SCHOOL UPGRADE WORK BEGINS RENOVATIONS SLATED AT ANTELOPE VALLEY, QUARTZ HILL AND PALMDALE HIGHS.

Byline: Marci Wormser Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Modernization projects financed by voter-approved school bonds have started at Antelope Valley High School and will commence in summer at Quartz Hill and Palmdale high schools.

The work will include installing new air-conditioning systems, replacing classroom windows, lights and cabinets, repairing plumbing and putting in new gymnasium floors and seats.

``This situation of schools running down is not just a local trend,'' said Larry Freise, coordinator of attendance and special projects. ``It's a national trend.''

The renovations are needed to replace aging facilities and upgrade outdated technology, officials said. Most of Antelope Valley High's buildings were built in the mid-1950s. Palmdale High was built in 1958, and Quartz Hill High opened in 1964.

Administrators hope to have the three modernization projects completed by summer 2004.

On Wednesday, trustees of the Antelope Valley Union High School District will decide whether to approve a $217,000 lease agreement with an Irvine company to bring 15 temporary classrooms to Quartz Hill High.

The modular classrooms would be set up for a year to house students while work occurs on classrooms.

Quartz Hill is the only school to require portable classrooms because classroom renovation work has already been done or can be finished over the summer at the other schools, officials said.

The modernization work will be financed with part of the money from the $103.5 million Measure V passed by Antelope Valley voters in March 2002 and with money from a $13 billion state school construction bond passed in November.

Measure V will also pay for the $67.3 million William J. ``Pete'' Knight High School on 70th Street East and Avenue R-8, and R. Rex Parris Continuation High School at Avenue Q and Sixth Street East. The bond will also pay for two community day school campuses - one in Palmdale and one in Lancaster. The day schools are the district's last stop for expelled students.

State aid is expected to pay for a new high school in the west Antelope Valley, the expansion of Highland High School to accommodate 4,000 students and to make improvements at Highland, Lancaster and Littlerock high schools.

Although the state is facing a fiscal crisis, Freise said the district will still receive the matching funds.

``The modernization dollars are just about gone on the state level, but they're set aside and earmarked for us,'' he said.

Modernization at Quartz Hill High will commence in summer when locker rooms and the gymnasium will be revamped, Freise said. In the fall, classrooms will be revamped in different phases.

Each of the three classroom quadrangles will be modernized separately, Freise said. Classes in each quad area will be relocated to the portable classrooms for three months while their quad areas are renovated. The classroom modernization is slated to last for nine months, he said.

In summer 2004, industrial and special-education classrooms as well as the school's band room and auto shop will be modernized.

Palmdale High School's modernization will commence this summer with work on science classrooms, Freise said. After that, the boys' locker room and school gymnasium will receive improvements, and an air-conditioning system may be added.

Palmdale High students will not be relocated to portable classrooms because classrooms that need modernization will be worked on during the summer, Freise said.

Modernization projects at Antelope Valley High School began a few weeks ago with work on a gymnasium. The project was planned for the spring because no team sports are played in the gym then, Freise said. During the summer, the lockers and some classrooms will be updated, and air-conditioners will added to replace the school's aging swamp coolers.

Classrooms at Antelope Valley High School do not need a thorough reconstruction because they underwent a partial modernization during the 1980s in which some floors and cabinets were replaced, Freise said.

At Highland High School, two-story modular classrooms are being built to accommodate an additional 700 students. The work is expected to be completed in the fall.

``They'll be able to accommodate a lot of students for future growth,'' he said.

Knight High School is expected to open for freshmen in the fall. Construction on interim housing, roadways and the soccer field started last summer.

Construction on the community day school in Palmdale will begin in the fall on Avenue Q at 22nd Street East, Freise said. The Lancaster community day school will be built on the north side of the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. The Palmdale school is slated to be completed in spring 2004 and the Lancaster school is expected to be finished in summer 2004.

District officials are looking for an appropriate location for the proposed westside school. Freise said he hopes to have the school completed in 2009.

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Photo:

(color) A modular classroom is being constructed at Highland High.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer