By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Next year, the Seattle Public School District plans to begin a $4 million renovation of Ingraham High School ‹ the first major improvement project for the school building since its opening in 1960. The project will include the addition of a new library and science wing. When parents and teachers met at Ingraham on March 12 to view the latest designs for the project, the biggest sticking point was a seemingly small detail ‹ a new gas fireplace planned for the library.

School Librarian Edith Ruby said 46 of Ingrahamıs 90 faculty members signed a petition to keep the fireplace out of the new library. ³This is a learning resource center,² Ruby said. ³If (students) walk in and see a bunch of kids sitting around the fireplace, they immediately think this is a lounge and they can chat with their friends. Itıs symbolic of spending your money on the fluff and not the meat.²

Dawn Townes, president of Ingrahamıs Parent-Teacher-Student Association, spoke strongly in favor of keeping the plan to include a fireplace in the new library. ³Maybe the old school doesnıt see it as a definition of a library, but thereıs a new school out there,² she said. ³I say, letıs trust the kids.²

Kathy Johnson, the project manager for the Ingraham renovation, said the faculty objections could lead to an adjustment in the design, but not a major overhaul.

³We would simply enclose the fire box,² Johnson said. ³The system would stay the same.²

Funding for the Ingraham renovation will come from the School Districtıs Building Excellence levy, which voters approved last year. The School District started planning for the renovation when officials learned that Ingrahamıs current facilities would be inadequate for International Baccalaureate, a prestigious academic program which the school would like to add to their curriculum as a way to attract students.

Ingraham, located at 1819 N. 135th St. in the Haller Lake neighborhood, currently has an enrollment of 1,000 students, but has the capacity to accommodate 1,200 students. For more information about the renovation project, call Kathy Johnson at 252-0653.