Glendale High Gets State Grant for New Building

GLENDALE —  The State Allocation Board has set aside $6.1 million for a new building at Glendale High School, but the district must contribute about $4 million to the project to receive the grant.

The Glendale Board of Education will consider taking bids on the proposed four-story building, estimated to cost as much as $10.5 million, during its next meeting Jan. 19.

School officials have indicated that the district could pay its share of the cost by refinancing $14 million owed on construction loans and by borrowing an additional $5 million. But school board member Jane Whitaker opposes the plan, arguing that it could raise the district’s total indebtedness to $43 million.

Assistant Supt. Stephen Hodgson said the new building could replace the portable classrooms now in use at the school, which has 2,403 students despite an enrollment capacity of 2,200. The building, he said, also could help absorb nearly 900 additional pupils from Roosevelt and Wilson middle schools in 1994, when Glendale High converts to a four-year campus.

The 82,000-square-foot building will have science labs and at least 35 classrooms. Construction is slated to begin in June.