A $400 million lesson

Before your next bake sale, reflect on this horror story.

As threats of multi-billion-dollar cuts in state school funding are convincing concerned parents in some school districts to whip out their checkbooks to preserve teaching positions, it's a good time to dust off the story of how the Los Angeles Unified School District squandered $400 million for the nation's most expensive high school that almost didn't get built. We're referring to the Belmont Learning Complex in downtown L.A.

Even if you don't have children in the LAUSD, this story of incompetence, stupidity and, in our opinion, malfeasance, is worth retelling. Especially if you're among parents who are conducting bake sales, car washes and other fund-raising activities to help your children's school.

The high school project, which was built on a former oil field, began more than 20 years ago. According to published reports, planners realized there were explosive methane gas and toxic waste on the 33-acre site, but said they were surprised to learn - after construction was well under way - of the seriousness of the problem. The project was abandoned in 2000, when the school board decided the former oil field was no place for children or other living things.

A few years later, though, the board and a new superintendent had a change of heart and hired a private developer to finish the project. No sooner had construction begun than the developer discovered that the school site was smack dab on top of what officials described as "a small but troublesome earthquake fault." Construction was stopped again, and in 2004 more than half of the buildings, which had never seen a teacher or a student, were demolished. At that point, the tab was $154 million. Those millions came out of your pocket in the form of state and, for L.A. residents, local bond payments.
A $400 million lesson - Press-Telegram

Set on a "troublesome earthquake fault" that's STILL releasing methane gas? I saw this on the news; they have vents on top of the light posts so the gas won't go into the classrooms. :wtf:

But remember, the safety of your children ALWAYS comes first!

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

Outrageous

Screw public scholls. Home schooling is the way to go.