SCHOOLS RISING TO NEED 2-STORY, RELOCATABLE BUILDINGS PLANNED.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Running out of room on crowded campuses, Santa Clarita schools are turning to two-story relocatable buildings, prompting complaints from parents concerned that the structures with their outdoor stairs and elevators are unsafe.

The Newhall School District plans to open its next two schools completely with two-story portables while the Saugus Union School District will open next year with a portable eight-classroom structure with an elevator. A second such complex will be added the following year.

``Obviously, when you go up, you save the ground space for parking lots and playgrounds,'' Newhall Superintendent Marc Winger said. ``Space is getting harder and harder to find.''

District officials say the two-story buildings anchored on concrete foundations with exterior open stairways can be constructed in factories and are time-efficient, cost-effective and reduce the need for space.

``I'm very excited,'' said Kathy Wolfson, principal of Mountainview Elementary School in the Saugus district. ``This is a great way to perhaps save some space for our campus.''

With overcrowding at nearly all Santa Clarita schools, new campuses are needed faster than they can be built, Winger said. The temporary buildings are installed much more quickly than permanent schools.

``They are every bit as good as brick and mortar,'' Winger said. ``These are attractive alternatives to building on the site.''

The area's first two-story portable classroom will be installed this summer at Mountainview in time for school in August. Conventional school construction can take more than a year.

``I think that the time has come,'' Winger said. ``We are designing these, keeping in mind time savings and space savings.''

Wolfson described the new two-story structures as similar to an apartment building with an outdoor staircase with railings on one end and an elevator on the other. An exterior balcony would connect the two. There would be four classrooms on each level.

Wolfson said that she is planning to use the upstairs units for the fourth, fifth and six grades.

``It's built to look like our campus right now,'' Wolfson said. ``It will have stucco on the outside.''

Elevators will be reserved for the disabled, and otherwise remain locked.

Being the first to go two-story, Wolfson expects a lot of attention during the upcoming school year.

``All eyes will be on us,'' she said.

But parents fear their children's safety is being compromised with the need to save space and time.

``Parents are concerned about safety,'' Winger said. ``We're not going to put kindergartners on the top.''

Parents say that kids could slip or fall from the outdoor staircases and that children will play on the balconies.

Wolfson said she visited a school campus in Long Beach where the two-story relocatable facilities are already in place and felt that the structures were safe.

``We walked inside the classroom and enjoyed the feeling,'' Wolfson said. ``They are very safe. I felt very comfortable.''

One permanent school is already under construction in the Newhall district, but the next two campuses planned after that will include the two-story portables, Winger said.

The classrooms will have the standard amenities - sinks, water, cabinets for teachers, white boards, carpeting and nearby bathrooms.

Mountainview opened about four years ago, made up entirely of portables.

With the new two-story structure in place, Wolfson is hoping to be able to remove at least two single-story portable structures that house four classrooms.

More single-story portables may be removed with the addition of a second two-story structure during the fall 2001 school year.

The removal of those existing single-story portables also will allow the school to reclaim playground space, Wolfson said.

The new system also decreases the chance of cost overruns during construction.