Supporters of Stadium to Begin Fund Raising : Schools: Highland High hopes to generate as much as $1 million for construction of a 6,000- seat athletic facility.

The goal is to raise as much as $1 million for a stadium. The method will include everything from collecting loose change to seeking $5,000 donations from local businesses.

It’s all part of an ambitious plan by staff, parents and supporters of Highland High School who are preparing to kick off a fund-raising drive to build a 6,000-seat stadium at their school.

“We really want it to be something beautiful for the whole community,” said Barbra Johnson, vice principal-athletic director at Highland High.

The high school and its eastside sister campus, Littlerock High School, opened in the fall of 1991, each with a football field but without bleachers, ticket booths, concession stands, or even bathrooms.

“There was not sufficient monies remaining after the schools were designed to meet the academic requirements to fund an entire stadium,” said Con Oamek, Antelope Valley Union High School District assistant superintendent of business services. “There were sufficient funds to build a football field at the stadium location.”

While the fields, which cost more than $30 million each, allow members of the football, soccer and track teams to practice, games have to be played at other schools.

And that can get expensive. Playing games at Antelope Valley College cost the high school as much as $1,500 per game in fees, Johnson said.

“We need a stadium,” Johnson said. “We need to generate the school spirit.”

Ideas being pursued to raise money include promoting a concert, a community candy drive and placing large water bottles around campus for students to contribute their spare change.

“When kids had a penny or a dime or a nickel they could put it in there,” she said. “Every penny counts.”

The committee may also sell spots on a plaque that would be at the stadium, Johnson said. Donors of $200 could have their names, or that of someone else, preserved for posterity. A car raffle, golf tournament and fund-raisers at local restaurants are also being considered to help the school reach its goal.

Highland High Principal Jay Clark said the school may receive some money as a result of the district’s recent agreement with the Palmdale Redevelopment Agency. It is estimated that the agreement will provide the school district with about $30 million over the next 35 years.

It is likely, he said, that the stadium will be built as funds are raised. The bleachers would be first, then maybe the lights and so on.

“We’re just really in the infant stages right now,” Clark said. “We know it’s going to take awhile to do this. It’s not going to happen overnight.”

Johnson estimated that it would take two years to raise the money.

She said, “Sometimes I wish I could go house to house and say, ‘Do you have a dollar?’ ”