BOARD OKS BOND SPENDING; USE OF BOND MONEY APPROVED.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Eastside Union School District trustees took the first step in using money from the $15.5 million bond passed by voters last month.

The board unanimously approved Thursday night paying $2,500 to La Canada Flintridge-based Cal Civic Engineering to survey and gauge the elevation of 20 acres earmarked for a middle school at Avenue I and 30th Street East.

``If you look at it, it looks flat. You need to know the varying levels so that plans can be designed to accommodate those levels,'' Superintendent Connie Webb said.

Depending on how quickly state officials approve the school's building plans, construction is scheduled to begin on the $9.5 million facility in the spring and be completed by August 1999.

The school will house between 800 and 1,000 students in grades six through eight. The school will be designed with computer classrooms and rooms for special classes like art, industrial arts, and drama, Webb said.

An arts classroom, for example, would have more storage room and more sinks, Webb said.

The middle school site was recently acquired from the city of Lancaster for $213,000.

The bond, which adds $32 per $100,000 assessed value to property owners' tax bills annually, will also go toward building an elementary school and modernizing the district's two existing campuses.

The money will be spent to repair and upgrade heating and ventilation systems, fire and burglar alarm systems, lighting, windows, and insulation, as well as to rewire classrooms to provide students with access to computer technology.

The district's current middle school, Cole Middle School, is now located on an elementary school campus at 70th Street East and Avenue H and is mostly made up of temporary buildings. Once the new middle school opens, Cole will be used for elementary pupils.

The new elementary school, estimated to cost $6.5 million, would handle about 550 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The district has acquired land at 40th Street East and Avenue J-8 from the city for about $90,000. No date has been set for the opening of the elementary school.