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Funds: Some classrooms lack heat, other basics as many L.A. Unified projects fall months behind schedule. By DOUG SMITH, Times Education Writer
Karen Park bundles herself with sweaters to keep warm; the kindergartners in her class huddle around a small electric heater on the floor. This is the second winter the heat has been out at Ivanhoe Elementary School. A contractor turned the heat off nearly two years ago to install a new air-conditioning system. It still isn't finished.
The discomfort and inconvenience in Park's kindergarten class are repeated at dozens of Los Angeles schools where repairs funded by Proposition BB school bonds drag on months or even years past deadline. Contractor mix-ups, turmoil in the bond management structure and unexpected obstacles have set the giant repair program significantly behind schedule.
A Times computer analysis of Proposition BB
financial records through Dec. 15, 1999, shows widespread problems:
* Of the 5,107 projects scheduled to be completed
by mid-December, nearly 30% had not been finished. On average, those projects
were 227 days overdue--more than seven months.
* Nearly 38% of projects scheduled to start had
not.
* The late projects tend to be the largest and
most costly ones. Of the $210 million budgeted for those projects, only slightly
more than a third had been spent.
* About 1,000 more projects initially scheduled to
be done by mid-December had their completion dates pushed back.
Officials for the district and its outside program manager, 3D/I-O'Brien Kreitzberg, acknowledge that the work has fallen behind. Their best current estimate, they say, is that the five-year repair program will extend to about 7 1/2 years. They point to the sheer complexity of designing, bidding and coordinating 12,000 construction projects as the primary cause.
They also contend that repeated overhauls of the district administration, as well as the program management, have set work back. Since the program's inception in 1997, the district's facilities division has been reorganized twice and the superintendent and chief administrative officer had their contracts bought out.
"Whenever you reorganize, it takes some time for transition," said Rob Robinson, the third 3D/I-O'Brien Kreitzberg program chief dismissed by the district. Interim Supt. Ramon C. Cortines ordered Robinson, along with five other members of his team, off the job as of last week. He has not yet been replaced.
The $2.4-billion bond measure approved by voters
in April 1997 provided about $1.2 billion for repair work and another $300
million to wire classrooms for modern communication systems and Internet access.
The remaining $900 million was for new schools.
The program manager and 10 project managers have
been continuously revising the target dates to bring them in line with the
volume of work they could sustain, given the complexities of coordinating
disruptive work with school schedules and the time required for planning and
bidding large jobs.
Some deadlines were moved up and others back. On average, however, those changes pushed the timeline back by 4 1/2 months, the Times analysis shows. "The program, in all its problems and issues, has been able to [spend] $25 million a month, and that's no small thing," Robinson said.
A potential new setback looms because of cost overruns in the classroom wiring projects, mostly scheduled this year. The most recent monthly report from the program manager warned that so far the technology projects have used about 65% of their budgets on only 23% of the work. The program manager, 3D/I-O'Brien Kreitzberg, ordered a freeze on all technology projects not yet underway in the hope of supplementing their budgets with funds from a federal program to upgrade school technology. The status of the extra funding could be up in the air until June or later.
Even if the federal funding comes through, the program manager expects to reduce the size of the projects, eliminating some fire and security alarms, cable television and public address systems. A postponement in technology installations could cause a cascade of other delays. For example, because a conduit often has to be placed underground, playground resurfacing is usually done afterward, to avoid digging up new pavement. To keep the money and repairs flowing, Robinson said officials will continue to juggle the project schedule.
But the manipulations that seek to make order out of thousands of difficult repairs offer little relief for the distress of teachers and students who get caught up in contracting horror stories. At Byrd Middle School in Sun Valley, a badly cracked playground, scheduled to be resurfaced six months ago, sprouts so many weeds that children trip and skin their knees almost every day.
"We've had many, many people come in," said Principal Gerald Horowitz. "Supervisors, contractors, district people. We've given out lots of coffee, and nothing. Lots of talk, lots of motion, but nothing accomplished." At Jefferson High School, seats removed from the football stadium six months ago have still not been replaced--forcing the school to play home games this school year on rented fields. This month, students from Jefferson High appeared before the Proposition BB citizen oversight committee to ask when their bleachers would reopen. The answer, entangled in a sad history of unforeseen problems and bureaucratic hurdles, was not until August.
