Classroom Building Unveiled : Education: Structure will aid Glendale High’s transition to a four-year campus and offer state-of- the-art equipment.

Hailing it as a solution to school overcrowding and outdated equipment, officials Wednesday unveiled a new, $11-million classroom building that will help Glendale High School make the transition to a four-year campus.

The four-story, 85,000-square-foot building, located between the gymnasium and the cafeteria, will house classes in the sciences, math and other subjects, enabling the campus to absorb about 1,100 ninth-grade students when the 1995-96 school year opens on Monday.

Glendale High, with enrollment jumping from about 2,200 to 3,300, will be the last of three high schools in the Glendale Unified School District to convert to a four-year schedule as part of a districtwide plan begun in the 1980s to ease crowding at the middle-school level, officials said.

“This is more than just a building,” said district Supt. Robert Sanchis in a brief ceremony. “This is the completion of a concept, of reorganizing our secondary education.”

On the outside, the new structure resembles most other buildings on the high school campus, which was erected in the early 1960s. But inside, its 38 classrooms are more spacious and contain closed-circuit televisions, computers, new laboratories and other features lacking in the older buildings.

“I have to admit, the first thing that came to mind was now I’ll be able to work in air-conditioned comfort,” said math teacher Fred Blattner.

In addition to science and math, classes in English as a second language, social science, business, special education and other subjects will be housed in the new building, said Glendale High Principal Jim Gibson.

Construction began in late 1993. Half the cost of the project was paid for by the state, using school construction bond funds approved in 1992. The other half came out of a $19-million debt incurred by the district in 1993 to construct new classrooms at Glendale High and several elementary schools to make room for a surge of new students who entered the district in the 1980s, said Steven Hodgson, assistant superintendent of business services.

“The school board usually uses new construction as the last option to address growth, because the expense is high and raising funds is difficult,” Hodgson said.

Hodgson added that district officials expect the new building to be “the last major construction project for some time.” He said the district’s attention is refocusing on upgrading older facilities.

Officials are considering a bond issue next year to raise up to $100 million for renovation of classrooms and other facilities.