HEAD OF SCHOOL BOARD STOPS GRILLE INSTALLATION.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles school board President Julie Korenstein on Tuesday temporarily halted installation of all window security grilles at school campuses, pending the outcome of an investigation by a district safety committee.

The Daily News disclosed Saturday that the grilles were being installed despite concerns from principals, teachers and students that the screens would block window exits in the event of a fire, turning classrooms into death traps.

``All the maintenance divisions have been told to halt it,'' Korenstein said. ``I need to have experts in the field give us information as to what is the very best way to secure buildings and at the same time ensure the safety of children. For me, that's the No. 1 priority.''

The safety committee is tentatively scheduled to meet from 1 to 3 p.m. March 18 at district headquarters, Korenstein said. Fire, building and safety experts will testify about the safety of the grilles. The meeting will be broadcast on KCLS-TV (Channel 58).

Steve Soboroff, chairman of the Proposition BB citizens oversight committee, applauded the moratorium. But he said it falls short of a resolution he plans to introduce at today's committee meeting calling for a temporary delay of new grilles and modification of existing ones.

``What she did is terrific,'' Soboroff said of Korenstein. ``It's a great first step but our resolution is a necessary second and third step. Julie's doesn't keep buildings from being death traps. Ours does.''

Soboroff's resolution, which would have to be approved by the Board of Education, recommends existing window screens be outfitted with safety latches.

Superintendent Ruben Zacarias also was troubled by the absence of safety latches, said Brad Sales, spokesman for the Los Angeles Unified School District.

``He was alarmed when he read about it,'' Sales said. ``He wondered to himself if you have requirements for residences, why you wouldn't have it for classroom windows. He comes down on the side of safety of children being more important on the whole than protection of property.''

Under the fire code, residences with barred bedroom windows must have a release latch on at least one of those windows in each bedroom.

UTLA officials, who last month passed a motion calling for release latches on the wire-mesh screens, said they were pleased with the moratorium.

``I'm glad Julie did that,'' said Day Higuchi, president of United Teachers Los Angeles. ``It shows that it's serious enough to do something and these days that's important.''

UTLA vice president Bev Cook, who oversees safety issues for the 33,000-member union, said the moratorium is long overdue.

``We've been trying to put the pressure on,'' Cook said. ``(The moratorium is) fantastic. We feel great.''

But Wendy Shepherd, a resource teacher at San Jose Street Elementary School in Mission Hills where the grilles already are in place, said she was disappointed that the moratorium was not issued sooner.

``Unfortunately, I've got all my windows covered with these grates. I tried to stop it as much as I could,'' said Shepherd, who fears students and teachers could be trapped inside classrooms with window screens.

So far, the security grilles have been bolted to the outside of windows at 64 schools, the start of a $14 million project, financed by the Proposition BB bonds, that was to include 750 schools. The goal is to deter theft and vandalism, even though property crime was down by almost half last year in the district.

In most instances, the grilles were being attached to exterior window frames without escape latches. District officials initially considered - but abandoned - the idea of release latches to avoid the possibility of tampering.

Korenstein, a member of the district safety committee, said she wants to consult with building and safety experts, firefighters and officials from the Division of the State Architect, which ensures public schools meet state building code standards.

``We need to make a decision about what we have on the windows now and what we need to do in case of a risk to students and teachers,'' said Korenstein, who also called for a review of existing state fire and building codes.

``There are rules and regulations and codes and all those things and I know that we meet those standards, but I need to scrutinize where we need to go above that. I have to have no doubt in my mind that our children are in the safest environment.''

Meanwhile, school officials acknowledged on Tuesday that contractors had been mounting window security grilles on campuses that were later to receive air conditioning, requiring the removal of some of the screens.

``It's a question of coordinating it. It's a problem,'' said Michael Bennett, principal of Parkman Middle School in Woodland Hills, where contractors will have to remove 45 window screens to install window air conditioners.

``In most classrooms it will be one window that will have to be removed to put in a floor-to-ceiling air conditioner. One would think they would make it so the workers don't trip over one another.''

District spokesman Eric Nasarenko said the district safety committee will investigate the sequencing problem.

``There's some instances where the security grilles are being removed to install window-hung air conditioning units,'' Nasarenko said. ``Whether or not the grilles will be reinstalled after the air conditioners are put in is an issue that will be considered on a site-by-site basis and will be included in the safety committee's review.''