LAUSD Board to Vote on Emerson Campus Modernization Today

[EmersonMS]

The below message is being sent on behalf of Board Member Zimmer.


Dear Participants of the Emerson MS Modernization Project,


Thank you for everything you do for Emerson Middle School and the
Emerson community. I know that the process around this investment has
not been perfect, but I greatly appreciate your time and effort in
helping me understand the needs of the Emerson community. Over the
last two months I have held three community meetings and had many
conversations with Emerson parents, teachers and concerned residents.
We learned from those meetings that folks were interested in adding
academic improvements in addition to constructing a new gym and a turf
field. With the excellent work of our Facilities department, we were
able to translate those suggestions into concrete changes.


We then reviewed these revised plans at a community meeting at the
beginning of the month. At this meeting, I asked that people contact
me by last Friday to weigh in on the proposal. We heard from a few
dozen of you, and you overwhelmingly supported the revised plans. The
project will now consist of a new gymnasium and music classroom, a
science lab, reconfigured staff parking and student drop-off areas,
and a regulation-sized synthetic turf field and play space. The total
project budget is $18,107,338. We anticipate that the entire project
will be completed by the Fall of 2014.


Today, the Board will vote on this project and I think it will be a
great day for the future of Emerson. The teachers, parents and
students have already made Emerson one of the best middle schools in
LAUSD. This project will be one important step in modernizing our
classrooms and facilities to meet the excellence that happens every
day in the classrooms of the Emerson facility. I am proud to represent
Emerson and even prouder today to invest in Emerson's future. Thank
you again for your interest, participation and support.


Steve Zimmer