LAGUNA BEACH : School Renovation Plans Criticized

A group of Laguna Beach High School parents is complaining that a multimillion-dollar renovation project at the school will benefit future generations at the expense of current students, who will have to bear noisy construction and attend classes in temporary quarters for more than a year.

“We can’t just write off the current group of students in favor of a project that won’t serve students until much later on,” said Katherine Schenk, one of the parents who appeared before the Laguna Beach school board last week.

The $7.2-million project, set to start in November, 1991, involves demolishing a 10-room building and replacing it with a large classroom complex on another part of the campus.

Parents complained that the district has not made adequate arrangements to house students during the anticipated one to three years of construction.

The group urged the district to delay demolishing the 10-room building until the new classroom is completed and to allow construction only during vacations and after school to reduce the effects of construction on students.

But Supt. Dennis Smith said the parents’ suggestions would push the project’s cost up another 25% and stretch out construction for another year and a half.

District officials have planned a one-step construction in which demolition, construction and renovation will occur simultaneously. By renovating in one step, the district can save $800,000 in construction costs and complete the project sooner than under a phased construction plan, Smith said.

Students will attend classes in portable buildings and in unused classrooms on the south side of campus until construction is completed in 1993, Smith said, adding that a precise relocation plan will be revealed within the next two months.