EDITORIAL FINALLY, KIDS FIRST THE LAUSD CLOSES A DEAL ON THE FORMER AMBASSADOR HOTEL.

IF they're lucky, the children who were LAUSD first-graders in 1990, when the district put a $48 million deposit on the Ambassador Hotel, just might get to see construction of a new school start on the site before they graduate.

That's if they're lucky.

It's taken more than a decade for the district to come to terms with the Ambassador's owners, and there's no telling what bureaucratic snags might lie ahead.

Still, it's hopeful to see some progress made after years of intransigence and an expensive legal battle.

First the LAUSD wanted the site and tried to take it through eminent domain. Then it shelved the project, focusing instead on building the star- crossed Belmont Learning Center atop a toxic-waste site.

In 2000, the district wanted its money back, with interest, but the owner, Wilshire Center Marketplace, had spent the funds paying off its mortgage. Eventually WCM filed for bankruptcy protection, and the imbroglio looked like it might never end.

Finally, cool heads prevailed. The district agreed to pay $25 million to WCM, plus $3.5 million in outstanding property taxes, and forgive $34 million in interest payments.

In other words, the district bit the bullet. It decided that it cared more about building schools and relieving overcrowding than about making its attorneys and consultants rich.

Smart move after so many dumb ones.

The whole Belmont fiasco could have been avoided and a generation of schoolchildren could have had decent schools in the area if only school officials had always put kids first.