Los Angeles Unveils $578 Million Public School 367
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from an Associated Press report on next month's opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools in Los Angeles:
"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, and a state-of-the-art swimming pool. 'There's no more of the old, windowless cinderblock schools of the '70s where kids felt, "Oh, back to jail,"' said Joe Agron, editor-in-chief of American School & University, a school construction journal. 'Districts want a showpiece for the community, a really impressive environment for learning.' ... Critics note that nearly 3,000 teachers have been laid off over the past two years, the academic year and programs have been slashed, the district faces a $640 million shortfall and some schools persistently rank among the nation's lowest performing."
Re:News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. (Score:2, Insightful)
Do nerds only go to private schools?
Hey big spender! (Score:5, Insightful)
I know that California's budget concerns go far beyond just the building of this school, but this is still the kind of irresponsible spending that got them into the mess they're currently in. If I were in charge of this project, I wouldn't want anyone to know about it right now.
It's so nice to see (Score:3, Insightful)
Or am I thinking of some other location?
Re:Does It Have (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. (Score:4, Insightful)
Nerds. Schools.
Schools. Nerds.
I'm pretty sure there's a connection there. As for the expense, that's what happens when you have a monopoly on money - you don't need to cut costs. You are free to spend as much as you want, because there's no competitor to undercut you with lower cost goods. Color me unsurprised.
Administrative Offices (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. (Score:4, Insightful)
I also don't understand the comment about 70s schools without windows. I went to schools that were built in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and they all had at least one window per room. I know because I used to stare out of it rather than listen to the boring teacher. (Maybe that's an argument for why windows are bad.)
Plus isn't the purpose of school to adjust kids to their future lives as adults? I certainly don't have any windows on my cubicle.
A monument... (Score:4, Insightful)
What is this? Some kind of parody of everything that's wrong with America? Is the developer supposed to come out from behind the curtain and say, "you idiots! This was a test! You weren't supposed to actually approve this thing!"?
Too fucking big (Score:4, Insightful)
Bigger schools means teachers and students are seen less as humans and just another tally mark to the administration. I could see the benefit if they have some good technical classes so they would have good and up to date tools to work with but other than that, it's just not good.
Cost does not mean quality (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:5, Insightful)
Just another example of a society that cannot seperate form from function.
It's like saying, "I do not know how to make a decent school, so I will make a really impressive building, which will suffice as a school"
It makes want to retch. My parents were teachers (retired) and they stay in touch with many teachers who came from their students (from my generation) who they had inspired to teach themselves.
It is reprehensible for a school board (ANY school board) to spend so much damned money on a building when the REAL key to eduction (teachers, DUH!) are underpaid, undersupplied (way too many have to buy materials out of their own pockets) and set in front of huge classes (most of my daughter's classes have 40 students in them this year) only to be judged by standardized tests.
What happened to inspiring students? What happened to drawing their experiences out of them so that they can relate to the lessons and apply them to their lifes? What happened to all the desire to reach a kid and help them realize how they fit into society instead of falling out? Sure it makes a great movie (when the teachers have proven it to work), but the school boards won't fund better teacher salaries!
Oh yeah, a big expensive building is going to fix it.
TOTAL BS!
Who approved this, and why weren't they fired? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:it's all about accountability (Score:4, Insightful)
I used to think the same thing, but then I realized something.
My daughter will not be getting the crap public education that other children get. She may attend public school, but I make sure that's supplemented with education at home. As a result, she is significantly ahead of her peers as far as the formal education is concerned, and she is already beginning to develop critical thinking skills ( that, frankly, most adults lack ).
My point is this; parents that care will make sure their children are well educated. Those that don't will provide future grunt labor needs. Our country can't survive without this critical resource. We can't all be astronauts, as the saying goes. As long as we are able to provide the basics ( reading/writing/math ) for the majority of citizens, our country will do fine. Those that need or want more education will always be able to get it, and those of us who want more for our children will always provide it.
Re:it's all about accountability (Score:5, Insightful)
Every time (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. (Score:2, Insightful)
Parents who care about their children help them overcome any nerdish tendencies.
Re:Almost there.... (Score:4, Insightful)
And the invasive brain surgery and mind control.... Wait, I guess we're just waiting for the invasive brain surgery parts
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:2, Insightful)
There are more teachers than teaching jobs, this clearly indicates they are not underpaid.
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, that's a good explanation and all, but there's the little problem that this isn't some basic, utilitarian school that cost a lot of money simply because of raw material costs. From the same article you quoted:
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.
Oh, and in reference to another LA school that cost "only" $377 million:
Over 20 years, the project grew to encompass a dance studio with cushioned maple floors, a modern kitchen with a restaurant-quality pizza oven, a 10-acre park and teacher planning rooms between classrooms.
That all seems a little excessive for a public school that -- let's face it -- is going to be housing lots of illegal immigrants. And who in the hell spends 20 years going from design to reality for a public school? That's what you get with union labor and politicians that have their hands out every step of the way.
Re:News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. (Score:3, Insightful)
Parents who care about their children help them overcome any nerdish tendencies.
was that from Mein Kampf?
blame it partly on the procurement process (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know about other states, but in CA once money is earmarked for construction (many times it's so-called "one-time" money, or money that came from a one time windfall), one is prohibited from using it for any other purpose. For instance, at my daughter's school district, the new annex just completed this year at the district office has leather couches, mahoghany accent tables, and marble floors in their reception area. All the money for the construction of this annex was earmarked years ago, when the economy was still "strong". Despite the fact that the actual monetary needs of the district are elsewhere (teachers anyone?), they cannot use the money for anything else, even though it would have made much more sense to go with cheaper materials and use the surplus from construction to fund instruction.
