A Post From Another Blog and My Comments

The Underdog for Kids at: http://www.theunderdogforkids.blogspot.com/ published a post by it's blogger Diana Chapman, about the possible change to the number of seats at South Region High School #15, purposed for construction on the Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur.

I hope you read it and then either read my comments to that post, when they are published, or come back here to read my comments.

I believe that lowering the number of seats at SRHS 15 is nothing more than a trick.

If only 810-seats are truly needed to ease over crowding at San Pedro High School, then why has "1,205" seats been the call for, as part of a 2,025-seat campus, even when South Region High School #14 (SRHS 14) was purposed for the Ponte Vista site, in northwest San Pedro?

IF only "810-seats" are truly needed, then they should be found somewhere else and not at what many of us call, Angel's Gate.

Here are my comments to the Post by Ms. Diana Chapman on her blog:

"A San Pedro School for San Pedro kids" is what Dr. Richard Vladovic, the LAUSD school board member for this area has been tauting since he entered office and became interested in South Region High School #15 (SRHS15).

Dr. Vladovic also repeatedly stated that he wanted only a school with no more than 810-seats at 'Angel's Gate'.

Roderick Hamiliton, of the Facilities Division repeatedly stated that SRHS 15 would be originally built as an 810-seat campus, then grow in time to 1,205-seats.

The Draft Environmental Impact Report for the purposed 1,205-seat high school is not even published yet, and there is a call to change the number of seats at the campus.

Have people forgotten that up to 13,000 school students would be attending overnight programs at the redeveloped Point Fermin Outdoor Education Center, located directly next to the purposed campus' site?

Don't folks remember that if Angel's Gate Continue High School vacates the land, all the other programs at that facility, including Mommy and Me classes would also have to vacate?

Can't people understand that if any new high school campus is built on the purposed site, valuable, irreplaceable, historic, and rare structures, important to all of the United States as it remembers WWI would be lost forever?

Can't you all see it is all a trick?If LAUSD only truly needs 810 additional high school seats to ease "over crowding" at San Pedro High School, then surely any campus that will have THREE operational gymnasiums, should be able to provide space for just those extra 810-seats!

If LAUSD could keep its word on number of seats on high school campuses, then a new high school in San Pedro would have been built decades ago!

The new 810-seat scheme is simply a trick to try and gain support in a community that should see the trick for what it is.

We must not diminish the programs and educational experiences for the 13,000 students that would utilize the Point Fermin Outdoor Educational Center yearly.

We need to understand that the Gaffey Street Pool is owned by the L.A. City Department of Parks and Recreation, not LAUSD.

We need to be reminded of LAUSD's struggles with their budget and how they seem to not be able to learn from prior mistakes.

If only "810-seats" are needed, then it would serve the taxpayers better to NOT build a whole new campus at Angel's Gate.

If only "810-seats" are needed, then there are other places in San Pedro where a new campus could be built.Supporters of SRHS 15 have stated that if all the land at Angel's Gate is not used for a new LAUSD campus, a Charter School group could sweep up the land. What happened to that issue?

There really is no compromise, in my opinion, when a campus directly next to an Outdoor Education Center is considered. There are no schools directly next to the other two LAUSD Outdoor Educational Centers, why should there be one directly next to the one Outdoor Educational Center that could probably become the jewel in the crown of LAUSD?

Is the ANY guarantee that once the "810-seat" SRHS 15 campus is built, LAUSD won't come along in a few years time and state they need more seats at Angel's Gate.

It's a trick. It's a rouse. It's LAUSD.

If we can't trust them by supporting a 1,205-seat campus at Angel's Gate, why oh why should we trust them with an "810-seat facility, there?

Is 405-seats worth all that?