CSUN Plans to Use Portable Buildings : Education: Trailers will become classrooms and offices. A Granada Hills school may be abandoned. Another aftershock rattles students and parents.

The San Fernando Valley’s education network took a double hit Thursday when Cal State Northridge said it plans to have all class and office work held in portable buildings when the students return and Los Angeles Unified School District officials said a badly damaged and unstable elementary school in Granada Hills might have to be abandoned.

The news came on the same day that a 4.5-magnitude aftershock centered two miles west of Granada Hills sent scores of students out of classrooms and reminded everyone in the Valley that it’s too early to put the devastating Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake behind them.

The 9:19 a.m. temblor rattled children and parents alike. Many schools got calls from parents checking to make sure their children and the campuses were safe. Some parents returned to schools to retrieve their children.

CSUN officials, saying they were weary of reinspecting each of the campus’ 58 buildings for safety after the aftershocks, announced that they plan to forgo use of all buildings and instead use portable trailers for classes and offices when the university reopens to about 22,000 students Feb. 14.

The elementary school in peril is Van Gogh Street Elementary School in Granada Hills. School district officials were told Thursday that the ground beneath the campus is so unstable and crisscrossed by fissures that the site will probably have to be abandoned.

The school has an enrollment of 370. Officials said it might be the only campus that will have to be entirely shut down because of earthquake damage. In all, the Jan. 17 quake caused $700 million in damage to campuses throughout the sprawling district.

In related developments Thursday:

* U. S. Secretary of Transportation Federico Pena released $50 million in emergency federal funds to assist in the demolition and reconstruction of damaged freeways. It was the largest allocation yet for transportation systems crippled by the Jan. 17 earthquake. The money, combined with $45 million made available last week, is intended to help state officials continue their freeway rebuilding efforts while Congress mulls over a $1.35-billion federal allocation for transportation.

* State Controller Gray Davis issued $100 million in checks for government, transportation, educational and church agencies in Los Angeles County. Another cash infusion was announced by Federal Emergency Management Agency Director James Lee Witt, who said checks totaling $27.6 million have been disbursed for housing assistance.

* Details began to emerge of the havoc created in the Valley court system by the Northridge earthquake. In San Fernando, judges were allowed back into their condemned courthouse to retrieve case files and computers. Most of the courtrooms will be moved by next week to the Van Nuys courthouse, itself damaged in the quake. Two floors there remained closed Thursday, with the other five open.

The strong aftershock was the latest setback to CSUN officials, who are trying to reopen a campus that is located near the epicenter of last week’s deadly 6.6-magnitude quake and suffered major damage.

“We have to plan on the basis of no building on the main campus being available,” CSUN Provost Louanne Kennedy said. “If they come on line, then we’ll use them, but we can’t plan on that. Every time there is an aftershock, it changes the status of the buildings and then we have to start all over again.”

Kennedy advised deans to plan spring and summer semester schedules around the use of about 190 trailers, each of which can hold about 25 people and which can be linked together to create larger spaces.

Another 100 trailers will be used for faculty office space, with professors likely staggering office hours and sharing desks, she said. The trailers will be located on the school’s athletic fields.

Other contingency plans include holding classes in meeting halls located near campus, borrowing laboratory space from private corporations, instructing education students in local elementary schools and shipping advanced science students to facilities at other area colleges and universities.

Other likely adaptations include scheduling more classes during off-peak hours, especially Friday nights and Saturdays, Kennedy said.

Meanwhile, L. A. Unified school board members were presented with a bleak picture of Van Gogh school by Doug Brown, director of school facilities.

A deep crack snakes its way through the main corridor, and several other fissures are visible throughout the wide open campus, he said. Several deep cracks have broken classroom and hallway floors. The campus has no water.

An ominous sign greets visitors at the entrance of Van Gogh Street Elementary School: “Parents: Please leave children outside.”

Principal Maureen Diekmann said she is considering relocating the students to Frost Middle School in Granada Hills.

At other schools, the day got off to a harrowing start.

Principal Sandra Coffey of Saticoy Elementary School in North Hollywood said several parents came to pick up their children after the morning aftershock, and many others called to ensure their children’s safety. “We’re back to calming nerves again,” Coffey said.

At Osceola Elementary School in Sylmar, one teacher had her students bring their favorite stuffed animals to class Thursday. After the temblor, the students sat on the floor hugging their toys.

There was some minor damage at local schools. Ceiling tiles shook lose and plaster chips fell. School district officials said there were no reports of injuries.

District Supt. Sid Thompson announced the opening of 14 more San Fernando Valley campuses that have been closed since the 6.6 temblor nearly two weeks ago. Thirty-three schools, all in the Valley, remain closed, meaning about 40,000 students have been out of school for two weeks.

The most severely hit campuses--two high schools, Kennedy in Granada Hills and El Camino Real in Woodland Hills; four middle schools, Northridge, Lawrence, San Fernando and Frost; and two elementary schools, San Fernando and Van Gogh--have been dubbed the “Big Eight” by school officials because of the severity of damage.

“I anticipate by Monday morning we can give definitive information on what happens at each of these schools,” said Thompson. “We realize you want your young people back. We will bring them back when it is safe.”

Options include installing portable classrooms in safe areas, finding alternative space in commercial and other buildings or transferring students.

District officials also announced that every school in the district has been given $5 per student to spend on emergency quake-related counseling, health care or the purchase of school supplies. Hard-hit campuses received $15 a student, aid provided by the U. S. Department of Education.

Times staff writer Beth Shuster contributed to this story.