LAUSD'S ONLINE BUNGLE 1 OF 375 SCHOOLS WIRED BY DEADLINE, $40 MILLION IN JEOPARDY.

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

Los Angeles Unified School District officials promised to wire 375 schools for Internet access by March 1 when it got nearly $200 million in federal funding but bungled the project so badly only one school has been completed.

Even much of the work that has been done was so problem-plagued that fixes had to be made at most of the sites worked by some contractors.

With a June 30 deadline looming for spending the ``E-Rate'' funds to wire most schools, the LAUSD risks losing more than $40 million unless the Federal Communications Commission grants an extension, officials said Wednesday.

In a frenzy now to finish as much of the work as possible before the cutoff, the LAUSD last week dumped the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was brought in with much fanfare to oversee the program to prevent the kind of managerial breakdowns that have plagued many LAUSD building projects.

``This thing went wrong, but a whole lot of it was in the private marketplace, and we're trying to bring it right,'' Superintendent Roy Romer said. ``This is not a case of our dilly-dallying. We were caught by circumstances beyond our control.''

Romer defended his administration, blaming overly optimistic projections by previous district officials, contractors and the Army Corps of Engineers. He put his own management team in charge last week, which ordered crews to work night shifts and demanded that one vendor hire more subcontractors.

The corps wasn't technically fired and will remain available on an as- needed basis, said Paul Holmes, LAUSD director of modernization of existing facilities.

Col. John P. Carroll, Los Angeles district commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said in a statement that the corps had always planned to turn over control of E-Rate to the LAUSD.

``This is a large, complex project and the LAUSD/corps team has completed a significant amount of work,'' Carroll said. ``Our joint intent from the beginning of our partnership was to turn the project over to LAUSD when they wanted to manage it completely. That transition is now under way.''

Checkered history

The E-Rate program has a checkered history in the district with officials failing to get their application in for federal funding until pressure mounted at the last minute.

With funding in jeopardy, then-LAUSD Chief Operating Officer Howard Miller turned to the corps despite criticism because of the well-documented failings of the district's Facilities Division.

``The district had a great success with the Corps of Engineers managing the applications,'' Miller said, noting that the corps a year ago helped get the record $190 million in E-Rate funds for the LAUSD after the district came perilously close to missing the federal deadline.

He said he did not know what went wrong in the nine months since he left.

Ray Godfrey, a former California Department of Education facilities official who was hired March 12 to run the program, said the corps used ``archaic'' management systems that contributed to the delays.

Napa Street School in Northridge is the one fortunate school so far, with its wiring completely installed and the computers scheduled to arrive later this week.

``We've waited a very long time,'' said Napa's assistant principal, Rudy Meza, adding that kids, teachers and parents are thrilled. ``It means we can move forward into the 21st century.''

Napa Street pushed hard for the program, with first-grade teacher Barbara Hill taking the initiative to write her school's grant two years in a row.

``I felt we needed to start from the bottom classes up to compete,'' Hill said.

Caprice Young, who chairs the board's Business, Finance and Audit Technology Committee, said it became apparent several months ago the district wasn't set up to handle the expanded E-Rate program.

``The district bit off more than it could chew in size,'' Young said. ``The thinking at the time was, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, let's stretch and see if we can get it done.''

Young said she's encouraged by the recent ``drastic changes'' in the E- Rate management structure, saying the project now has a better chance of completion.

``It's not a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination, but it's possible,'' Young said.

'Back to the farm'

Board member David Tokofsky, however, said rather than blame the corps or vendors, the district should take a look at its own managerial failings in not keeping better tabs of E-Rate, a five-year program designed to wire every classroom in the nation for the Internet.

``It's back to the farm,'' Tokofsky said. ``It's the usual dillydally delay and direct the blame somewhere else. Seemingly no one inside wants to take any part of the blame.''

James Konantz, LAUSD assistant superintendent for information and technology, said the district has ``absolutely no responsibility'' for the E-Rate schedule slipping so badly.

He said an extension application has been submitted to the FCC and that the agency has granted such requests in the past. FCC officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

``My diagnosis is that construction projects in this city are very hard to complete. I don't know if it's lack of work force, or contractors that actually can do the work,'' Konantz said.

The four E-Rate vendors, which under federal regulation the district is required to keep, didn't have enough subcontractors or other resources initially to do the work, among other problems, Romer said.

``Everybody was doing E-Rate at the same time,'' he added.

Vendors' defense

The vendors - Vector, Pacific Bell, Wareforce, and IBM - continue to maintain they'll meet the June deadline to complete 459 schools, but district officials say they believe that is unrealistic based on the track record and that no more than 75 percent of the work will be completed.

District officials said they've found numerous deficiencies, though they are being corrected. For example, officials found problems at 90 percent of Wareforce's sites, and 70 percent of Pacific Bell's, according to the district's latest E-Rate status report.

Paul Holmes, the district's director of modernization existing facilities, said there were myriad problems at the sites that delayed work, including water in trenches.

Wareforce also was asked to add subcontractors, and complied, district officials said.

Wareforce spokeswoman Marcia Mazria disputed the district's figures, saying there are fewer problem sites than were reported, but confirmed that more people were added to the project recently to make sure the firm could get the job done on time.

Pacific Bell spokesman John Britton said the company had more trouble getting clarification when it went through the corps, and is encouraged by the new district team. Pacific Bell projects it will complete 140 of its 200 schools by the end of May, he said.

``We're very encouraged to be working directly with the district, without the middle agency (the corps),'' Britton said. ``We needed some clarification on additional work and on some changes, and that's all been clarified by LAUSD now. We have a new schedule, and we intend to meet it.''

Fabian Nunez, the LAUSD's director of government affairs, said the district realizes E-Rate is ``a promise'' that needs to be rectified.

``There's no question the ball has been dropped on this issue,'' Nunez said.

``This can turn out to be a black eye, but if we get out of it and fix the problem, we'll end up looking like we know what we're doing.''

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Photo:

Barbara Will, a technology coordinator at Napa Street School in Northridge, works with Jose Medina, center, and Orlando Madrigal. Every computer will soon be linked to the Net.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer