BRAVE BOARD ANSWERED CALL OF COMMUNITY.

Byline: Ben Donenberg

STANDING with stubborn insistence on the corner of one of our nation's poorest census tracts and in a community that is home to more than 25 percent of Los Angeles' most impoverished youths, the unfinished Belmont Learning Complex is faintly reminiscent of a Mayan ruin.

Still a wondrous dream, still holding the promise of a social contract that guarantees world-class public education in world-class facilities that leaves no child behind, Belmont awaits.

Over the next three years that dream may be realized and an epic tragedy will become a heroic epic.

Thousands of young people will attend classes in hard-won, state-of- the-art facilities that rightfully reflect the self-respect and commitment the Belmont community demonstrated in its relentless campaign. It will reflect the respect and commitment earned and deserved.

The entire process reinvigorated by Superintendent Roy Romer is working because it is credible, has integrity, and is characterized by healthy skepticism and measured trust.

Now, Romer must negotiate the devil out of the details and continue to build that trust. He enters into the negotiations in good faith, fully intent upon executing a contract that will lead to completion of the facility.

The school board sternly introduced an amendment squarely putting the responsibility on his shoulders, holding him exclusively accountable for the success or failure of the project. He smiled as the amendment was read. His performance was consummate.

To the credit of the school board members, especially David Tokofsky, who displayed a dazzling capacity for details and procedure, and Genethia Hayes, whose honest empathy and concern for youths was heartfelt and moving, the meeting was well-intentioned and collegial.

The nonprofit Alliance for Better Community, which was awarded first place in the bidding process, is comprised of earnest women and men who are dedicated to public service and empowering this grossly underserved community.

They continue to admirably remain focused on getting the project completed - whether or not they are ultimately chosen to do the job. They have done a superb job of reaching into and organizing the community, collecting 6,000 signatures from Belmont parents and students appearing on petitions simply urging completion of the project without a hint of self-promotion. They are clean, decent proposers with the necessary political savvy, community links and organization skills that will eventually support excellent education.

A school board composed of five white members, one Latino member and one African-American member (who sit strangely segregated at their public meetings) finally decided upon the fate of its thousands of Latino children when the board recast its earlier decision to abandon the project. Eighty-nine percent of the Belmont population is Latino. Ironically, the majority of the school district's population is Latino, a reality that still seems to escape representation in the district's administration.

Whether it be wronged or ruthless unions, environmental injustice or just rewards to greedy developers; whether it be incompetent legal representation or unqualified school administration, visionless architects or blind land-use experts; or all of these, the interests and faith of a community, of generations of parents, students and soon to be students, many of whom feel cheated, some very angry, some ardent activists, and many gentle, well-meaning and resigned, and most of whom earn less than $8,000 per capita annually, were affirmed and restored by the hands of six of the seven school board members.

The board chose not to ignore the thousands of signatures that were gathered and delivered. The board chose not to ignore the dreams of people reflected in those signatures.

One wonders if disregarding those signatures would have even been considered possible if the school were located on the Westside, say Westwood or Pacific Palisades?

One wonders how many millions of dollars have actually been spent four blocks east of the languishing Belmont on the erection of the shiny new Disney Hall and new cathedral? And just a few blocks south, how many new market-rate condos and state-of-the-art sound stages?

The seats of political and religious power, the centers of finance and cultural influence comfortably and mutually admire each other within walking distance of the poverty-stricken community that provides the people earning relatively minimum wages to support its self-congratulating infrastructure.

These same people will no longer send their children to a decaying facility built 80 years ago to serve one-third of the number currently enrolled in the operating Belmont High School. No longer will 2,000 young people spend two or three hours on buses going to schools in communities that are not their own and where their parents cannot attend PTA meetings.

The courageous vote on Tuesday gave true meaning to the term ``educational reform'' and sends a message of unity of purpose and educational justice. It is a sign that a new, fresh air is blowing through the LAUSD. It is quality air that we can all breath just a little easier.

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Photo:

(color) LAUSD Superintendent Roy Romer and Gloria Soto, a par ent who led a petition drive to gain support for finishing the construction of the Belmont Learning Center, walk through the unfinished grounds of the school.

Chris Pizzello/Associated Press