LAUSD improvements: Fairfax getting new gym, Dorsey getting first football stadium

Two sports programs that have produced some of the best athletes in the history of the Los Angeles Unified School District, Fairfax basketball and Dorsey football, are getting major facility upgrades after approval from the Los Angeles Board of Education.

Fairfax’s historic gymnasium, considered among the best for shooters in the City Section, will be torn down and replaced by a new, larger structure as part of a $148-million campus improvement project, Principal Leonard Choi said. Construction is expected to begin by 2026.

Dorsey, which has played its home football games at nearby Rancho Cienega Park, will be getting a new stadium so it will be able to play games for the first time on campus. Construction could begin by the end of 2023.

“It’s amazing,” said Dorsey coach Stafon Johnson, who was the team’s star running back during his Don days. “It’s going to be a full stadium with a track, concessions, bleachers. Dorsey definitely deserves to have its own stadium.”

Fairfax has been a perennial basketball power with such all-star players as Chris Mills, Josh Shipp and Chace Stanback. Dorsey has sent more players to the NFL than any other LAUSD school.

Other schools receiving improvements from bond measure money include Reseda, which will be getting an all-weather track and new grass field; Chatsworth, which will be receiving a new weight room, and Cleveland, which will receive an all-weather turf field.

The Fairfax gym has played host to many all-star players through the years, from the Ball brothers of Chino Hills to Don MacLean during his Simi Valley days. The new gym could be similar to the recently opened gymnasium at Venice.

“At the end of the day, we’ll miss it,” Fairfax coach Jamal Hartwell said.

LAUSD schools have been on a gym-building surge, with Sun Valley Poly and North Hollywood opening new gyms this fall. Taft will play on its new all-weather turf field.

El Camino Real is supposed to have a new field completed in time for football season after it was out of commission for a year because of defective material. Construction is expected to take 26 days.