It took all summer, and even that wasn’t enough time to repair the damage that resulted from a thoughtless act of vandalism that was compounded by damaging floods.
“It was the most disruptive problem we’ve ever had,” said Mr. Matt Bray, Director of Physical Plant.
Because of all the water that was absorbed into the skeletal structure of the classrooms, the maintenance crew had to remove the bottom half of the walls, the carpets, a significant amount of the electrical wiring, and soon thereafter, rebuild many parts of each classroom.
The floods compelled the staff to work all day for months on end in the summer, to ensure the repairs were made and paperwork was finalized.
Though this situation affected many members of the Laguna community, ranging from the faculty to students, the maintenance crew took the hardest blow.
In light of all the hard work that was put into the reconstruction of the classrooms, Mr. Bray made a point of extending a special thank you to Network Administrator Mr. Ladislav Laza, who assisted the maintenance crew “with some of the networking.”
Between negotiating with a team of contractors and managing many of the demolitions on campus, Mr. Bray and the rest of the crew found themselves working on this project through the summer for about six hours a day–not including the countless hours that were invested in other tasks at hand.
As explained by crew member Mr. Gabino Evangelista, many of the members of the maintenance crew stayed at Laguna until 9 p.m. to restore order to the classrooms and courtyards, and to wrap up any ongoing projects.
But the maintenance crew’s hard work gave the classrooms long overdue make overs which include new carpeting, new desks and fresh paint.
The damage required the team to re-install much of the electrical wiring inside the walls.
“It’s stuff you don’t see, but it takes a lot of work as well,” explains Mr. Bray.
After much thought, the administration agreed that the best preventative measures to insure that a situation like this would not occur again would be to prohibit students from bringing senior pranks inside classrooms.
“I don’t think that there’s any reason students should be in a classroom unsupervised. Unfortunately, it only takes one kid who’s not thinking right to cause a problem, so you kind of have to take a stance somewhere,” said Mr. Bray.
With such a busy year just around the corner, Laguna’s maintenance crew, the administration, and the student body are more than relieved with the completion of this complex project.