COMMUNITY OUTREACH MEETING #1:
OCTOBER 16, 2006

LAUSD hosted the first Community Outreach Meeting regarding the proposed school in Porter Ranch on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 6:30pm at Beckford Elementary.

A presentation was made by Ed Van Ginkel, Senior Development Manager at LAUSD. Introductory comments were made by Joseph Pina, LAUSD Community Outreach Coordinator 213-893-6809, Jon Lauritzen, School Board Member for this area and Jean Brown, Local District Superintendent.

The following details were presented about the proposed school.

• 41 classrooms

• 1,047 seats. 300 of these are expected to be for the middle school students.

• Should relieve Castlebay, Beckford, Germaine and Darby elementaries, Lawrence Middle School and Frost Middle School.

• The location is not yet finalized. But it is expected to be near Mason and Sesnon.

• Opening date is projected for 2012, but may be sooner, because land acquisition may be streamlined.

• A community committee will provide input on the facility design and instructional program. This will be headed up by Donna Smith from Jon Lauritzen's office. Please contact Becky Leveque for more information.

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:

1. Project Definition (this is where we are)

2. Site Selection

3. Environmental Design (takes a year)

4. Property Acquisition and Relocation

5. Construction (takes 2 years)

MEETING QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:

Q: Does LAUSD have the funding for this?
A: Funding was provided by Measure Y voted on November 2005. Construction is expected to cost $400 per square foot. The budget can handle up to $500 per square foot. The structures will not be elaborate or expensive, like bricks. The structures will probably be steel-framed, which is anti-termite.

Q: What about earthquake safety?
A: LAUSD builds schools to the strongest standards, just like for any community service center, like a police station. The location will be evaluated during the environmental review. They will not build on a fault.

Q: How many stories would the school be?
A: That has not been determined yet. Most likely it would be 2 stories.

Q: What will the boundaries be?
A: Boundaries will be determined one year prior to opening, which is also when a Principal will be hired.

Q: What will you do to protect the smaller students from the larger ones?
A: The layout and boundaries of the elementary and middle school campuses are not yet determined. One approach is to keep them separate. Another is to encourage the children to grow up together, teaching the older children that they have responsibilities towards the younger ones, in roles like tutoring and mentoring.

Q: What will the academic program be: Gifted? SAS? Magnet?
A: The academic program has not been determined yet. That is done with input from the community. All schools have a gifted program. This would probably not be a magnet school because that is not open to the community. A community school is what is needed here.

Q: Will the middle school be open to the entirety of Porter Ranch?
A: It is planned that the elementary students would matriculate directly into the middle school, which would only take these students.

Q: Will the school open with all grades at once?
A: This is not yet known.

Q: Will the school open as a year round school. One of the recent LAUSD projects opened as a year round school.
A: It is not expected to be a year round school.

Q: When will the Board approve this project?
A: On Nov 15, it will go before the Bond Oversight Committee Review meeting. On Nov 16, it will go before the Facilities Committee Review Meeting. On Nov 28, it will be agendized for the next Board of Education Meeting. On Dec 12, it will go before the Board of Education for Project Definition approval.

OTHER CONCERNS:

Middle School Size: 300 middle school seats may not be enough. Want all the Porter Ranch Middle School students to be able to attend the new school. Driving to Frost doesn't make sense.

Need for School: Neighboring schools could not contain all the future students without this school, and in fact are overflowing now. See Castlebay at 8:15am.

Eyesore: Want to make the school consistent with the architecture of the neighborhood. No eyesores.

Facilities: Would like the school to have space to hold community meetings.