GLENDALE : Plans for Removing School Lockers OKd

School district officials have finalized a plan to remove nearly all 3,000 lockers from Glendale High School--possibly by Sept. 7, the first day of school.

The decision came after Glendale Unified School District Supt. Robert A. Sanchis reviewed last week a written proposal from Principal Jim Gibson. The superintendent said he also consulted informally with board members, who agreed with the plan.

Gibson had cited security and maintenance concerns with the lockers, several of which have been vandalized or damaged by fire over the years. Based on maintenance reports, the school has spent an average of $10,000 a year to repair the 1-foot-by-3-foot lockers.

“We’ve been discussing the problem with lockers for a long time,” Sanchis said Tuesday. District officials and trustees wanted to review Gibson’s proposal “so that everyone understood what was taking place and why.”

Gibson could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Sanchis acknowledged that Glendale High will become the first high school campus in the district to remove its lockers. For the time being lockers will remain at Hoover and Crescenta Valley high schools. Toll and Roosevelt middle schools also no longer have lockers available for their students, he said.

District officials are scheduled to meet with Gibson sometime this week to discuss a time frame for the lockers’ removal, how many will be saved for use by special education students and whether to replace them with benches. No exact cost has been determined for such a project.

“We’ll try our best to do what we can,” said Stephen R. Hodgson, assistant superintendent of business services. “It may not be done by the start of school, or it may be done.”

Hodgson and Sanchis said other high schools in Los Angeles County have also eliminated the use of lockers for reasons similar to those at Glendale.

“This situation is certainly not unique to Glendale,” Hodgson said.