John Burroughs Middle School has been selected by the Los Angeles Unified School District for a major modernization of its 1920s building and campus. Officials from LAUSD’s Facilities Services Division gave an overview of the project and the process of approvals to a small but very interested audience of parents and neighbors last night at the school’s historic auditorium.
John Burroughs Middle School was one of ten schools the District approved for modernization funded by Measure Q funds over the next several years, explained Scott Singletary, Development Manager for LAUSD’s Facilities Services Division. Measure Q, the largest local school bond in the history of the state, was approved in 2008 and authorized LAUSD to borrow $7 billion to fund school repairs and improvements.
Singletary said the District intends to ensure that the campus maintains its historic integrity as part of the Hancock Park Preservation Overlay Zone. He reviewed the evaluation process undertaken by the District, and described elements such as traffic congestion, technology modernization, removal of the portable classrooms (which make up 26% of the classroom space on campus), and the aging infrastructure of building systems such as electrical, heating, etc….which will all be examined as recommendations are developed for the project.
Based on those studies, Singletary and his team will recommend major building upgrades to the historic Administrative Auditorium Building, Classroom Building and Gymnasium. They propose to remove the portable buildings and replace them with new buildings for classrooms, as well as removing and replacing the existing cafeteria. Â In addition, they propose to upgrade the building systems, improve vehicle circulation to reduce traffic congestion in the neighborhood, landscape, and replace hardscape on the campus. The Board of Education will review the initial recommendations at its next meeting on February 9…which will be the first step in a series of approvals that are expected to take 12-18 months. Construction is estimated to start by 2019 and the project is expected to be completed by 2022.
Lorena Padilla-Melendez, Director of Community Relations for the District, explained the project is in the very early development stages and details on where new buildings will be placed, traffic flow, historic preservation and other issues will be worked on over the next 12-18 months, as the project moves forward. She invited the audience to become involved in the process and opened the discussion for questions, which focused on noise and construction logistics (since school will be operating during the course of the project), concern about preserving the historic buildings, reducing traffic congestion and pedestrian safety.
Singletary’s full presentation is available here. For more information on the project, community members can also contact José De Paz, Senior Community Organizer at [email protected] or (213) 241-4141.
