Results tagged “San Pedro” from School Notebook

Los Angeles Unified School District is hosting a meeting tonight on concerns about dust from construction at the new high school on the former Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur, also known as South Region High School No. 15.

Residents apparently found flyers posted at their homes yesterday.

Come To a Meeting with LAUSD on the construcation going on behind our Homes and the Dirt/Noise It is Causing

Tomorrow, Thursday August 20th at the Angels Gate Continuation School at 3200 S. Alma 5 pm. Representatives from the school district will be there to hear our concerns, representatives from AQMD, Councilwoman Hahn, and the Daily Breeze have also been invited.

I actually was not notified of this event, but maybe the district told someone else at the Breeze and it didn't get to me.

Anyway, I've verified that LAUSD has in fact organized this "sort of last-minute" meeting. Facilities division spokeswoman Shannon Haber said this morning that the meeting was in response to community complaints about construction and that the district wanted to "nip it in the bud."

* I just talked to a couple of the residents on 30th Street that are being affected by this - Ken and Cora Raymond. Apparently they've had some issues with dust accumulation in the last couple of weeks.

They talked to school district officials, folks from Councilwoman Janice Hahn's office and AQMD. The air quality inspector from AQMD said the construction site was fully in compliance. Nonetheless, Cora suffers from asthma and has had to leave home during construction work.

"We shouldn't have to live like this. I shouldn't have to leave my house because i can't breathe," she said.

David Kooper, chief of staff to LAUSD board member Richard Vladovic, said tonight's informal meeting had been set up to address the concerns of the Raymonds and another couple who had complained about dust.

At the suggestion of Kooper, that couple, along with Ken Raymond, distributed the flyers to neighbors to let them know about the meeting. (So there was no fault on the district's part in not letting the Breeze know ... and Cora had left a message for a colleague about the meeting.)

Anyway, this isn't some big construction update meeting that nobody knew about. However, if you have concerns about dust, it's probably a place to vent frustrations and try to get answers.

*UPDATE: County health officials have confirmed that they are NOT investigating any flu cases in San Pedro. (Story)

Los Angeles Unified is saying that there are no clusters of swine flu-like symptoms in San Pedro area schools, in contrast to a statement issued earlier today by county health officials.

"I would like to clear up any misinformation about the report of a cluster in San Pedro," Dr. Kimberly Uyeda, the school district's head of student medical services, said today in a recently issued press release.

"Several sick children were sent to a school nurse at an elementary school however, all were cleared to stay in school. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health also determined that no investigation was necessary."

Early this morning, a county press release stated: "The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is also investigating three possible flu clusters in three schools located in the Santa Clarita Valley and San Pedro. Laboratory results on these clusters are expected by the end of the week."

At a press conference this morning, county Chief Medical Office Jonathan Fielding would not say which school was potentially affected.

We at the Breeze know parents and students are very concerned and we're working now to get officials to clarify these conflicting statements.

Meanwhile, all LAUSD campuses are open and the district is not recommending parents take their children out of school.

Karen Saunders, who heads operations at Local District 8 schools (Harbor Area, Gardena, Lomita, Carson), said, "We do not have swine flu in our district."

She added: "People are panicking."

The morning statement from the Department of Public Health has caused a flurry of calls from media and parents to local schools and the school district, education officials said.

Non-LAUSD schools in San Pedro -- Mary Star of the Sea, Port of Los Angeles High School (technically an LAUSD charter), Holy Trinity Catholic School, Rolling Hills Prep -- said they had no reported symptoms and no students have been sent home.

The California Coastal Commission will not hear Los Angeles Unified's application for a permit to construct a proposed high school in San Pedro until January. The meeting had been scheduled for Nov. 14 (agenda) -- and notices were already sent out this week.

I found this out yesterday when I called the commission to get a copy of the staff report for the coastal development permit for South Region High School No. 15, which would be built on district property at the former Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur. The school is set to house about 500 magnet kids from San Pedro High School.

Commission staff told me the meeting was being postponed until January.

Edwin Van Ginkel, LAUSD's senior development manager, said commission staff had told him that their biologist would be unable to complete a review of the proposed wind turbines (and their potential effects on migratory birds) in time for the November meeting. Van Ginkel said the district could have presented the application in two parts, but ... "We want them to review the same scope of work that our board is reviewing."

The district will not go before the commission in December because that meeting is in San Francisco, he said.

The January meetings set for Jan. 7-9 in the San Diego area (PDF of tentative 2009 meeting sked).

The Board of Education's review of the project EIR is still set for Dec. 9.

Los Angeles School Board member Richard Vladovic will talk about how the state budget will affect local schools at 6:30p.m. Monday at a meeting of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council.

Vladovic also will talk about other issues of concern to San Pedro.

The council meets at Peck Park Auditorium, 560 N. Western Ave., San Pedro. Other agenda items include the city's budget, a discussion of trees on North Gaffey Street and lending possible support for an after-school program at Dana Middle School.