Statement of Purpose
The Los Angeles Unified School District's Site Selection Procedure and Community Participation Program is designed:

• to communicate to all constituencies the steps involved in site selection,
• to provide a means for meaningful community participation in the process,
• to provide consistent evaluation criteria, and
• to assure the public that the process includes adequate environmental review.

We intend to create a cooperative, community-driven approach to site selection and development, centered upon professional Community Organizers providing information and soliciting comment from local communities and nearby residents, city planning and zoning officials, parents and instructional staff.

Communities affected by school siting decisions will be the first to be involved in the process, and will be encouraged to maintain an ongoing and long term relationship with the school environment. We recognize that every school is, by its nature, a community activity center and source of family and child support services, as well as a center of learning. We intend to maximize potential opportunities for joint use facilities, both within the school environment and the community.

We recognize that housing density, particularly in low-income areas, creates a challenge in providing sufficient parcel sizes for new schools. We intend to minimize our impact to valuable housing stock and maximize small site parcels through better design, underground parking, alternative and joint use of athletic facilities.

We recognize that overcrowding and lack of seats for students in their neighborhoods are detrimental to the learning environment, the community, and most importantly, the students; LAUSD is projected to need 80,000 new seats within the next five years, and the majority of our current schools are already vastly overcrowded. We intend to respond to this critical, immediate and extraordinary need for prompt delivery of new schools by providing timely and accurate information, clearly documented decision making and responses, a consistently followed process for the Community Stakeholders that will minimize political opposition to specific sites, and a thorough utilization of specific site selection criteria to minimize unanticipated site impacts to project construction and occupancy.

The LAUSD School Board, as well as important supporting groups such as New Schools Better Neighborhoods, has embraced a concept of smaller, neighborhood schools. We recognize that this goal will require a long-term facilities management and construction plan, as well as additional, as yet undefined sources of funding. The Site Selection Procedure is intended to assist the community, the Board, LAUSD grants/funding, school operations and instruction in prioritizing and phasing of school construction projects with maximum initial impact.

Site Selection Activities : Preparation
Substantial District research and preparation is required:

• to build a collaborative relationship between the District and Community Organizers/Stakeholders,
• provide sufficient background data and information for Community and Board decision making,
• maximize the quality of sites identified and their potential for moving unimpeded through construction to occupancy, and
• ensure that LAUSD is capable of developing schools that will remain quality, flexible learning environments for a minimum of 50 years.

The following research and preparation activities will require an intense initial resource effort, as well as an ongoing feedback loop for evaluation and improvement:

1. Develop Masterplan 2000
Based on the proposed December 1999 revised Masterplan concept, LAUSD Demographics and School Operations is identifying the specific quantity and locations of new sites required for K3 Primary Schools, land additions to existing schools planned for conversion to middle or high school use, and sites still required for middle and high school locations. This definitive list will govern the quantity of schools planned for each Boardmember district.

2. Develop an Asset Management Plan for Existing Properties
Commissioned Architects with proven experience in strategic asset masterplanning will recommend opportunities to maximize existing District-owned properties. At a minimum this will involve removal of existing portables and parking, and replacement with underground parking and new, multi-level permanent construction. This could involve demolition and removal of complete existing single story structures, replaced with underground parking and new, multi-level construction. Asset management plans will be prioritized to immediately review those sites with potential for conversion to middle or high school utilization.

3. Develop Cost Database / Preliminary Budgets for Masterplan 2000
Consistent qualifications and assumptions and estimating procedures consistent with industry best practices are being established with the support of an outside qualified Estimating firm. Preliminary budgets based on these established protocols will be utilized to rank potential site acquisition costs, prioritize and phase specific school development, and track overall program cost compliance.

4. Update LAUSD Design Guidelines and Specifications
Current LAUSD Design Guidelines were developed over 8 years ago, and have had some recent updates reflecting workscope performed in the last two years during the BB Bond activities. A fully coordinated and updated Design Guideline and Specification is essential for the District to receive timely and quality design documents, and to ensure Community Stakeholders support and use of our school environments.

Five collaborative workshops have been held to date with cluster administrators, teachers, principals, special services, operations (security, library, food service, transportation, etc.), project managers and commissioned architects to identify and document the consistently desired core elements of learning environments by grade level. Pending workshops will cover sustainability, technology and incorporation of joint use opportunities.

A team of commissioned architects and specification writers will incorporate all of the workshop data into the Design Guidelines, verify most current design and materials standards, and coordinate data between all disciplines for an updated Design Guideline.

5. Develop a Kit of Parts for K-3 Primary Schools
Utilizing currently owned District design documents which have been utilized during the design workshops, a "Kit of Parts" is being developed for K-3 Primary School design, 18 to 24 classrooms plus supporting administrative, parking, and playground space. This Kit of Parts is the equivalent of the 30% design-build bridge documents utilized by the GSA to quickly convey program, function, and aesthetic intent for the K-3 Primary Schools, and will enable a site-adapt design team to provide higher quality design and design documentation.

6. Assemble Community Outreach Teams
Several groups of active outreach efforts are already in progress, initiated from a variety of interested stakeholders. Utilizing proven and established community organizing models, the District will enter into a partnership with 5 to 11 Community Organizers, coordinate and document the community input from their respective neighborhoods upon which the District will base all new school facility decisions. These Community Organizers will be responsible for assembling a group of area stakeholders, including school administrative personnel and parents, who will become the advisory committee for school site selection and design impacts.

