Larchmont Charter School announced it has secured a site for the high school and is set to open with classes for 10th grade students in the fall of 2013 and 11th graders in 2014. The new facility, located at 2801 West 6th Street (corner of 6th and Lafayette) has been signed for a 20 year lease, providing a permanence to the Larchmont Charter program, and a new viable public high school option for students in the area.
According to the Larchmont Charter website, the location will also serve Middle School students for the first few years, moving those students out of the current facility at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, and eventually finding a new location for the Middle School as the High School grows.
In their online letter to school families and potential families, Larchmont Charter’s Board Chair Danny Corwin and Executive Director Eugene Straub write with exuberance about the long-planned dream of building Larchmont Charter into the kindergarten-to-college public education program for people in the Larchmont and greater Wilshire area:
“It is a fantastic building that features lots of natural light, a central courtyard, parking and a great mid-20th century design! The building was designed by Welton Becket & Associates, the same architects who designed the Equitable Life Building on Wilshire Boulevard, as well as the Capital Records Building, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and many other important buildings around the world. The site is directly across the street from the recently renovated Lafayette Park, which offers a number of indoor and outdoor amenities, including basketball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, picnic areas and general indoor and outdoor space. It is also across the street from the Felipe de Neve Public Library and one block from Pilgrim School. Finally, it is located on or near a number of major public transportation corridors, including the 4th Street bike route, the 6th Street and Wilshire Boulevard bus lines and the Wilshire & Vermont Metro line.
The new 6th Street site will have the facilities we need to run an excellent middle school and high school program: lab spaces for science; dedicated art spaces for music and theater; meeting areas for students; offices for administrators, counselors and support staff; and best of all, large classrooms with natural light! Most of the classrooms will be in excess of 725 square feet and the building will have a modern technology backbone with high-speed wireless networking throughout and support for our growing technology needs. We will also leverage the park resources to ensure that we have both a rich Physical Education curriculum as we all as the most robust athletics program possible given our size and available resources.”
The entire announcement can be found on the LCS website, and provides more information on the academic calendar, fundraising and construction timeline.
For more information on applying to LCHS, please visit one of the Larchmont Charter campuses, call the Middle School at 213-384-0040 or the Elementary School at 323-836-0860, or send an e-mail:[email protected].
About Julie Grist
Julie co-founded the Larchmont Buzz with fellow buzzer Mary Hawley in 2011 and served as Editor, Publisher and writer for the hive for many years until the sale of the Buzz in August 2015. She is still circling the hive as an occasional writer.
Ah the old metro skills center – perfect, yep remember it well as I taught at the nearby ‘grim school for 20 years. It’s a nice building too & an interesting neighborhood.
Viva Larchmont Charter! We are so happy about this!