Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools
| Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Address | |
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701 S. Catalina St. Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles 90005 United States |
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| Coordinates | 34°03′34″N 118°17′48″W / 34.059466°N 118.296586°WCoordinates: 34°03′34″N 118°17′48″W / 34.059466°N 118.296586°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public |
| Established | September 2010 |
| School district | Los Angeles Unified School District |
| Grades | K-12 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Website | rfkschools-lausd-ca |
The Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, called the RFK Community Schools, is a complex of public schools in Los Angeles, California. The schools cost $578 million to build, making it the most expensive public school in the United States. The school was designed for 4200 students, which can be filled by students within a nine-block radius.
The site was home to The Ambassador Hotel, the site of the June 1968 assassination of presidential candidate, United States Senator from New York, and former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
Los Angeles Unified School District (known as LAUSD) wanted to build a school on the site since the 1980s, but was met with resistance: Real estate developer Donald Trump (who later became President) wanted to build the world's tallest building on the site, and Mayor Tom Bradley, Nate Holden, and LA's business community were strongly opposed to using the location as a school.
The hotel was razed in 2006. The new school, designed by the architects of Gonzalez Goodale, built a modern interpretation of the original hotel.
Along Wilshire Boulevard is a memorial pocket park to Robert F. Kennedy. The school itself is six stories, with a replica of the Cocoanut Grove.
The Los Angeles Conservancy fought the construction of RFK community schools for a long time. They had proposed a plan for a “small learning community” that would still preserve the Ambassador hotel. On October 25, 2007, the Los Angeles Conservancy filed a lawsuit against LAUSD. The school board was not following the guidelines for construction that the LA Conservancy had expected. After the decision was voted on by the Board of Education, Roland A. Wiley (president of the LA Conservancy) issued a statement about the situation. He stated that while the Ambassador Hotel was not saved, an agreement had been reached with LAUSD to preserve many other historical sites.
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