Palisades Charter High School’s physically handicapped students still do not have an elevator to reach their second-story classes. In 2004, the Los Angeles School District began developing plans to install a long-sought elevator, located near the library, and construction started in May 2007. ‘We’re anticipating the elevator will be complete and certified in May,’ said Neil Gamble, LAUSD’s director of maintenance and operations. PaliHi mother Lainie Sugarman, whose son has had to use crutches on and off throughout high school, said she remembers being told that it would take six months to install the elevator. When the Palisadian-Post reported on the progress last September 18, LAUSD officials predicted the elevator would be up and running by December. ‘It’s absolutely insane,’ Sugarman said last Friday. ‘Talk about bureaucracy; all they keep doing is delaying it.’ Her son, Alon, will graduate in June. The school buildings, which are connected by an outdoor walkway on the first and second floors, do not have an elevator because they were constructed long before the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, said PaliHi Executive Director Amy Dresser-Held. To assist students with physical disabilities, heart conditions, seizure disorders or broken bones, the school attempts to schedule their classes on the first floor or provides an assistant to help them with the staircase, Dresser-Held said. Students with moderate to severe disabilities are in a classroom on the first floor. The elevator, with a projected cost of $623,233, is still not complete because of issues with the fire alarm, Gamble said. LAUSD, which owns the school grounds and is in charge of maintaining and upgrading the buildings, hired an electrical engineer who designed the instructions for installing the alarm based on the school’s site conditions and code requirements. The contractor followed those instructions when installing the alarm, but the Division of the State Architect (DSA) inspector was concerned about how the alarm was mounted, Gamble said. The fire alarm may have to be redesigned and both LAUSD and DSA will have to inspect and certify it, Gamble said, adding he anticipates this process taking two months. Then, the district and the state inspector will have to test the overall function of the elevator and approve it before its operational. When LAUSD started the project, workers discovered an underground vault with wires and pipes that had to be relocated before construction of the elevator could begin, Dresser-Held said. ‘It’s not unheard of to have different site conditions in construction, especially when dealing with existing buildings, that delay the project,’ Gamble said. o o o In other facilities news, the Post reported on December 11 and January 1 that LAUSD found unacceptable levels of lead in the water at PaliHi in November, and all of the 22 drinking fountains were capped. During winter break, PaliHi purchased 10 individual carbon filtration systems for selected drinking fountains. ‘We made it a priority to fix at least 10 fountains in the most trafficked areas throughout campus because we were distributing bottled water for free,’ Dresser-Held said. All the other drinking fountains will remain capped until LAUSD can make the necessary repairs. Buildings constructed before 1989 may have lead in the water because they have brass fixtures, galvanized pipes or pipes where lead solder was used. PaliHi opened in 1961. o o o Over winter break, LAUSD also finished re-piping PaliHi’s gym for a cost of $623,421. The district began that project last May because the aging pipes were leaky and rust was contaminating the water. PaliHi administrators had expected the project would be done when school started in September. This fall, students were unable to use the restrooms or wash up after gym class, team practices and home games.
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