BOARD TOLD TO RELEASE AC PLANS; REVEAL SCHOOL COOLING PROPOSALS, OFFICIAL SAYS.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

The head of the Proposition BB oversight committee criticized the Los Angeles Unified School District on Friday for not releasing all proposals to air-condition 285 schools.

Steven Soboroff, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Citizens Oversight Committee, which monitors the $2.4 billion bond, said the public should be allowed to scrutinize all the companies' proposals before they are pared down by a 10-member evaluation team and sent to the Board of Education for final approval.

``The proposals should be released publicly,'' Soboroff said. ``There's the sense that if a decision is made behind closed doors, there's this big puff of smoke and out comes the winner.

``No one will know what the proposals were, what the decision-making process was. Let that process see the light of day.''

But school officials said the public will have enough opportunity to evaluate the refined list of proposals before the Board of Education makes a final selection.

``There's going to be a great deal of public discussion,'' said Howard Friedman, a school district attorney, noting that the evaluation team will forward its recommendations to the school board and oversight committee before a final decision is made.

``They're making evaluations that will be shared with the board, the BB committee and with everyone and God,'' he said.

Proposition BB spokesman Eric Nasarenko also said the district staff is looking into whether all the proposals can be made public after the evaluation team hears them.

``We want to be able to share with the public what we legally can,'' Nasarenko said.

Soboroff also criticized the district for allowing Proposition BB project managers to give a formal presentation even though they didn't submit a proposal by the deadline this week.

``That should be illegal,'' he said. ``They chose not to bid, and they should absolutely, categorically be exempt from turning in a proposal.''

The 10 project managers, who have been completing school repairs, modernization and new construction projects required by Proposition BB work, were selected in July from a list of 18 applicants.

Nasarenko said they were chosen in a competitive bidding process that examined their abilities to complete many construction projects in a timely manner, including installing air conditioning.

On Wednesday, four companies submitted formal proposals to install air conditioners at 285 schools throughout the district by 2000.