HAGATNA, Guam — It would cost as much as $20 million to fix a Guam public high school closed last month because of structural fatigue and a cockroach infestation, according to an architectural study.

John F. Kennedy High School was closed after a public school Health and Safety Task Force discovered a large number of violations.

The study by Taniguchi Ruth Makio Architects said it would cost $10 million to make essential repairs and another $10 million to have the school meet building codes.

The school also faces many other problems, including a termite infestation and a lack of a working fire alarm or bell system. The report said repairs also should include the removal of lead-based paint, moving the main electrical transformer away from the building and increasing water pressure to nearby fire hydrants.

H. Mark Ruth of Taniguchi Ruth Makio Architects said the school is most in need of significant improvements so it can withstand an earthquake.

"An earthquake can happen anytime when classes are in session," Ruth said. "We must have seismic upgrades to make it be a safe place, to have it meet criteria that is expected of seismic buildings."

Repairing the school would be like spending thousands of dollars to fix a 20-year-old car, he said.

"Next week, the battery could go bad and the week after that, one of the springs goes bad, you know. You can't anticipate," he said. "And that's one of the things we've pointed out. Whenever you do work in an old building, you start opening up walls and finding other things."

Ruth said enough work could be completed to enable to the school to reopen Aug. 12, when classes resume.

But even if the school is deemed safe, it most likely wouldn't meet modern building codes, said Gerry Cruz, a spokesman for the Guam Public School System.

The 50-year-old school was constructed before building codes existed on Guam, a U.S. territory located about 3,700 miles southwest of Hawai'i.

JFK senior class president Jeanette Alcaide said an alternative to spending millions to improve her school is to open Okkodo High School, which is new but unfurnished.

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Pacific Daily News: www.guampdn.com