New name, new life for Belmont school

Veteran school administrator Scott Braxton could not help but wonder about his new assignment, principal of the school formerly known as the Belmont Learning Complex.

Was this most infamous of schools safe?

"That was the first question I had when I came in for the job interview," said Braxton, speaking in his office at the soon-to-open Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, the school's new name.

The more than $400-million school atop an oil field, just west of the 110 Freeway downtown, became notorious not only as an allegedly toxic site but as the nation's most expensive high school construction project. The furor over Belmont drove out incumbent school board members, a superintendent and a regiment of career administrators. It also led to the rewriting of state law and local policy regarding environmental issues at school sites.

In the process, the Belmont Learning Complex became a symbol of dysfunction for the Los Angeles Unified School District. The construction project led to investigations, commissions, hearings and demonstrations. It was battled over, delayed, canceled, partially demolished and redesigned over 15 years. All the while, thousands of students continued to be bused out of overcrowded neighborhood schools. And old Belmont High operated year-round with more than 5,000 students -- their academic year shortened by nearly a month to fit them all in.

"All most people know about Belmont is that it was supposedly so toxic," said former board member Victoria Castro, who represented the Belmont area. "And that it was very costly. People I meet tell me they thought it was demolished, that it was never going to be."

Next month, Castro will cheer the school's opening -- and the return of Belmont High to a traditional, two-semester schedule after 26 years.

And everyone, including Braxton, has been reassured about the campus' safety. The gas-mitigation system cost more than $17 million to design and install, and will cost $250,000 to $500,000 a year to operate.

A group of current students started meeting at old Belmont in the spring to help with the transition. And last week at the sparkling new campus, Braxton and assistant principal Felipe Caceres discussed the potential oil field hazards: methane, which is explosive, and hydrogen sulfide, which is toxic.

"School safety is going to be a concern, the gases and stuff," said senior Uriel Rivera, 18.