These Community Organizers must have:

• proven relationships within their respective communities,
• five or more years experience in community organizing efforts,
• the ability to staff and document community meetings, and
• designated liaison for ongoing interface with the District Staff.

These Community Organizers will be funded primarily through non-profit grants available (from a variety of sources) toward community redevelopment. The District will provide funds for initial start up, including some level of staffing, training, and expenses.

The District will provide support to the Community Organizers and participating Stakeholders such as:

• maps,
• demographic information supporting student population needs,
• regulatory procedures for approvals and interface with the School Board,
• existing school data,
• real estate site analysis,
• environmental site analysis,
• state and district regulatory requirements for new school construction,
• cost analysis,
• database of sites previously considered within specific boundaries,
• current research on school design and siting,
• interface with related city and planning agencies, elected officials, potential joint use opportunity concerns, and District operations and instructional personnel.

7. Publish Site Selection Criteria
The District will utilize a site selection criteria based on the current CDE guidelines (attached), modified to reflect the dense urban environment in which LAUSD will be constructing school facilities. The District intends to document each potential site considered, and to maintain that documentation in a database for future reference.

8. Assign Case Managers
A Case Manager needs to be assigned for each potential project at initiation (who will continue through project completion) in order to provide a means of accountability, facilitate prompt decision making, allow for timely reporting and tracking, ensure all concerned parties are involved and informed on a timely basis, and that site selection criteria and procedures are consistently utilized.

The assigned Case Manager will be the accountable and responsible Client Representative for the District, maintaining project schedule and cost, management of consultants, benchmarking and reporting results, and interface between all the parties, both District and non-District, involved in site selection (as well as design and construction.)

A core group of no more than 3 to 6 Senior Case Managers, assigned by type of project, should reside within the District staff, to provide continuity on a long-term basis for LAUSD Facilities. These Senior Case Managers would be supplemented by contracted firms with expertise in program/project management (such as 3DI/OK, the Bond Project Management firms, and the Army Corps of Engineers.) This will allow the District to have access to highly qualified and trained personnel as appropriate to the volume required.

Site Selection Activities : Site Identification

The District will utilize several sources for potential site identification:

• The neighborhoods impacted, as organized by the Community Organizers and their participating Stakeholders
• Neighborhood zoning and planning department
• Redevelopment and public agencies, such as Affordable Housing
• The Brokerage community

The primary source and filtering mechanism for initial site identification will be the Community Organizers. They will conduct publicly-noticed, neighborhood-based community meetings to review, research and rank potential sites (utilizing the supporting data provided by LAUSD.) These groups will be a major source for identifying potential joint use opportunities, knowledge of social neighborhood boundaries, and conflicting agendas for utilizing neighborhood sites.

Zoning and planning departments of various cities and neighborhoods will have long-term perspectives on land planning and development that are critical to fully informed site selection.

Redevelopment and public agencies have already established target areas for better land utilization, and in many cases, joint use opportunities and excess or abandoned properties.

The Brokerage community, by the very nature of their core business, have the ability to bring into consideration sites which are offered by willing sellers and an opportunity to minimize both the time and cost of site acquisition.

Site Selection Activities : Site Screening
Environmental Health and Safety will conduct an initial Phase I Screening to identify immediately known potential site issues. This is done through a database currently available on hand-held computers, and can be performed in a matter of minutes. A full Phase I will be ordered for each site which meets 75% or more of the site selection criteria, as ranked by the Community Outreach activities.

Simultaneously, Real Estate will perform a database screen of all sites proposed by the community, brokers and others based on the site selection criteria and historical information. Utilizing outside consultants, Real Estate and the Case Manager develop preliminary cost and schedule impact analysis of sites to assist in the final ranking and prioritization.

Screened sites are returned to the Community Organizer, who schedules information meetings for the community to review screening criteria, and develop final rankings.

Site Selection Activities : Site Recommendations
Once the screening process is completed, Real Estate will conduct a more extensive research on the top three (3) community preferred sites, and prepare an information packet to present to Facilities Committee with recommendation for a preferred site.

The Case Manager will notify CDE of the top three (3) sites and schedule drive-by reviews prior to presentation to Facilities Committee if possible.

Mailed and delivered notices will be sent to all affected parties for the top three (3) sites, indicating the recommended preferred site, at a minimum of ten (10) days prior to the Facilities Committee Meeting. When appropriate, District staff may request a special evening Facilities Committee Meeting to be held in the impacted neighborhood (especially if several preferred sites for the area are submitted simultaneously.) When held at District Board Offices, the notices should include a committed time for hearing the sites in order to enable all stakeholders to attend without undue hardship to their work and home commitments, and travel requirements.

Site Selection Activities : Site Selection
Upon confirmation by the Facility Committee of the preferred site

• Real Estate is released to process through site procurement activities such as appraisals, relocation plan development, request for site access,
• Environmental initiates CEQA/DTSC Phase I certification (or PEA if required),
• Design assigns a commissioned Architect from the prequalified list, and
• the Case Manager assembles the construction management/design team to confirm the Project Budget and Schedule.

FACILITIES SERVICES DIVISION: 355 S. Grand Ave., 6TH Flr., Los Angeles, CA 90071 * Telephone:(213) 633-7603 * Fax:(213) 633-7605