Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Students to Help Build 2 Houses in Palmdale : Education: An agreement approved by the school district calls for the city to sell the structures to low- and moderate-income families.

They’ll be reading, writing and doing arithmetic, but not in the traditional sense and certainly not in the typical classroom.

Instead, a number of students at two Palmdale high schools will get an education building houses.

Through an agreement approved Wednesday by the Antelope Valley Union High School District trustees, students in Regional Occupational programs at Palmdale and Highland high schools can help construct two houses that the city of Palmdale will then sell to low- and moderate-income families.

Palmdale’s Redevelopment Agency will spend as much as $200,000 of its housing funds to finance the house construction program, which is viewed as a way to promote pride in students and was suggested by a city councilman who is also an educator.

The agreement, which the city’s Redevelopment Agency is expected to approve next month, calls for the agency to provide all the necessary money. The school district will provide the labor and any needed hand tools.

High school vocational students are already building chicken coops, gazebos and the like for people who supply the materials. Now the scope of their work will expand--to three bedrooms, two baths and other assorted rooms under a roof that covers nearly 1,300 square feet of living space.

As envisioned, students will spend the first four hours of their weekday in regular classes. Up to four more hours would be spent each day at the construction site. Palmdale High students will build one house; students from Highland High will build the other.

Even though the city is a partner in the program, the students will have to go through all the regular permit processes, said Carol Seidl, the city’s housing development coordinator.

“We don’t intend to waive any fees or permits,” she said.

If the program proves successful, the city’s Redevelopment Agency may continue to support it because the sale of the houses would fund materials needed for the next pair, she said. A budget has not been completed, but Seidl said it is believed the houses will cost about $80,000 each to build, including the land. The houses will be sold at cost to a qualifying low- or moderate-income family.

Palmdale, which is expecting the student-built houses to be completed by June 30, has not yet purchased the property for the houses. City officials had earlier said they would like the houses built on vacant land in the downtown area.

Seidl would only say that she hopes to be ready to ask the Redevelopment Agency to approve the land purchase in August.

Students will probably work from a kit that would include the building plans and pre-cut materials, Seidl said. For liability reasons, in addition to the instructor there will be a general contractor supervising the construction.

Some of the work, such as plumbing and electrical, will have to be done by licensed subcontractors, Seidl said.

“We’ll let the students do as much as we can,” she said.