REBOOKED FOR HOLIDAYS TEXTS, COMPUTERS BEING SENT TO SCHOOLS THAT LOST THEIRS IN HURRICANE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley High School is donating 60 computers and Cole Middle School is giving 90 boxes of school supplies and old textbooks to two Mississippi schools devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The boxes of pencils, binders, notebooks, youth novels, glue sticks and literature and science texts that Cole is no longer using will be sent to a fellow NASA Explorer middle school, Bay Waveland Middle School, in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

The computers, from an Antelope Valley High School program in which students refurbish computers donated by businesses and the community, will be going to a sister high school in Biloxi.

``We are very excited. The language-arts teachers are excited about the prospect of getting additional literature books. Our library was completely destroyed,'' said Connie Roth, a science teacher at Bay Waveland.

Cole Middle School science teacher Barbara Leonard said the relief effort began after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration sent out word that five Gulf Coast schools in its Explorer School program had been ravaged by the hurricane.

In a two-week period starting before Thanksgiving, Cole students gathered up the 90 boxes of goods. Leonard added that Cole pupils had earlier raised more than $2,000 to give to the Red Cross to aid hurricane victims, as well as $800 for an animal group working to rescue animals from flooded areas.

``I am really pleased with it. I'm pleased to be able to help another school. I think of them as a sister school,'' Leonard said. ``The kids - that effort they put out, I'm impressed.''

The books, supplies and computers will be delivered by a truck driver who lives in Biloxi. The arrangement was set up with the help of Eastside Union School District trustee Jannette Crawford, who also is a member of the Lancaster West Rotary Club, and James Baker, a member of the Rotary Club of Lancaster, who owns Lancaster Moving and Storage.

Through the company's dispatch system, Baker was able to locate the Biloxi truck driver who was heading back home and had room on his truck.

The truck driver passed up a job of moving household goods from a home in Santa Barbara to come to Lancaster, losing out on some earnings, Baker said.

``Everybody involved with the hurricane thing - they have a passion for helping each other,'' Baker said.

Crawford was able to secure a $500 grant through her Rotary district to pay for the transport.

Crawford also got a call from the director of Antelope Valley High School's Information Systems Academy, who wanted to send the computers to a sister academy at the Biloxi high school.

After Hurricane Katrina hit Aug. 29, Bay Waveland Middle School was closed for 2 1/2 months and only reopened to students about two weeks ago. About half of the school's 600 students have returned.

The area around Bay St. Louis was hit by a storm surge that reached heights of 30 feet. The devastation spanned a big stretch of the coastline - equivalent to the distance between Santa Monica and Santa Barbara, Roth said.

``Our school was completely gutted. The people who restore buildings came in, and they literally scraped our school completely clean,'' Roth said. ``When I came back, I didn't have one supply. Not a pencil. They got rid of everything.''

The school has received some supplies, such as paper and glue, but still lacks computers, microscopes, thermometers and scales, Roth said.

``Everything we taught with is pretty much gone. It makes it very difficult to do what you usually do,'' Roth said.

The response from the staff at Bay Waveland to Cole's generosity has been warm. An e-mail to Leonard stated, ``If you were available, the whole science department would hug you.''

Leonard responded: ``We live 10 miles from the San Andreas (Fault). When the San Andreas opens, remember us like we are remembering you.''

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) From left, Alyson Santa, Ruben Rodriquez and C.J. Lara, all 12, carry supplies and textbooks Cole Middle School is giving to a hurricane-devastated Mississippi school.

(2) Lancaster students load donated books and supplies onto a truck whose driver is voluntarily delivering them to Mississippi.

(3) Leonidez Chamorro, left, and Angela Hill, both 12, carry books for a hurricane-flooded school.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer