Workers are closing in on completing five major school projects across Los Angeles. The work is part of Los Angeles Unified School District’s $20-billion school construction and modernization bond program, a herculean effort in which district officials seek to remedy three decades of under-construction by building 131 new schools and completing 20,000 modernization projects by 2012.
“During those 30 years, the population of L.A. grew – some areas faster than others,” says Neil Gamble, director of facilities construction for LAUSD. “To handle school overcrowding, we implemented forced busing, sending students from overburdened schools to less crowded ones.