OFFICIALS TRY TO NAIL DOWN SITE TEMPORARY SOUTHEAST PALMDALE CAMPUS WOULD HOUSE 9TH HIGH SCHOOL.

Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer

PALMDALE -- Antelope Valley Union High School District officials are moving forward to obtain a temporary campus in southeast Palmdale for its ninth major high school.

High school officials are negotiating for the Palmdale School District's unused elementary school campus near 40th Street East and Avenue S that was used for part of last school year as the temporary Eastside High School.

``If we don't (move forward), we will see student counts at Palmdale and Knight high schools well above a reasonable number. They are approaching 3,500 right now,'' trustee Al Beattie said. ``Initially we are going to put together an interim site, which will allow us to take the pressure off those schools.''

The high school district can't afford to build a permanent school on its property at 47th Street East and Avenue T-8 after the failure of its $177.5 million school bond measure in June.

If negotiations with Palmdale fall through, then the district will look at the more costly alternative of erecting a temporary campus at the 47th Street East property.

``It's not an option we are favoring because of the cost to put it in and tear out again,'' said Mat Havens, director of facilities, acquisition and development. ``If the buildings were leased, the infrastructure and support would cost between $20 million to $25 million.''

The high school district will try for another bond, possibly in November 2007, to procure financing for building the permanent campus.

``We are continuing with design in order to move right into construction if we have a successful bond,'' Havens said. Beattie said an interim campus either at the Palmdale site or the 47th Street East site would mean students will not have to be bused to another school.

If Measure E had passed, officials had planned to build two new high schools, complete construction of Eastside High, expand Quartz Hill High, and add two new science labs at Lancaster.

The construction of Eastside High School's administration building, theater/fine arts building and canopied entryway will be put on hold, as will the addition of the science labs at Lancaster.

Quartz Hill High's expansion will be done with modular buildings rather than the construction of permanent buildings.

Measure E was supported by 52.2 percent of voters, short of the 55 percent needed for it to pass. The measure would have taxed property owners about $30 per $100,000 of assessed valuation annually.

The Palmdale site was used by the high school district last year for six months to house Eastside High's first freshman class while Eastside's own temporary campus in Lancaster, at 35th Street East and Avenue J-8, was readied for occupancy.

The Palmdale campus has two office buildings, a cafeteria and multipurpose room, and classroom space to hold up to 2,000 students.

Palmdale has used it as a temporary site for schools when permanent campuses were being built.

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

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