Sunday, August 22, 2010

Taj Mahal High School

I don't really want to reinvent the wheel here, rewriting something I've written before. I need to get to bed so I can be fresh and ready to go for the first day of school tomorrow. So as a prelude to this story, please read this post from last March.

Go on, go read it. It's very important. Hundreds of millions of dollars a year, billions in toto.

Now that you're all depressed from reading about all that wasted money and those results, let's see what Los Angeles is doing:

Next month's opening of the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools will be auspicious for a reason other than its both storied and infamous history as the former Ambassador Hotel, where the Democratic presidential contender was assassinated in 1968.

With an eye-popping price tag of $578 million, it will mark the inauguration of the nation's most expensive public school ever.

The K-12 complex to house 4,200 students has raised eyebrows across the country as the creme de la creme of "Taj Mahal" schools, $100 million-plus campuses boasting both architectural panache and deluxe amenities.

"There's no more of the old, windowless cinderblock schools of the '70s where kids felt, 'Oh, back to jail,'" said Joe Agron, editor-in-chief of American School & University, a school construction journal. "Districts want a showpiece for the community, a really impressive environment for learning."

I don't fault anyone for wanting kids to have a nice school, but short of an entire graduating class' being Stanford-bound, I can't see how anyone can justify such an expense.

3 comments:

KauaiMark said...

It's HOLLYWOOD, Darren!

Only you little people complain about money don't cha know?

allen (in Michigan) said...

I'm afraid that with all this complaining it could be quite some time before we see our first billion dollar high school.

Ellen K said...

So if it is only going to house 4,200 students in grades K-12, that's 323 or so kids per grade level. That means over a 1,000 students in a K-3 Primary section. Most educators will say such schools are far too big and let kids fall through the cracks. At least the Taj Mahal was honoring someone. This appears to be a deliberate taunt at those remaining Californians that are facing layoffs and vouchers. Who is running things out there?