SCHOOL REPORT / <i> News from the Los Angeles Unified school board meeting.</i> : Contract for Teaching Assistants OKd

Closing the final chapter after more than a year of often bitter negotiations, the school board Tuesday formally approved a two-year contract with its 10,000 teaching assistants, 80% of whom are minorities and 70% of whom are bilingual Latinas. The assistants, who unionized last year by joining Local 99 of the Service Employees International Union, will receive a pay raise and will be eligible for medical benefits if they work four hours or longer per day. The contract also sets up a two-tiered wage structure for the assistants, providing more money and benefits to assistants who take college classes toward their teaching credentials.

The board also:

* Moved forward with plans to air-condition classrooms at 33 schools that will switch to year-round, multitrack schedules July 8. The board gave preliminary approval to plans to seek state funds to install air conditioning at those schools.

* Awarded a $4.8-million contract to J & J General Contractors Inc. for construction of Belmont New Elementary School at Wilshire Boulevard and Union Avenue. The project is expected to take 1 1/2 years and will reduce overcrowding at Hoover Street, 10th Street and Union Avenue elementary schools.