In addition, the new air-conditioning system installed at the school last summer is noisy and disturbing, residents said.

Virginia Caldwell, who has lived across the street from the school, at 4311 E. Linden St., for more than 30 years, said she found out about the building plans last month after asking workers who were drilling on school grounds what they were doing.

Marcus E. Jones, director of engineering and planning services with Tucson Unified School District, said that because the new building is being funded by the state School Facilities Board, no public notification is required.

But he said the district is listening to neighbors' concerns about the possible location - the northwest corner of East Linden Street and North Catalina Avenue - and a state-hired contractor is exploring additional options.

Neighbors said the location is a bad choice because it would cut off their views of the Santa Catalina Mountains, and non-school-related activities based in the building could bring congestion to neighborhood streets.

Even so, the Linden/Catalina location may emerge as the best choice, Jones told residents when he met with them last month to explain the building project. The district has an agreement with the city to designate part of the school grounds a public park. Because of that agreement, choosing an alternative site might require negotiations with the city, Jones said.

And the School Facilities Board is in a hurry, he said. All public schools in the state must be upgraded to minimum standards set in the Students FIRST program by June 30, 2003, said Darla Jordan, the board's public information officer.

"We are concerned that the school is rapidly becoming a not very thoughtful and/or good neighbor," Caldwell wrote in a letter to Jones last month.

She attached to the letter a petition signed by 14 of her neighbors, who are concerned about activity at the school.

Jones said the building will bring the school into compliance with the Students FIRST program, which the Legislature passed in 1998. It was determined that Wright did not have adequate physical education space, which will be the main use of the new 2,600-square-foot building, he said.

Neighbors also are concerned about the congestion that activities other than gym classes could bring to neighborhood streets because no parking will be added.

The building will be open to the public, but Jones said school administrators would make sure no events that would cause parking problems would occur in the building.

The program to renovate existing schools in the state is being funded through the "deficiency correction" fund, which amounts to about $1.2 billion, Jordan said.

TUSD has the most facilities needing work in the state, with renovations estimated at more than $70 million, Jones said.

Wright was also the first school in the district to get air conditioning last summer, fulfilling another state requirement that all schools be converted from evaporative cooling, Jones said. The school's roof was also rebuilt and four new classrooms were added, he said.

Caldwell's letter also states that the chiller installed last summer at the school is noisy, and often runs 24 hours a day, despite neighbors' being told it would be turned off by 8 p.m.

Jones said neighbors were given phone numbers to call if the chiller was left on. He said neighbors' complaints about noise from cooling systems are common districtwide.

"We're going to be doing some checks now that we're running the air conditioners more, to monitor and see if it's as much a problem as they say," Jones said.

* Contact Megan Rutherford at 434-4073 or at meganr@azstarnet.com.