SCHOOL PLANS MOVE FAST 2 NEW CAMPUSES NEEDED FOR FUTURE STUDENTS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - High school officials are moving forward to develop two high schools in southeast Palmdale and northwest Lancaster.

The Antelope Valley Union High School District has hired firms to appraise the land and evaluate potential problems from flooding, earthquakes, air pollution and soil conditions.

``The time line to put a school on those properties requires that all those studies be completed,'' trustee Al Beattie said. ``Our time line is extremely short. We are projecting we need those schools as soon as possible.''

The board at Wednesday's meeting approved the contracts with three firms totaling $53,945. The cost will be covered by state funds, local bond money and developer fees, district staff reports said.

The two 60-acre school sites are on the south side of Pearblossom Highway at 47th Street East, and the north side of Avenue G at 95th Street West. The sites are owned by Lancaster developer J.P. Eliopulos Enterprises, which has offered to swap both properties for 25 acres the high school district owns on Rancho Vista Boulevard west of 30th Street West.

Knight High School in east Palmdale opened to its first class two years ago and Eastside High School in east Lancaster is expected to open late this year. But officials said those campuses are not enough to accommodate an influx of teenagers from new housing tracts.

By the time Knight High School has all four years of classes in fall 2006, the student enrollment is expected to be as high as 3,300 students, Beattie said. Palmdale High will approach 3,500 students.

Master-planned developments such as the 7,200-home Ritter Ranch project and the 5,000-home Ana Verde tract in west Palmdale will send more students to Highland and Quartz Hill high schools, and, to alleviate crowding there, students may be moved to the Palmdale and Knight campuses.

Northwest Lancaster is due to get its own a master-planned community, district officials said.

Palmdale-based Earth Systems will provide reports that evaluate site soil conditions, seismic effects, and regional and local geological conditions.

Another firm, Altadena-based Wilson Geosciences, will evaluate the potential for flooding at the southeast Palmdale school site from a break in the nearby California Aqueduct or water tanks.

``Preliminary evaluation of the site by a California Department of Education Facilities Planning Division representative recommended that a focused study be conducted to evaluate an uphill water tank failure probability and California Aqueduct failure probability and potential inundation impacts to the proposed school site,'' a district staff report said.

Palmdale Water District has 2-million- and 3-million-gallon steel water tanks south of the school site, a report said. A 4-million-gallon tank is under construction to the east at 50th East and Avenue T-4.

The Wilson firm also will assess the probability of a freight train derailment on railroad tracks that pass about 1,200 feet away.

For the northwest Lancaster site, Wilson will analyze a six-inch, high- pressure natural gas pipeline located adjacent to the school site.