Lennox Dream School Finally Flies : Education: An underground school near LAX? Critics scoffed. Now Moffett Elementary is a source of civic pride.

When Kenneth Moffett first took over as superintendent of the Lennox School District in 1976, he knew immediately that he had to devise ways to adapt to aircraft noise. Planes on their way to nearby Los Angeles International Airport roared over the district’s schools every six minutes.

“It really affected the learning environment,” Moffett said.

Moffett quickly drew up plans to soundproof the district’s five elementary schools, a project that was completed at four of the schools in 1980.

The fifth school, Larch Elementary, was scheduled for demolition to make room for the Century Freeway. Caltrans was to provide the money to build a replacement school, a block up the street from the old site on Larch Avenue.

Moffett decided to try something creative. He proposed that the new school be built underground, sheltering students and teachers from the din above. He had heard of two such schools, one in New Mexico and the other in Santa Ana.

Despite initial resistance from Caltrans and 14 years of legal and bureaucratic tie-ups, Moffett’s brainchild has finally come to life. Moffett Elementary School, the first new school in the district in more than 30 years, was dedicated Wednesday.

Many in the poverty-stricken Lennox area see the state-of-the-art school as something of a beacon in an otherwise blighted community.

“It’s a source of pride,” said Hector Carrio, a longtime resident and a member of the district Board of Education.

The $10.5-million school, which serves 1,000 students, was built partially underground, leaving exterior walls exposed on only two sides. Parking facilities are on the roof of the 55,000-square-foot building, saving space.

Although Moffett Elementary has less land--9.3 acres--than Larch Elementary had, the new school’s design allowed for larger playground areas.

Classrooms, five feet below ground level, have removable partitions, allowing flexible classroom set-ups and open-space teaching. The school has three IBM “Writing to Read” computer laboratories and an Apple word-processing lab. Tiered reading areas in the kindergarten rooms and library facilitate storytelling and puppet shows. An outdoor amphitheater seats 1,000.

Although the school is in an area marked by widespread graffiti, it has so far been left untouched.

“We’ve been very lucky,” said Moffett Principal Brian Johnson. “This school has been ours to use for about two months, and nobody has graffitied anything. . . . The only explanation I can think of is that there is a real pride in the community.”

Residents near the school, at Larch Avenue and 111th Street, keep a close eye on the site and alert administrators to anything suspicious, Johnson said.

Carrio said the school was named after Moffett to honor his effort and determination.

“He’s a leader,” Carrio said. “He’s shown a lot of dedication to the area.”

Moffett said Caltrans officials initially didn’t think the underground school concept would work. Then, in the late 1970s, the state held up funding for the Century Freeway project. “There wasn’t funding for anything,” Moffett said. “We couldn’t get anywhere.”

It wasn’t until 1984 that Caltrans and district officials agreed on the underground concept and had the money to proceed. Then began the laborious process of buying, condemning and demolishing houses. Lawsuits against Caltrans by organizations seeking to ensure that enough minority workers and contractors were hired also held up the project.

“At times it’s been a real uphill battle,” Moffett said. “We wondered, ‘My gosh, would it be the 21st Century when it’s finished?’ ”

Construction finally began in February, 1989.

By then, enrollment had outgrown the school, and four soundproofed portable classrooms had to be added at the district’s expense.

Overall, enrollment in the district, which also includes a middle school, has climbed to 5,600 students, up by 280 from last year.

The student population is about 88% Latino, 4% black and the remainder a “mini-United Nations,” Johnson said. The densely populated Lennox area has many recent immigrants from Mexico, Central America and Asia.

About 85% of the teachers in the district are bilingual, Johnson said.

At Larch Elementary, where Johnson was also principal, classes were held until June, even though the street surrounding the campus had already been dug up. The din of construction was added to the distraction of airplane noise.

“If it was reading time, it was bulldozer time,” Johnson said. “Teachers could take their kids outside and could probably throw a rock to the tractors, they were that close. We look back now and think, ‘How did we live like that?’ And we lived like that for quite a while.”

Johnson and his staff moved down the street to Moffett Elementary in early August. When classes started Aug. 22, some students missed the old school.

“I feel kind of sad that Larch is alone,” said Candy Bautista, 8, a third-grader.

But others liked the large grass fields of the new campus. “Everything’s big here,” said Jacqueline Zavala, 9, a fourth-grader. “It’s really pretty.”

However, it is the parents who seem to be most impressed by the new school, Moffett said.

“The parents that have been there have been in awe,” Moffett said. “They couldn’t believe their kids were going to school in such a nice facility.”