Construction workers soon will be going to school in Escondido, where the city's three main campuses are about to receive their biggest expansion in decades.

About two-thirds of the $98 million Proposition T bond measure passed by Escondido voters last year will go toward improvements at Escondido, Orange Glen and San Pasqual high schools.

The bond money also will partially fund construction of Citracado High, expected to open for the 2013-14 school year.

Construction trailers already are in place at Escondido and Orange Glen and soon will be at San Pasqual, said Mike Wise, project manager for the Escondido Union High School District. The first phase of construction at all three campuses should begin in January, he said, adding that the second phase should start in the fall of 2010.

The district will use the bond money to replace most portable buildings with permanent classrooms, improve tracks and fields, and add several new buildings that will significantly change the appearance of the campuses.

"We've taken good care of the campuses and we feel they were in good shape, but they were void of certain elements," Wise said.

For instance, all three campuses will get synthetic turf on their playing fields. Wise said that because Escondido schools have trailed other campuses in the county in getting artificial grass, they'll benefit from the latest turf technology.

Orange Glen and San Pasqual also will get all-weather tracks, which Escondido High already has.

Escondido High opened in the 1950s, Orange Glen in the mid-1960s and San Pasqual in the early 1970s. Of the three, Orange Glen may have the most visible change after the renovations, which will include a new gymnasium and a new look to one of the school's largest buildings.

Orange Glen Principal Tom Allison said he is looking forward to the work, which will be done by Escondido-based Erickson-Hall Construction.

Walking through the campus recently, Allison pointed out old portable buildings on the northern end of the campus, where students learning print and digital arts work in a crowded, dusty shop. After the renovation, they will have new equipment in a new building shared with a computer lab, he said.

The auto shop will be one of the only buildings on the north corner that will remain after the renovation. The most striking changes to the campus, however, will be to the bland Building 700, which has a dull facade of pale blue walls and sits near the center of campus.

The building overlooks a large dirt area that has been bare for more than a decade. The entire western half of the building will be demolished and replaced with new rooms, including an area for culinary arts, and the entire structure will have a new facade.

The highlight of the building, and sure to become a focal point of the campus, will be a large overhang jutting from the center and descending onto a gathering area where students may sit in the shade during lunch or mingle with friends between classes.

The asphalt walkway many students and visitors use to enter the school from the parking lot also will have more character with the addition of a new building that will house a gym, dance studio and drama classrooms.

Orange Glen also will get a much-needed new scoreboard for Dick Disney Memorial Stadium.

"Hopefully, it'll just work, and that'll be an improvement," Allison said about the existing, often-faltering board.

At Escondido High, the most noticeable addition to the campus will be new buildings at the south end of the track for athletic training, choir and band. Another new physical education and multipurpose building will be constructed across the parking lot.

The Escondido High campus will get remodeled science labs, new classrooms and a new agriculture building.

At San Pasqual High, the biggest change to the campus will be construction of a two-story classroom building.

Adult education classes at San Pasqual will be moved to the district's building on Maple Street that formerly housed Center City High.

Two buildings will be constructed near the track for dance classes, wrestling and other uses, and two other buildings will be remodeled. The nursing offices also will be expanded, Wise said.

Construction at all three campuses will be done in two phases to lessen the impact on classes. Wise said students and staff members will be displaced at times because of the work. He said the public can get progress reports on the work at the district's Web site, euhsd.k12.ca.us.

Call staff writer Gary Warth at 760-740-5410.