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The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "'''LAUSD'''") is the largest (in terms of number of students) Public School system in California and the second-largest in the United States . Only the New York City Department Of Education has a larger student population. As Of 2005 , LAUSD serves over 710,000 students, and with over 74,000 employees, is the second largest employer in Los Angeles County , after County government. The company, it would rank at #250. The LAUSD enrolls a third of the Preschool ers in Los Angeles County, and operates almost as many buses as the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority . The LAUSD school construction program rivals the Big Dig in terms of expenditures, and LAUSD cafeterias serve about 500,000 meals a day, rivaling the output of local McDonald's restaurants. {Link without Title} The LAUSD has a reputation for extremely crowded schools, poor maintenance and incompetent administration. Bond issues and ambitious renovation programs have not uniformly eased these conditions.Helfand, Duke, "Shake-ups Launched at Four Schools," ''Los Angeles Times'' 11 January 2002: A1. As part of its school-construction project, LAUSD opened two high schools ( Santee Education Complex , South East ) in 2005 and four high schools ( Arleta , Contreras Learning Complex , Panorama , and East Valley ) in 2006 [http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-schools4oct04,1,7233520.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california . By 2012, over 160 schools will have been constructed, expanded, or completely refurbished. Every LAUSD household or residential area is zoned to an elementary school, a middle school and a high school. HISTORY The Los Angeles Unified School District was once composed of two separate districts: the Los Angeles City School District and the Los Angeles High School District. The latter provided 9-12 educational services, while the former did so for K-8. It was not until the late 1960s that the two school districts merged to create what is today the LAUSD. The last community to secede from the Los Angeles system was Torrance , which later created the Torrance Unified School District , in 1947-48. Carson residents tried unsuccessfully in 2002, and currently, a small area served by LAUSD in Rancho Palos Verdes , known as Eastview, has been trying to do so, and join the school district that the rest of Rancho Palos Verdes is served by--namely, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District . The city of Lomita once tried to secede from the LAUSD and join Torrance Unified. Communities in southeast Los Angeles County , such as Bell , Maywood , and Cudahy , have also tried to secede and form their own districts. GOVERNANCE ]] Pending the outcome of various legal challenges to a change in the structure of the district (see below), the LAUSD is currently governed by a superintendent and a seven-member school board. Members of the board are elected directly by voters from separate districts that encompass communities that the LAUSD serves. The district's current superintendent is David L. Brewer III , a former Navy Vice-Admiral who served as head of the Navy's Education and Training Division and was in charge of the SeaLift Command. From 2001 until his retirement in October, 2006, the district was led by former Colorado Governor and Democratic Party chairman Roy Romer . Current members of Board of Education include Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte (District 1), Board President Monica Garcia (District 2),Tamar Galatzan (District 3), Marlene Canter (District 4), Yolie Flores Aguilar (District 5), Julie Korenstein (District 6), and Richard Vladovic (District 7). LAUSD has long been known for bureaucracy. Over the years, various attempts at reform have been implemented. First, individual schools were given more authority over day to day decisions, and public School Choice was implemented. In the 1990s, ''LEARN'' and ''LAAMP'' were created, giving principals even more authority to make changes in curriculum to benefit students. Regardless, student achievement failed to increase. {Link without Title} Later reform led to the creation of 11 lettered ''minidistricts'' with decentralized management and their own individual superintendents {Link without Title} . Due to the cost of this additional bureaucracy, then Superintendent Romer called for merging the minidistricts. United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing LAUSD teachers, supported this plan. Eight numbered "minidistricts" (now known as Local Districts) arose from the merger. Assembly Bill 1381 ]] After his election to Mayor Of Los Angeles , Antonio Villaraigosa advocated bringing control of the public school system under his office, a move that sparked some protest from teachers, LAUSD board members and many residents of communities not within the City of Los Angeles but served by LAUSD. In August, 2006, after a compromise was brokered which allowed the mayor large control while retaining an elected school board and allowing input to be provided from surrounding cities, California State Assembly Bill 1381 passed, giving the mayor a measure of control over district administration. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the law on September 18 , 2006 . The Board of Education immediately filed suit to block the law, claiming that it violates the state constitution by allowing a local government to take over an educational agency. Specifically, AB 1381:
AB 1381 is required to sunset on January 1, 2013, unless extended by the Legislature. {Link without Title} On , the mayor dropped his appeal as two of the candidates he supported for school board were elected, essentially giving him indirect control over the school district. LAUSD CITIES AND UNINCORPORATED AREAS ]] Source: ''Los Angeles Times'' LAUSD serves all of the following communities:
and portions of the following communities:
LIST OF SCHOOLS AND PROPERTIES Schools ]] See Also: List of Los Angeles Unified School District schools LAUSD has 219 Year-round School s and 439 schools on the traditional calendar. About 47% of all LAUSD students are enrolled in year round schools. {Link without Title} Belmont Learning Center The Belmont Learning Center , in the densely populated Westlake district just west of downtown, was originally envisioned as a mixed-use education and retail complex to include several schools, shops and a public park. After more than a decade of delays stemming from the Environmental Review process, ground was broken for construction in 1995 . Midway through construction it was discovered that explosive Methane and toxic Hydrogen Sulfide were seeping from an old underground oil field. Later, an active surface fault was found under one of the completed buildings, necessitating its removal. The LAUSD had spent an estimated $175 million dollars on the project by 2004, with an additional $110 million budgeted for cleanup efforts. The total cost is estimated by LAUSD at $300 million. Critics have speculated that it may end up costing closer to $500 million. The school is scheduled to open in 2008. The Ambassador Hotel Another controversial project has been the development of -designed coffee shop and the Coconut Grove Nightclub would be preserved, with the Grove serving as the Auditorium for a new school to be built on the site. Demolition began in late 2005, and the last section of the hotel fell on January 16, 2006. The first new school on the site is scheduled to open in 2009. Santee Dairy In 2005, soil samples taken at the LAUSD-owned site of a former Santee Dairy facility in South Los Angeles found high levels of Carcinogen s in soil used as foundation fill for a high school then under construction. A small controversy brewed on the matter, with some neighborhood activists and LAUSD critics claiming a repeat of the Belmont Learning Center fiasco. State scientists determined that the contaminated soil was sufficiently deep to pose no threat to students on the site, and the now-called Santee Educational Complex opened its doors in July 2005. Park Avenue Elementary School On February 9, 2000, the '' Los Angeles Weekly '' published an article about the environmental troubles of Park Avenue Elementary School http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/oozing-asphalt-jungle/6010/ "Oozing Asphalt Jungle" LA Weekly 02/09/2000 (Accessed on 02/19/2007). NOTABLE STAFF MEMBERS Teachers
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