2 New Schools in Southeast Area Get Board Approval

The Los Angeles Board of Education has taken the first step toward construction of two elementary schools in the Southeast. The board also has decided to defer acquisition of land in Cudahy for a proposed junior high school until a more intensive environmental impact study of the site is completed.

The board Monday gave the go-ahead to two projects called Bell new elementary school No. 4 and South Gate new elementary school No. 4 by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The board agreed to ask the state for permission to begin acquiring property for the schools, which are needed because of crowded conditions at existing schools in the area, the district said.

With the state’s approval, Bell No. 4 will be built on a Huntington Park site bounded by Benedict Way on the north, Gage Avenue on the south, Bissell Street on the west and the property line of the Elks Lodge on the east. Twenty-nine homes will be displaced by the planned school.

The new South Gate school site will be bounded by Post Street on the north, Independence Avenue on the south, Victoria Avenue on the east and the alley between Dearborn Avenue and State Street on the west. Ten homes are currently on the site.

According to Robert J. Niccum, director of real estate for the district, obtaining permission from the state to begin acquiring the land could take from two to eight months. “We’re being optimistic and hoping it will be two to three months,� Niccum said.

Niccum said that the Cudahy junior high school project had been put off because development of the proposed site would displace 190 homes, including residents of the Green Lantern Trailer Park on Elizabeth Street.

The proposed junior high would require expansion of the present site of the Elizabeth Street Elementary School. The new site would extend to Clara Street on the north and Elizabeth Street on the south, with 100 to 200 feet added to the present school site on the east and 200 to 300 feet added on the west.

No further action on the Elizabeth Street project is expected for four to five months until the environmental impact report is completed, Niccum said.

At Monday’s meeting, the district also announced that it is no longer considering a site between Florence Avenue and Live Oak Street in Bell for Bell elementary school No. 3.

Acquisition of the site would have disrupted 170 homes, most of them in Del Rio Mobile Home Park and Little Oak Trailer Park.

Niccum said, however, that an appropriate site for the school is still being sought in the Bell area. “The need is still there because the kids are still there,� he said.