LAGUNA BEACH : Rebuilding to Begin at Thurston School

After months of delays caused by financial uncertainty after Orange County’s bankruptcy filing, work will finally begin next week to rebuild Thurston Middle School classrooms that were destroyed by fire in October, 1993.

The school board awarded a $2.2-million contract to Los Angeles contractor Ford E.C. Inc last week.

With architectural fees and other costs, the project’s total price will be $2.7 million, said Terry Bustillos, the school district’s financial officer.

Construction will continue through the coming school year.

“We’re looking forward to having it completed,” Bustillos said. “It was delayed almost seven months because of the bankruptcy. . . . The trials and tribulations, I think, are behind us.”

Fourteen Thurston classrooms were lost in the firestorm, which also damaged or destroyed more than 400 homes in and around Laguna Beach.

To allow for a growing student population, 16 classrooms will be built at Thurston, according to Timothy D. Carlyle, president of the Laguna Beach Unified School District board.

While the previous classrooms were confined to a single, 15,000-square-foot building, the new ones will be in four structures with a total square footage of 16,000.

The project also includes an amphitheater.

During construction, students will continue using portable classrooms installed following the fire.

The project is to be completed late next May, school officials said, but that is not a firm date.

“That’s assuming we don’t have weather delays,” Bustillos said, “and every year we have weather delays.”