Staff Present:
Ms. Beth Louargand, General Manager, Facilities Services Division
Ms. Lynn Roberts, Deputy Branch Director, Maintenance and Operations Branch
Mr. Gordon Wohlers, Assistant Superintendent, School and Management Initiatives Office
Mr. Kirk Rascoe, Affirmative Action Programs Director
Ms. Dale Braun, Director, Office of School Utilization

Ms. Castro welcomed all those in attendance and stated that the Board Members felt the need to reactivate the Facilities Committee to address the BB Funding, facility needs that have recently been a focal point, and the needs with the classroom reduction (20-1) in primary centers.

Ms. Louargand introduced the panel: Mr. Timothy Lynch, Deputy Controller, City of Los Angeles, representing the Proposition BB Blue Ribbon Citizen's Oversight Committee; Ms. Ruth Hobbs, Program Manager, 3D/International, Inc. - O'Brian-Kreitezberg, Inc., a joint venture, contracted by the District to help with the overall master scheduling, developing standard procedures, tracking of the projects, and ensuring that projects come in within budget and that all the work in the BB contracts are completed; Ms. Dale Braun, Director, Office of School Utilization, who is responsible for assisting, determining which schools are needed and where they are developed, what the prioritiy sequence is, and implementing programs such as class size reduction. Dr. Charles Schepart, Analyst and Dr. Roger Rasmussen, Director, Independent Analysis Unit, have provided invaluable advice, over the years, to the District on the State Allocation Board and school construction.

OUR KIDS, OUR SCHOOLS

Ms. Louargand showed a 3-minute video on the work in progress at Chatsworth Park School.

REPORT FROM PROPOSITION BB BLUE RIBBON CITIZEN'S OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE

Mr. Lynch reported on the Proposition BB Blue Ribbon Citizen's Oversight Committee. He introduced two members from the Oversight Committee: Mr. David Barralich, representing the Howard Jarvis Tax Payers Organization and Mr. Richard Slauson,representing AFL/CIO (American Federation of Labor/Congress Industrial Organization). Mr. Lynch reviewed the issues the BB Blue Ribbon Citizen's Committee is trying to address which basically is the same as the District's. He said they are trying to be faithful to the ballot proposition and to the Board Resolutions in bringing a independent review and critique to the process. The committee is trying to find ways of cutting red tape and expediting programs on air-conditioning, even if it means reinventing solutions, changing rules or even amending State laws. The committee is concerned about the news reports which raises questions about equity, hypocracy, waste and perceived waste.

+++Mr. Lynch commented on a presentation at one of the BB Blue Ribbon Citizen's Oversight Committee meeting by the organization Tree People. The organization is very energetic in changing the black-top approach and using natural plantings. The committee would like to develop some mechanism to have communications directly from the principals who have developed school contracts.

Mr. Barralich brought up a concern - as the District is going year-to-year on the BB money, what kind of commitment is the District going to make in the maintenance and repair budget ongoing. He expressed his fear that the BB money will be looked upon as a way to displace a commitment made on the general fund. Even though it is a small percentage of the general fund, he suggested that the Board should hold its line and allocate more money for maintenance and repair.

Ms. Castro is in agreement that maintenance and repair is very critical, and staff have been addressing these issues during budget deliberations, and as the Board begins to restore salaries, the eliminated positions of gardeners, custodians, and support systems to the schools will need to be addressed. Ms. Castro commented that as questions on updating on contracts are being raised, she would like to hear from staff the status of the contracts.

Mr. Slawson, representing AFL/CIO, member on the Proposition BB Blue Ribbon Citizen's Oversight Committee and the Executive Secretary of the Building Construction Trades Council for Los Angeles and Orange County, is in agreement with Mr. Barralich's concern on maintenance and repairs. He also commented that he also represents the maintenance and crafts employees with the District. He said the committee is well represented and he is happy to be participating and looking forward to future meetings.

Ms. Korenstein responded to the presentation. She is definitly in favor of putting more trees on campuses because of the shade it provides, but they need to be maintained. Responding to news paper articles, she cautioned the committee to be careful not to assume information reported is correct. They should contact the Board for information and check for accuracy. Talking about contracts, the staff must stay on top of the contracts because of the constant changes in the schools. Contracts and class size reduction will be discussed later on the agenda. Ms. Korenstein reminded the viewers and audience that the school district has been critically under funded by the State for education since Proposition 13 was passed in 1978. Since the District depends upon the State for funding, many areas of the District were eliminated, for instance the elimination of the gardening unit and cut back in maintenance and repairs. In order to keep up with maintenance and repairs the District proceeded with a bond measure.

