Miguel Contreras Learning Complex (MCLC) is a high school in the Westlake neighborhood of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The school, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the

Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

. The school is located at 322 South Lucas Avenue, just down Third Street from the

LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...

Board of Education headquarters building. It houses three Small Learning Communities (SLCs): The Academic Leadership Community (ALC), Social Justice, and Business & Tourism (B&T), which is the largest academy. The complex also holds a separate school called the Los Angeles School Of Global Studies, a

New Tech Network New Technology High School is a secondary school located in Napa, California. It focuses on project-based learning, student-centered culture, college and workforce readiness, and technology integration. It is the flagship school of the New Tech ...

school with a focus on

project-based learning Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which it is believed that students acquire a deeper knowledge through active exploration of real-world challenges and problems. Students le ...

(PBL). LASGS currently holds an

API An application programming interface (API) is a way for two or more computer programs to communicate with each other. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how ...

score of 591. Contreras was named after

Miguel Contreras Miguel Contreras (September 17, 1952 – May 6, 2005) was an American labor union leader. He "was known as a king-maker for both local and state politicians." Contreras was born in Dinuba, a city in California's agricultural Central Valley ...

, a labor union organizer.

History

MCLC opened its doors for the first time on September 5, 2006. Prior to its opening, the school building project was known as Central Los Angeles Area New High School #10. The total budget for this school was over $168 million. The school took many students who were enrolled in Belmont High School and chose to transfer, as well as students who were unable to attend overcrowded local schools, and had been bussed to nearby schools throughout their entire academic careers. The three Small Learning Communities (SLCs) were originally established at Belmont High School and essentially moved their entire community (teachers and students) to the new complex. The three SLCs were Academic Learning Complex (ALC), Business and Tourism (BT) and Social Justice (SJ). This will be the protocol for other new schools in the area that will aim to relieve the overcrowding at Belmont as it transitions into a 6–12 school. President of the United States

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

visited the school for a town hall meeting on March 19, 2009, where a large crowd filled the gymnasium. On January 26, 2022, a 17-year-old boy was stabbed twice during a fistfight on the third floor of the complex. He was transported to

LAC+USC Medical Center Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is '' Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infe ...

in stable condition.

Neighborhoods served

Areas served by Contreras include portions of the

Pico-Union Pico-Union is a neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California. The name "Pico-Union" refers to the neighborhood that surrounds the intersection of Pico Boulevard and Union Avenue. Located immediately west of Downtown Los Angeles, it is home to ...

and Westlake,

Angelino Heights Angelino Heights, alternately spelled Angeleno Heights, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Situated between neighboring Chinatown and Echo Park, the neighborhood is known for its concentration of eclectic architectural styles from ...

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

Koreatown A Koreatown (Korean: 코리아타운), also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula. History Koreatowns as an East Asian ethnic enclave have ...

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known fo ...

, and Little Tokyo areas. MCLC & LASGS and Belmont share the same attendance boundary and are separate schools which are called pilot schools.

References

{{authority control Contreras Contreras Educational institutions established in 2006 Public high schools in California Chinatown, Los Angeles 2006 establishments in California