LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION VOTES TO NAME NEW SCHOOLS AFTER ROBERT F. KENNEDY
Publish Date:
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 News Release
For Immediate Release January 12, 2010
213.703.6958 or shannon.haber@lausd.net
LAUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION VOTES
TO NAME NEW SCHOOLS AFTER
ROBERT F. KENNEDY
(Los Angeles, CA) – The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to name the schools at the Central Los Angeles Learning Center #1 site, the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. The schools are located at the former site of the Ambassador Hotel, where Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator (D-NY) Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.
The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools currently houses two pilot elementary schools in the same building that opened September 2009. These two elementary schools are the first phase of a two-phased kindergarten through 12th grade learning center. The middle school and high school portions of the campus are currently under construction and are scheduled to open for the 2010-11 school year. When all school buildings are completed, the site will be one of LAUSD’s few new comprehensive K-12 campuses.
“The words with which Robert F. Kennedy inspired us decades ago – that we can all be part of a change for a better world, a greater world – are alive with us as we celebrate the naming of these schools,” said LAUSD Board President M?nica García. “Senator Kennedy was a man of courage, compassion, and extraordinary leadership. These schools are a tremendous victory for the children and families of this community who have waited for years for their neighborhood school. Today symbolizes a new beginning where we fulfill our promiseto graduate every child and give them the opportunity to succeed.”
“This afternoon the Los Angeles Unified School District determined to call their newest academy the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools,” said Max Kennedy, son of Robert and Ethel Kennedy. “The school is built on the grounds where my father was shot more than forty years ago. My mother and my family are grateful for the name and the bright future it represents. There is no greater memorial to my father than this particular school, which represents all that is good in the hearts of the people of Los Angeles.”
“By dedicating this wonderful school facility in the name of the great Robert F. Kennedy, we are truly honoring the life and legacy of one of America’s greatest heroes and supporters of public education,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl, who worked as a Kennedy campaign staffer.
“As coordinator of the RFK-12 Community Task Force, I would like to join LAUSD Board President M?nica García in recommending that the new schools on the former Ambassador Hotel site be named the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools,” said Paul Schrade, former senior aide to U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and member of the RFK-12 Coalition. “Our community task force organized in 2002 with the support of parents, students and community organizations to demolish the deteriorated hotel for new schools. We support the mission of these schools to teach and activate students and parents in the legacy of Robert Kennedy for social justice for all.”
"This community has fought for years to ensure that a school is constructed and an outstanding educational program is offered to local youth,” said Veronica Melvin, executive director for the Alliance for a Better Community. “Throughout our struggle, we have been motivated by the legacy of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Today we honor him.”
“The Korean-American community is blessed to continue to have the development of new learning centers in our community and we support this new name,” said Yohngsohk Choe, president of the Koreatown and West Adams Public Safety Association.
The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools is part of the District’s new school construction program which is building 131 K-12 schools to provide every LAUSD student with the opportunity to attend a neighborhood school, operating on a traditional, two-semester calendar. For more information, please visit www.laschools.org.
