Posted on 08/23/2010 11:13:58 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA
LOS ANGELES -- Next month's opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will be auspicious for a reason other than its both storied and infamous history as the former Ambassador Hotel, where the Democratic presidential contender was assassinated in 1968. With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever.
The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of "Taj Mahal" schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities.
....
At RFK, the features include fine art murals and a marble memorial depicting the complex's namesake, a manicured public park, a state-of-the-art swimming pool and preservation of pieces of the original hotel.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Back in 1990, I ran for the state legislature in the Mid-Wilshire district (now called Korea Town) where this school is located. I ran as a suicide Republican candidate in an overwhelming Democrat district and had no chance of winning. Of course I was slaughtered in the election.
But it may interest many of you to know that my big issue was my staunch opposition of LAUSD taking over the old Ambassador Hotel which I wanted to see renovated. At the time even Donald Trump was looking at the property.
No I feel totally vindicated as this new latest white elephant unfolds as the district, like LA, and the entire state is sliding down the toilet, over run and overwhelmed with illegal aliens and drowning in an ocean of red ink.
Supposedly it is 3 to 4 times the city average per seat.
Your numbers are not entirely right.
My numbers only looked at this year yes, but the cost per studnet is approx $10,000 per student per year in ongoing costs, so your costs drastically undercount the real cost.
Welcome to RFK Community Schools!
The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools is a K-12 complex located on the former site of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California where U.S. Senator Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. Schools in the RFK Network embody Kennedy's social justice legacy.
Also available in presentation mode…
We are a special cluster of public schools.
As pilot schools, role models of educational innovation, and as research and development sites for effective teaching and learning in urban public schools.
We are committed to your community.
The RFK Community Schools are located in the Wilshire Center/Koreatown area of central Los Angeles, serving students from Pico Union and other neighboring communities, which, taken together, comprise the most densely populated area in California. The school-age population in this area is predominantly Latino (84%) and low-income (89%), with 50% classified as English Language Learners.
Unlike charter schools that recruit students from across the city, RFK Community Schools serve neighborhood students and in so doing relieves nearby severely overcrowded sites.
We
UCLA-CS is located in the Central Los Angeles Learning Center #1, more commonly referred to as the Ambassador Schools Complex, which will house in 2010 six Pilot Schools serving both K-12 and 9-12 student populations. The historic school site has been developed in collaboration with the Robert F. Kennedy Commission and several community-based organizations.
They also spent $9 million to fight Doanld Trump in court who wanted to build the world’s tallest building there.
I cannot believe a massive building along that corridor.
Foxnews just read a comment from the school district.....in their response, they misspelled “serious” as “serous”....also had another misspelling.
That is series!
The sad sad reality is MOST schools being built around the country are obscenely ornate structures. Sure, they have to last a long time, but taxpayers are footing the bills. It would be interesting to know what the AVERAGE cost of building a new high school is., and how much it is effecting our taxes.
In San Antonio, School Taxes are crazy high - lumped in with our property taxes. Actually it is the bulk of our property taxes... which is extremely high. I certainly don’t see the quality of education rising., I see the various district School Boards trying to out-do one another.
Unreal
Truth is white people stopped having children and school enrollment was going to plumett if the demographics were not changed. Teacher’s unions want a lot more illegals to fill the schools so they can keep their bank accounts full.
Sigh we are so screwed.
Gotta love the timing on this one. I hope they have a huge ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Hussein, Moonbeam, Babs, Nancy, a boatload of drunk Kennedys, Darryl Hannah, and a huge seething mob of “La Raza” gangbangers, all just weeks before the election!
If the school reflects the community, it is built in the middle of “K-Town” ... KoreaTown.
There are very few Latinos or blacks.
Huh?
I didn't even give any numbers for what I thought the costs were.
It's just that dividing the cost by the number of students there NOW is overly simplistic.
You greedy, selfish taxpayers need to turn up the spigot.
Pay your fair share. :)
RFK is LAUSD’s most costly campus – and it needs more cash
By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer
Posted: 07/09/2010 09:32:39 PM PDT
Already ballooning to $572 million, Los Angeles Unified’s most expensive school – and possibly the nation's – looks like it will need a final $6 million infusion before fully opening this fall.
The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, a K-12 complex on the former site of the Ambassador Hotel where Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, needs the money to satisfy environmental regulations.
School board members are scheduled Tuesday to vote on the additional funding request.
The school will consist of six different learning centers and enroll 4,260 students, making the cost per seat about $135,000 – nearly 40 percent higher than the average school built in the central Los Angeles area over the past two years.
It even exceeds the per-seat cost of the pricey High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, whose $132,000 per-seat price tag – along with its bold, roller-coaster inspired architecture – raised plenty of eyebrows when it opened in September 2009.
District officials say the cost of the Robert F. Kennedy complex is more than justified if you consider its urban location, historical significance and expected community role.
“It has all the modern amenities, like an underground garage, a pool, a state-of-the-art auditorium...,” said James Sohn, LAUSD’s chief facilities executive. “In that context, cost of the schools is appropriate.”
(snip)
“I am very excited that after many years of struggle and many years of community action, we can finally open the door on the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools project ...,” said LAUSD board President Monica Garcia. “This is going to be an amazing facility for some 4,000 K-12 students.”
Garcia acknowledged the cost, but noted that a lot of money has gone to a number of lawsuits and agreements to preserve the site.
“I am glad we invested when we did and this school continues to be part of the struggle to get to 100 percent graduation in this district.”
Neil Gamble, LAUSD’s deputy chief of facilities, said the new construction phase of the district's massive construction program is coming to an end, with only a couple of schools left to bid.
“We do not have another school of this magnitude either under construction or planned,” Gamble said.
School board member Steve Zimmer said he will look closely at the change orders that have been requested for the project. But he added that “if the true cost were $250,000 a seat, it would be worth every penny.”
(snip)
“In a prior time, Louis XIV building Versailles on the backs of the starving peasants. In both cases, the elites took everything the common people had to build their palaces.”
If you suggest beheading government bureaurats, I am all ears.
Look, people, this is just a fancy schmancy daycare/indoctrination center.
Nobody will check the legal status of the school children. Nobody.
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