BOYLE HEIGHTS : Volunteers Clean, Paint Roosevelt High

Students at Roosevelt High School have been joined by community members who volunteered early this month to clean up and paint the school and are planning more efforts to spruce up the campus.

With help from Councilman Richard Alatorre’s office, parents, businesses, the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, teachers and students formed a committee three months ago to organize cleaning days. Nearly 100 volunteers picked up trash, cleaned and painted the gazebo, benches and planters at the center of campus and steam-cleaned walls in the cafeteria that had been plastered with gum.

Now that the campus has been cleaned, the committee wants to look for ways to improve and brighten it, said Rosa Morales, field deputy for Alatorre.

The committee is trying to secure funding to paint murals and hang banners on the campus perimeters that would be painted by the students when they return from the holiday break. The school is at 456 S. Mathews St.

The Los Angeles Conservation Corps has proposed landscaping that would form the school’s initials and add plants and trees throughout.

“We know that the need is there,” Morales said. “Roosevelt is a school with a long history of serving the community. But it is so open for community organizations to use it, the facility is overused.”

During the day, 4,500 students attend classes and another 2,500 attend night classes there, she said. On weekends, another 1,000 people use the facilities for a variety of events.

Although dates have not been set, the committee plans community cleanup days in February and April.

Information: (213) 221-2124.