EDITORIAL BUILDING PAINS LAUSD FINALLY DOING HOMEWORK ON SCHOOL SITES.

WITH increased awareness and tougher state laws regarding toxic sites, the problem of finding adequate and safe sites for schools has become more complex.

Thankfully, Los Angeles Unified School District officials are finally instituting a healthy amount of research into their site selection process, for perhaps the first time in the history of the district.

Does this mean schools will never be built?

Certainly not. It means schools will be built that are safe for a change.

It also means it's going to add time to a crisis situation. The district needs to build 100 schools ASAP.

In the past when district administrators and the Board of Education didn't care about the health and safety of children and teachers, the result was the Belmont Learning Center fiasco, a haluilt $l70 million monstrosity sitting on top of a site containing explosive and toxic gases that no one wanted to do anything about until it was too late.

Now that the public knows, Belmont supporters trying to wash away their past failures and mistakes are urging ``a completed environmental report'' that will prove ... what?

Belmont supporters should consider the case of the old Bermite munitions factory site in the heart of Santa Clarita.

The site has been closed since the early 1980s and has been undergoing cleanup studies for years.

Now another round of tests are needed before cleanup begins - because the city of Santa Clarita approved a 3,000-home development on this toxic site.

Officials of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control told a citizen advisory group last week that an investigation designed to pinpoint the chemical contaminants on the parcel will begin in two weeks and take three years to complete.

Major new housing developments can wait. Building schools can't.

The DTSC expects to complete reports on 41 LAUSD sites by the end of next year. Such reports are required, because of the Belmont fiasco, before schools can be built.

Angelo Bellomo, district interim director of the environmental health and safety division, said the district finally got the message that it wasn't building schools until it has a full environmental review certificate from the state.

It's about time someone at the district knew what they were talking about.

Until each site is thoroughly investigated, the district should proceed with finding temporary sites that can be turned into schools at minimal cost until safe schools can be built.