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:0, Insightful)
California simply understands the "fact" that government money is both free and endless. What's the worst that could happen, a few people don't get voted in for spending too much money? Meh, they'll just go on to bigger and better things.
I disagree. Have you heard of the City of Bell? People see the end of the government money train and, just like with the helium story running on /. today, they are questioning if it had to end this way.
Things are going to get worse in this state with regards to public backlash on expenditures.
Remember, Cali citizens are already dealing with issues on-par with the gray water issues in Colorado - including the closure of several manure fed power generation stations (that allowed several farmers to get completely off grid with surplus to resell), bio-fuel initiatives (you can make it, but putting it into a storage container is no longer permissible), and electric farm vehicle programs (no reason given/odd because participants were signing on to continue the program past the evaluation period, and the program supposedly met its efficiency goals).
These things happen for the same types of back room reasons that lead to the prohibition on collecting rain water on your own land in Colorado.
The anger is building, and every ridiculous sounding expenditure is going to make the situation worse. About the only saving grace right now is that Arizona has stepped forward as the enemy of the Latino population, and L.A. is saying the right things with their boycott posturing (not to mention Arpaio coming across like that bounty hunter in the movie O'Brother...).
Take that away and things would already be much much worse with regards to civil order. But don't worry, we'll get there. No new leadership is emerging from the white populace (just new faces). Everyone is still sitting tight with the existing power bases and the legal Latinos are postured to recreate their So.C successes further north, not to mention the Asian influence.
There is a new theory of manifest destiny in So.C. The destiny is oblivion for the dominant culture.
Re:News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. (Score:3, Insightful)
If they knew exactly what they faced, they'd probably revolt and form a new society.
Re:I can think of better uses for $500 million (Score:2, Insightful)
Although I share your outrage, the idea that buying more computers will improve the quality of schooling is patently stupid. Think about it.
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:5, Insightful)
or there aren't enough teaching jobs, tbh once the ratio's get down to 1:5 teachers to students, then we can start worrying about if the number of jobs is right. You forget this isn't a normal job market, or revenue system and you must not have kids.
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:5, Insightful)
Or that in spite of obvious need, too many teachers have been laid off to make budget for massive buildings.
Or perhaps even that markets apply to employment much better in theory than in practice.
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:1, Insightful)
There are more programmers than programming jobs. This clearly indicates programmers are not underpaid.
Ignoring the issue of quality of course, but hey, isn't it nice to know IT professionals are overpaid?
No (Score:4, Insightful)
No there are more teachers than jobs because teachers are getting laid off all over the nation because their unions don't have the pull to counter all the PORK spending that is not cut and continues to be added to budgets by more influential forces.
Plenty of jobs are underpaid yet they find workers who either want the job OR just NEED work. Some jobs are so low that Americans do not want them so then illegals take them; not because the job is so horrible but because the pay is too low for the work. Do we want teachers paid so bad that nobody wants to become a teacher BECAUSE the pay is so low.... then hire illegals to do the work? There are already good teachers who are doing other jobs because it takes a lifetime to make a good wage as a teacher.
Re:News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. (Score:3, Insightful)
at least your project have not gotten canceled and your department downsized.
Re:State-of-the-Art Swimming Pool? (Score:5, Insightful)
there are lots of little things like this that help the latest generation of swimmers go a couple fractions of a second faster than the last.
To which end the sport becomes a measure of both skill and technology, and the swimmers of today cannot be compared to the swimmers of yesterday even remotely objectively.
$578 Million for One School? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:State-of-the-Art Swimming Pool? (Score:4, Insightful)
So why don't attach propellers to the swimmers?
You practice sports in schools for the sake of exercise, spending $500 million for a few hundredths of a second doesn't seem to be the objective of a public school.
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:5, Insightful)
California doesn't, except for a few old white folks (who will soon pass on) object to illegal immigration. For most Californians, the Reconquista cannot come soon enough.
Now that's a ton of bullshit. Just about everyone I know here in Cali is an immigrant, and they uniformly have a problem with illegal immigration. The legal immigration path is hard work (needlessly complicated and expensive IMO), and those who have done it don't exactly like those who haven't.
Re:News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters. (Score:3, Insightful)
Even nerds that go to private schools pay taxes.
Re:Hey big spender! (Score:5, Insightful)
I believe that underlying your comment is an assumption that public school employment is decided by a vibrant functioning marketplace. That assumption would be incorrect.
Re:it's all about accountability (Score:3, Insightful)
That's great and all.
Let me know how that goes in 50 years time, when only the small percentage of children whose parents do this are running in fear from the mobs out for food. :You fail to understand just what will happen if we follow your plan.
Regards.
Re:State-of-the-Art Swimming Pool? (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it's a looong stretch. A swimming pool where world-class swimmers train doesn't have to be top-of-the-line, as long as it meets basic requirements. Vacuum gutters and whatnot are a bonus at best, not a basic requirement.
Re:State-of-the-Art Swimming Pool? (Score:3, Insightful)
Only in the top echelon, not high school or even the average college level. Also, if everyone is under the same conditions when competing, what does it really matter? The state champion is the state champion and will recieve attention from scouts.