ELSIE ALLEN A WORK IN PROGRESSREWS SCRAMBLE AT NEW SR HIGH

More than a month since Santa Rosa's newest high school opened, Elsie Allen

High students and teachers are coping with no library books, an unfinished gym

and hardly any science equipment.

When the $26 million school opened at the end of August, students and

teachers realized some of the buildings wouldn't be ready until the end of the

semester. Crews had scrambled all summer to complete most of the buildings so

the 700 or so ninthand 10th-graders would be able to start classes there.

Now construction crews are a regular part of school life on the southwest

Santa Rosa campus.

''We stay out of their way, they stay out of our way,'' said ninthgrader

Tom Carrell.

Tom and other students say they know their school isn't finished yet, but

they're taking it in stride.

''We're kind of missing some things, but not much. I'm just excited because

I'm part of the first graduating class,'' said 10thgrader Melissa Suchon.

The school's library building is ready to go, but books won't arrive for

another few weeks. In the meantime, students are using the county library in

Santa Rosa for research.

''It's a big problem. It's hard to get down there,'' said 10th-grader

Laveda Contreras. ''But we're improvising.''

Principal Carnell Edwards said the library building was finished ahead of

schedule and books had been ordered with the idea that the building wouldn't

be ready until November. That's why the school has a building but no books

yet.

Students have had to adjust to no gymnasium as well.

Construction crews are installing the gymnasium's floor and plan to finish

it before winter. Meanwhile, physical education lockers are still in cardboard

boxes near the school's basketball courts, which were just finished this

week.

The students don't have P.E. uniforms and have nowhere to change their

clothes, so they spend the class period reading fitness handouts, taking

organized walks around the campus in their street clothes, or playing

basketball.

''We just either sit there or walk around the school. It's boring,'' said

ninth-grader Gabriel Gonzalez.

Other students said they don't like spending their P.E. periods just

walking, but they know it won't be long before the gym is ready.

''We're coping,'' said tenth-grader John Buchholz. ''It'll be better in a

month.''

Computers were installed this week. For the first month of school, students

in Catherine Paine's computer class learned about the parts of a computer and

constructed models out of cardboard boxes. And they practiced on cardboard

keyboards to get familiar with the layout of the keys, Edwards said.

Stuart Marks, a biology teacher, said things change every day at the school

as more equipment is delivered. ''Our equipment is coming in by the boxload,''

Marks said. ''Monday, there's no computers. Tuesday, there's computers.''

He's been showing his students science films and having them do

presentations because they can't do any lab work yet. The teachers are still

waiting for equipment such as test tubes and lab specimens. So Marks has had

to adjust his lesson plans to make up for the lost lab time.

''It gets pretty antsy sometimes,'' Marks said.

Outside at picnic tables during lunch, students said they feel lucky to be

at the school. Ninthgrader Hector Gudino said the school's covered walkways

were nice during Tuesday's rains. Anywhere you walk at the school, he said,

you don't get wet.

And during lunch when it's cold, students who don't want to eat in the

cafeteria can huddle under outdoor heater lamps under a covered patio. Most

schools don't have that, Hector said.

''I know as soon as everything's done we'll be able to do a lot more,''

Hector said.