L.A. Facilities Chief Brings Military Ethic to Massive Operation
Ambitious School Construction Plan Is on Schedule and Meeting Budget
Los Angeles
As a captain who oversaw a major construction regiment for the U.S. Navy, Jim McConnell embraced the Seabees’ motto, “We build, we fight.”
Today, as the facilities chief for the nation’s second-largest school district, his new mission statement is “We fight to build.”
The change reflects his daunting mission for the 740,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District. As the director of the largest school construction program in the country, he will oversee the building of 160 new schools and the renovation and maintenance of nearly 12,000 other facilities in one of the country’s...
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Clarification:
The article gave an outdated cost estimate for the completion of the former Belmont Learning Center Project. The new estimate to complete a smaller school on the site is $309 million.
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