Mr. Kiriyama suggested utilizing the services within the District. For instance using the landscaping class at the regional occcupational centers for landscaping, and the Adopt-a-School Office where there is direct contact with private businesses. He reiterated Ms. Korenstein's comment of being under funded since Proposition 13 took effect. As the result, the District does not have the funds to repair the way they should be repairing, and the District does not have the money to do a lot of things that should have been doing. He assured the public that the Proposition BB money is being fully utilized for repairs.

Ms. Louargand stated that Proposition BB is a very complex issue. The biggest concern is to make sure they don't run out of money half way through the next decade. The first year of expenditures are critical to monitor before making any radical changes in the program because that will tell whether the budget estimates are on target or high or low. She reponded to revision of the annual contracts, and she has no problem doing it annually. Ms. Louargand has expressed on several occasions that the contracts are about such basic things, that she cannot see a school willing to give up those things. The contract consists of repairs, air-conditioning, and wiring for technology. These are the biggest categories and all schools want all of those things to happen. She noted a incident at a school where they were willing to give up its bleachers to air-condition the gymnasium. Ms. Louargand would like to find enough money to air condition all gyms at all schools so they would not have to give up the bleachers.

Ms. Louargand responded to Ms. Castro's question on deferred maintenance. She thank Mr. Barralich and Mr. Slawson for their continued support of funding for maintenance and gardening. Ms. Louargand explained that as repairs are being completed, there would be less emergency calls, and this would enable staff to divert those people to preventative maintenance. Over time there will be a shift towards deferred maintenance. Two percent of the general fund is allocated for maintenance, and extra money is given to schools for classroom reduction, so as you see growth for education, there will be additional funds going into maintenance.

Ms. Korenstein commented that the District has a trailer programwhich is very successful and asked Ms. Louargand to explain to the audience and to those not familiar with the District's maintenance what the Trailer Program is. Ms. Louargand explained that the Trailer Program has a team of 3-4 people and have 14 trailers equipped with parts to do all kinds of small jobs at the schools. They go into the school campus and meet with the principal, staff and custodian to work out a schedule for the week. They do all the little, inconvenient repairs that are non-emergency but needs to be done but never is addressed. Each school gets a visit once a year. They repair squeaky doors, dripping faucets, refinishing of black boards, paint bathrooms, clean the graffiti, deep clean bathrooms, provides gardening help, assisting the schools in securing shelving in the event of an earthquake. Their jobs are designed around what that schools priorities are. Ms. Korenstein asked staff to look into the possibility of expanding the program.

Mrs. Boudreaux commented that the Trailer Program should be kept as top priority with the possibility of adding more trailers. With the District's budget problems and the cutting of programs for salary increases, the Board should try not to reprocate what was done. She felt that the Trailer Program should be expanded.

APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

Ms. Roberts updated the Committee on the Project Labor Agreement and Apprenticeship Program. She provided background information. On April 7, 1997, the Board of Education approved a resolution directing staff and the Building Trades Council to explore the restoration of an apprenticeship program and requiring contractors to sign a project labor agreement (PLA).

She defined PLA which is a project labor agreement. This is an agreement between the District and the union which mandates that contractors, including non-union contractors, perform work under the terms of existing labor agreements. Prior to agreeing to inclusion of a PLA as a condition of contract award, the owner negotiates an agreement with the unions which can benefit all participants, including taxpayers. Ms. Roberts said the unions have a lot of interest in entering into a PLA with the District, but why would the District be interested in joining the unions. There are significant reasons and the resolution does address this issue: 1) Providing job opportunities for LAUSD students and job opportunities for community residents; 2) The restoration of the apprenticeship program.

The District has an outstanding apprenticeship preparation program administered through the Adult Education Division. This is a 12-week training program for District students who wish to become apprentices in the construction industry. The apprenticeship program is recognized both by the unions and the District as a very successful program. The difficulty after they get into the program is to get an apprenticeship position, so the position of the District would be to make sure that if they entered into a PLA that slots are reserved for District students, so they could get some of those apprenticeship programs that would be available as Proposition BB works. There are other issues that are critical to the District - making sure that this is good for the taxpayers, and workdays to include Saturdays. This would have to be negotiated and it could be critical when there is a project on a site that could be disruptive to the instructional program.

Mr. Mike Bauer, representing the Painters Apprenticeship, clarified the issues on the wage rate that unions pay their workers and the benefit package provided to the workers. These two issues are negotiable. The District's work provides for prevailing wage rates under California law. The wage rates that are negotiated in the area are the same as what the state requires under the prevailing wage laws. Getting involved in a PLA or negotiating a PLA does not increase the cost the District in any way. Negotiating a PLA or Master Labor Agreement actually benefits the economics on construction projects because it allows the contractors to utilize the apprenticeship which uses lower wage workers.