HOME, SWEET HOME NEW CAMPUS DEDICATED GUIDANCE CHARTER HAS GRAND OPENING FOR SITE, COMPUTER LAB.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Guidance Charter School on Wednesday dedicated its new $1.1 million campus, its first home of its own after five years leasing space from a mosque and borrowing empty classrooms at a Palmdale school.

Built on a vacant lot adjoining the Palmdale Boulevard mosque where the school had previously held classes, the new school has 11 classrooms, a computer lab, a library, an administrative building with the principal's office, teacher and staff lounge, and cafeteria and playground areas.

``Celebrating the grand opening and dedication of the computer lab will be the first steps of our school for future expansion and endeavors,'' said Kamal Al-Khatib, executive director and board president of the school, described as the only public school in the United States that teaches Arabic. ``We are committed to high-quality education. We will never change.''

The construction of the school was completed in August and was ready for students on the first day of classes on Aug. 14.

The school, which opened in 2001, has more than 190 students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade. After starting in leased rooms at the mosque, Guidance moved to Manzanita School in 2003, then back to the mosque in 2004.

The dedication ceremony was attended by officials from the Palmdale School District, which chartered the school, the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale as well as representatives of local elected officials.

Speakers recalled that there had been some opposition to the school when it was first proposed but the school persevered to become a model campus that represents the diversity of the Antelope Valley.

``When you started out, you had skeptics but you also had a lot of support. You just have to look around today,'' Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said.

Former Palmdale school board member and Palmdale Councilman Tom Lackey said there was initially a lot of fear and apprehension, ``but I'm proud to say this is the dream that all of us had as a board.''

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Anaheim-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Guidance and the Antelope Valley are seen as an example to be emulated.

``Many of us outside Palmdale look at the community as a model, the news we get about the cooperation and harmony,'' Ayloush said.

Darren Parker, president of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Task Force, said Guidance students are illustrative of the varied ethnic mix in the Antelope Valley.

``We promote diversity. This is a living example that diversity succeeds,'' Parker said.

``That's one of the things we promised, that we would reach out to everybody to get kids to come to the our school. It makes a difference when you are reaching out,'' Al-Khatib said.

Al-Khatib was praised by Palmdale interim Superintendent Roger Gallizzi as a visionary.

``To make a vision a reality, it takes a visionary. You should be congratulated for that,'' Gallizzi said. ``Palmdale School District is proud to be the sponsoring school district.''

The computer lab was dedicated in memory of the late A. Gaber Mohammed, a retired UCLA researcher who was one of the founders of the school.

The school, made up of modular buildings, was financed through a variety of sources, including a $672,000 bank loan, a $100,000 loan from a private party, and a $30,000 loan from the American Islamic Institute of the Antelope Valley, which owns the property the school used.

The city of Palmdale also waived $39,000 in drainage and traffic-impact fees in exchange for the school providing after-school activities, such as basketball and cheerleading, officials said.

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