ERRORS DELAY USE OF SCHOOLS; `NO ACCOUNTABILITY,' OFFICIAL COMPLAINS.

Byline: Terri Hardy Sacramento Bureau

The opening of two highly touted San Fernando Valley primary center schools will be delayed again because of foul-ups by Los Angeles Unified officials, keeping hundreds of students in overcrowded schools or facing long bus rides, officials said Thursday.

The disclosure came during testimony before a state investigatory commission, which concluded that the delays at the primary centers - Valerio in Van Nuys and Monroe in Panorama City - were another example of serious problems in the way the Los Angeles Unified School District builds new schools.

``There is no accountability. There are no clear lines of authority,'' said Gary Hunt, a member of the state's Little Hoover Commission, a group that is holding a series of hearings in Sacramento on school facility policies.

``If this was a business, people would be fired.''

The commission heard hours of testimony detailing the laborious process the LAUSD uses to build schools as well as the serious environmental problems it is facing because officials failed to adequately study toxic land problems.

``Absurd wouldn't even be the right word,'' said Stanley Zax, a member of the Little Hoover Commission. ``I've never seen such a convoluted organizational structure.''

O'Malley M. Miller, a Los Angeles real estate attorney who chairs an advisory task force pushing through the building of nine schools for children in kindergarten through third grade called ``primary centers,'' testified that he learned only Wednesday of the latest delays.

An architect contracted by the district failed to review architectural plans, and the state rejected the documents as incomplete, Miller said. Valerio and Monroe will be delayed by three to four weeks, making it impossible for students to begin school at the sites in September.

Miller told the commission that he called an immediate meeting of district staffers involved in the projects and posed a question.

``I asked, Would the person responsible for Valerio and Langdon schools please raise their hand? And nobody did.''

Disgusted, Miller said he ended the meeting and demanded that answers be provided at the next Primary Center Task Force meeting June 7.

Beth Louargand, general manager of facilities representing the LAUSD at the hearing, told the commission that primary centers weren't under her direction. She said the jobs had been turned over to 3D/I-O'Brien Kreitzberg, the construction management firm overseeing the $2.4 billion Proposition BB work.

Under questioning from Miller, Louargand admitted the architects were hired by the district and that final responsibility rested with the LAUSD's chief administrative officer.

School workers at Valerio Elementary hadn't heard about the delays Thursday. They had planned to send 220 students and six teachers from the overcrowded school to the primary center.

``This is quite a disappointment, for us and for the parents, who were very excited about the center,'' said Anais Ruiz, Valerio's principal. ``We'll just try to adjust.''

This is third time the schools, at first planned to be opened in July, face delays. Earlier this month, state environmental inspectors halted construction temporarily after finding toxic soil problems.

In February, it was announced that six of the planned primary centers - including Valerio and Monroe - were behind schedule because of mistakes made by 3D/I-O'Brien Kreitzberg.

In her testimony, Louargand defended the action of her section, pointing to the state's lack of funding for a slowdown to construction. She said other district officials knew about toxic problems at such sites as the Belmont Learning Complex and gave the Board of Education incomplete information on environmental concerns.

Construction at that downtown school has been halted as environmental consultants study toxic problems recently discovered at the site. LAUSD officials estimated clean-up at the site at as much as $10 million, and said the entire project is estimated at $175 million - the most expensive high school in the country.

Louargand denied Miller's testimony that it takes nine years for the LAUSD to build a new school, saying the process takes 5-1/2 years.

``That's a time line that can't be easily shortened,'' Louargand said.

She said the district had completed 18 new schools ``in recent years'' with five more under construction.

But an inquiry into the LAUSD's construction projects by the state's Joint Legislative Audit Committee found the district had built 13 schools since 1987.

Louargand denied there was no accountability within the LAUSD, and pointed out changes, saying that two years ago the district decided to create a chief administrative officer to oversee the district's business dealings - including construction, purchasing and finance.

School board member David Tokofsky, a vocal critic of the district, told the commission that problems stem in part because board members focus their concerns on their own areas, instead of looking at districtwide concerns. He said board members rely too much on staffers for information that too often turns out to be incomplete.