Officials said the project ran into trouble as
soon as the contractor tore out the old seats, exposing the beams of the
1920s-era wood structure. Dry rot and rusty nails were everywhere. Two months
were lost removing asbestos before a structural engineer could poke through the
building to design repairs for the bracing system. His plans required additional
money, adding more weeks for approval of a change order.
At last, the plans are now with the state
architect awaiting approval, said the district's project manager, Mike Bargman.
"This stuff doesn't happen in a week,"
Bargman said. "We were trying to get everybody's best opinion about what is
the best way to go."
Other delays are caused by contractors who get in
over their heads.
"These aren't Bechtel and Fluor Daniel," said William Hensley of Vanir Inc., one of the 10 project management firms. "They're only mom and pop. Some of them are inept." After months of foot-dragging on the air-conditioning job at Ivanhoe, Hensley said he has issued the contractor a three-day notice of default, a legal step preparatory to terminating the contract. But Hensley said he intends it more as a wake-up call. With the job 85% done, it's hard to eject a firm when the bidding process to replace it could take six months or more.
Principal Kevin Baker said Friday that after The
Times asked questions, workers appeared in unusual numbers and he was told they
would work through the weekend to get the heat on by Tuesday.
Despite their disappointments, many of the
principals who are living through inconvenience and delay maintain an upbeat
view of the repair program.
At Thomas Bradley Elementary School in South Los
Angeles, Principal Genevieve Shepherd works under a gaping hole in the ceiling
of her small office, where workers have broken out plaster for an
air-conditioning system that was supposed to be installed last summer.
Nonetheless, Shepherd said she appreciates the accommodations the contractor made by sending workers in only after school hours. Even though teachers complain about dusty and disheveled classrooms, she tries to keep them focused on the benefits they will eventually receive. "I assure my teachers: 'It came to pass. It will not always be,' " Shepherd said.
Behind Schedule
Hundreds of Los Angeles school repairs and improvements funded by the 1997 Proposition BB bond measure are falling behind. Of 5,107 projects scheduled to wrap up by mid-December, 1,520, or about 30%, were still underway at this point. Here is a snapshot of the late projects at schools that are the most seriously behind schedule.
| School | % of projects Behind | Overdue Avg. Days | Budget | Budget Spent |
| Dodson Middle | 6 | 392 | $1.57 million | 2% |
| 6th Ave. Elementary | 6 | 382 | $1.19 million | 11% |
| Byrd Middle | 6 | 357 | $1.11 million | 7% |
| 122nd St. Elementary | 6 | 293 | $1.02 million | 12% |
| Manual Arts High | 4 | 251 | $1.09 million | 4% |
| Mann Middle | 7 | 248 | $0.66 million | 2% |
| Venice High | 7 | 221 | $1.09 million | 0% |
| Birmingham High | 6 | 180 | $1.06 million | 26% |
| Belvedere Middle | 9 | 129 | $0.96 million | 0% |
| Westchester High | 8 | 108 | $1.48 million | 14% |
The chart below gives a breakdown of what stage the 1,520 projects had reached by mid-December.
Data analysis by Doug Smith
Source: Los Angeles Unified School District
By David R. Baker, Staff Writer
The company that oversees Proposition BB school repair projects asked an oversight committee Tuesday to intervene on its behalf in a dispute with the school district, which last week fired six of the company's employees.
Members of the Proposition BB oversight committee declined the company's request, saying it wasn't their place to manage the Los Angeles Unified School District. But they also criticized the district for firing people based on what they said was faulty information.
"They should examine these things before they make knee-jerk decisions," committee chairman and mayoral candidate Steven Soboroff said after the meeting. "They don't care who they mow down, who they hurt, so long as the bureaucracy stays in the catbird seat."
The committee voted to ask the district for a "cooling down period" before carrying out the firings, which are scheduled to take effect Feb. 17. The district's interim superintendent, Ramon Cortines, fired the six employees of 3D/International-O'Brien Kreitzberg on Friday, citing threats one of them reportedly made against the district's former facilities director, Lynn Roberts.
That move, however, reflected growing tension over control of the $2.4 billion Proposition BB funds. In December, a district audit revealed that about 19 percent of the bond money had been spent on management rather than repairs, an unacceptably high amount. The district's inspector general has launched an investigation into the spending.
