May 9, 2018—Yesterday’s vote by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is shortsighted and detrimental to the history and culture of Boyle Heights. This vote approves the needless demolition of Roosevelt High School’s historic R Building, nationally significant for its catalytic role in the Chicano Civil Rights Movement.

LAUSD railroaded this decision through the environmental review process, approving a $173 million project in only eight months. That is unheard of in the private sector. 

From the very beginning of this process, the Conservancy focused on a compromise, advocating for only one of the 12 historic buildings on campus. The Conservancy and many members of the community, including the Committee to Defend Roosevelt, are in alignment with this compromise.

The R Building can and should be upgraded and modernized to provide students the safe, quality school they deserve. The future students of Roosevelt High will lose the most in this shortsighted decision. Why does LAUSD deem the students of John Burroughs Middle School in Hancock Park worthy of an updated historic school, but not the students of Boyle Heights?