HART'S GYM PROJECT MESSY BUT ON SCHEDULE.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Daily News Staff Writer

The center quad is more crowded during classroom breaks. Most of the 2,010 students who drive to school have to park off-campus now, and even when they get on the school grounds, they might have to walk clear around the school just to get to their classrooms. And during class, the noise can be downright unbearable.

These are some of the inconveniences students and faculty at Hart High School have been dealing with since construction of a new gymnasium began about six weeks ago.

Since the Northridge Earthquake destroyed the original building, a top priority of the William S. Hart Union High School District has been to rebuild the gym.

After much negotiating with federal and state agencies, groundbreaking took place Feb. 15, with construction on the $4 million project starting two weeks later. Upland-based E.M. Berry, the same company that built Valencia High School and La Mesa Junior High, is in charge.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) is paying for $2.6 million, enough to put the gym back the way it was, said Lew White, the district's coordinator of facilities. The district is paying the balance.

Two months have passed. Steel columns protrude high into the air. The foundation is in, as are the first of the conduits that will carry the electrical circuits.

Over in the locker room, which White said would be finished in time for the football season, the interior has been gutted and the underground wiring has been completed.

When the building is completed, it will be slightly larger than the original - enough to seat 1,200 instead of 900 - said athletic administrator Bill Beauer.

Much remains to be done, but White said the project is on schedule to be completed by no later than early next spring, maybe sooner.

As long as there's construction, there will be sacrifices to be made. The back parking lot has shrunk so much that only seniors and a handful of juniors are allowed to park there, Beauer said. When he realized that some spaces were available for juniors, he used a lottery to dole them out. About 50 juniors signed up for 15 spaces.

Because the construction site is completely fenced off, usual access paths have been cut off. This has led to congestion through the few paths that are available. Beauer joked that it has made patrolling the grounds easier.

``You have a lot less room. Our school's not big to begin with, and this doesn't help,'' said senior Danielle Odiorne. ``There's no room for anybody. . . . You don't want to run into anyone. It's like running an obstacle course. . . . But everybody's gotten used to it.''

The single most difficult part was when the jackhammers tore up the concrete. Nearby classrooms shook as in a mild earthquake.

``I have (advanced placement) physics first thing in the morning so the ground was shaking so much, I couldn't concentrate,'' Odiorne said.

Yet everyone puts up with it because the alternative - no gym - is much worse.

``We get excited every time they put another cinder block in place,'' said Athletic Director Mike Herrington. ``It's nice to see progress.''

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Photo: Construction of a new gymnasium to replace the quake -destroyed facility is under way at Hart High School.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News