Eastern High School

Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has given city officials a month to decide whether to renovate the old Eastern High School or demolish the dilapidated building.The vacant school, which has a multimillion-dollar asbestos problem, needs at least $16 million to be converted into a teacher training and research center, Mr. Schmoke said yesterday.Part of the building would be turned into a specialized middle school if the city comes up with the money and a strategy for a overhauling the building.

The Howard County school board last night unanimously approved a floor plan for the new eastern high school that would place physically disabled students on the second and third floors despite concerns they would have difficulties evacuating the building in an emergency.It was the second time the proposed floor plan for the Long Reach high school -- under construction and set to open in 1996 -- came before the board.In September, the board voiced concern for the safety of special education students, who would rely on one elevator to get to classes in the new school and on teachers and staff to carry them down stairwells in an emergency.

With county schools facing an estimated 13,700 more students by the year 2003, Superintendent Michael E. Hickey is proposing school construction, renovations and additions totaling $250 million over the next 10 years.Of that total, $62.8 million would be used for capital projects in 1994.The long-range plan was announced with the proposed 1994 capital budget Friday and is to be presented to the school board at its regular meeting Thursday.It calls for 13 new schools to open by 2003, including four newly announced schools: two elementary schools -- one in the southeastern part of the county and the other in the west -- a western middle school and an eastern high school.

Jean E. Stegman, a retired teacher and former head of the English Department at Eastern High School, died Thursday at the Edenwald retirement community in Towson after a six-week bout with cancer. She was 69.Services for Miss Stegman, who for years resided in the Chestnut Hill area of Towson, will be private.Miss Stegman was born in Waverly and educated in Baltimore public schools. She graduated from Eastern High School in 1938 and went on to Goucher College, graduating in 1942 with a bachelor's degree in English.

The consultant hired to advise Baltimore on development opportunities for the Memorial Stadium area is likely to recommend the demolition of Eastern High School, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke said yesterday.Mr. Schmoke said he expects the consultant, K. S. Sweet Associates of Radnor, Pa., to issue its report by the end of the month. The mayor said the report will probably recommend that Eastern High School be leveled and that a site plan for the 55-acre plot be developed next year.Earlier, a task force created by Mr. Schmoke had recommended that the city explore finding a new use for Eastern High School rather than tearing it down.