-student Roybal school, contaminated soil, a methane gas field and an earthquake fault were discovered.

Over 20 years, the project grew to encompass a dance studio with cushioned maple floors, a modern kitchen with a restaurant-quality pizza oven, a 10-acre park and teacher planning rooms between classrooms.

The 1,700-student arts school was designed as a landmark, with a stainless steel, postmodernistic tower encircled by a rollercoaster-like swirl, while the RFK site involved 15 years of litigation with historic preservationists and Donald Trump, who wanted to build the world's tallest building there. The wrangling cost $9 million.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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