But Soboroff on Wednesday cited figures from the school district's controller showing that program and project management costs consumed just 10 percent of Proposition BB spending. "There's this big investigation going on, and it's based on what?" Soboroff asked.
Chief Operating Officer Howard Miller attributed the 19 percent figure to the district's facilities division. He explained the discrepancy between that figure and the controller's figure of 10 percent by noting that the district still lacks a centralized financial reporting system, something the district's new management team is trying to correct.
But even 10 percent of the bond money is too much, Miller said. Ideally, the district should spend no more than 7 percent. "When you realize that each percent is $25 million, then you understand how important this is," he said.
Cortines said he had met with representatives from O'Brien Kreitsberg, listened to their concerns and then informed them by phone a day later that he still wanted the six people replaced. "I told them I wanted their A-team," he said. Alan Krusi, president of O'Brien Kreitzberg, said he was unaware that Cortines had contacted his staff after their meeting.
Although district officials insisted Wednesday they merely wanted the six employees replaced, Krusi said he believed the district wanted those positions cut. He said the firings were the result of the district's discomfort with having a private firm review its work and decisions -- discomfort that has been building since last summer. "As we bore in with increasing detail on these decisions, we encounter first resistance, then friction and tension," Krusi said.
David R. Burke, Staff Writer
Citing an unacceptable lack of speed and coordination, Interim Superintendent Ramon Cortines Monday reorganized the Los Angeles school district's facilities division, demoting its former head. The move came as the district struggles to build schools needed to house swelling enrollment. And it represented Cortines' second effort in four days to shake up the people who oversee school construction and repair.
Faced with an urgent need for up to 150 new schools in five years, Cortines put in charge of new facilities a former district consultant with experience developing real estate in the private sector. The district's former facilities director, Lynn Roberts, named to the post just eight months ago, has no such experience and will now be in charge of maintenance, said district Chief Operating Officer Howard Miller. "It puts the right people in the right places," Miller said.
The changes came just four days after Cortines demanded the removal of several school repair supervisors, one of whom had reportedly threatened Roberts. The supervisors work for O'Brien Kreitzberg, which oversees repair projects funded by Proposition BB, and Cortines' action triggered heavy criticism from the bond's oversight committee.
Although Miller said the two moves were unrelated, school board member David Tokofsky questioned the timing of Monday's announcement. "The actions today were a worse insult to Lynn Roberts than those angry comments could be," he said. Roberts could not be reached for comment Monday.
Tokofsky and other board members agreed, however, that the district's systems for building schools and maintaining existing ones needs to be overhauled. The district has been unable to build campuses to handle enrollment that has swelled past 711,000. And many schools have fallen into disrepair despite passage of a $2.4 billion bond to spruce up and modernize classrooms.
In a two-page memo outlining the latest changes, Cortines cited a list of instances when school repairs or improvements were hampered by poor coordination among district staffers and contractors. Rosemont Elementary School, for example, waited more than two years for portable classrooms promised by the district, Cortines wrote. Twenty-six other schools are in the same situation.
As described in the memo, the division will now be split into three sections, all reporting to the facilities director.
-- Kathi Littman will head up the effort to build new schools.
-- A separate unit, under the direction of Julie Crum, will oversee existing facilities and will work with Littman.
-- Roberts will be in charge of maintenance and operations.
In addition, all of the division's financial operations will be placed under the district's chief financial officer, Joe Zeronian. And the district's environmental unit will be part of the facilities division.
That last change troubled board member Valerie Fields. Although she approved of the rest of the changes, Fields noted that a blistering report last year on the district's failed environmental oversight process recommended that the facilities division not be allowed to exercise control over the district's chief environmental officer.
"As capable as Ray is, he may not have read that report," she said. Fields said she sent Cortines a memo asking that environment not be included within the facilities division.
Mayoral candidate Steve Soboroff, head of the Proposition BB oversight committee, welcomed the changes. He had criticized Cortines' removal of the repair supervisors last week and said Monday's reorganization showed that Cortines understood that the district's own approach to facilities needed to change.
"I think this shows momentum in the right direction," said Soboroff, although he noted that the changes essentially shuffle people already working on facilities. "I think you are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but at least you realize the ship is going down."