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Monrovia High School Repairs Complete
Monrovia Weekly Jul 27, 2016
VIP tables at center piazza. Photo by Giuseppe Mastrobuono
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(Left to Right) Monrovia Unified School District’s Director of Maintenance, Operations, and Transportation Vince Marchetti and School Board Member Ed Gilliland look over the plans in the newly complete Monrovia High. – Photo by Terry Miller
Construction Finishes on Time and Within Budget
By Susan Motander
In the early morning hours of Monday, Nov. 30, 2015 a student threw a “Molotov Cocktail” through a window in the main building at Monrovia High School. Because of an alert neighbor, the fire department was immediately notified and the arsonist was arrested by Monrovia Police.
That building has now been repaired and the work was done on time.
The Monrovia Fire Department’s prompt response limited the fire damage to a few rooms in that main building, but smoke and water damage forced the closure of the entire building, including the Taylor Performing Arts Center, most of the school’s offices, several classrooms, the cafeteria, and the computer lab. By juggling classrooms and relocating offices to other areas, classes continued throughout the reconstruction.
Within months, working with Servpro, the cleanup specialists, the district had the Performing Arts Center reopened. At that time School Superintendent Kathy Thorossian called this the result of “a Herculean group effort.” She singled out the following three individuals for their extraordinary work: Connie Wu, the district’s chief business officer (whom she called “my general on this”); Vincent Marchetti, who heads maintenance, operations and transportation; and Nelson Santos, who is in charge of purchasing.
Thorossian also made a commitment at that time – she promised that the district would do everything it could to ensure that the entire facility would be open for school, fully-restored, in time for the next school year. That school year is set to begin next month and the finishing touches are being placed on the restoration and improvement of the main building of the school.
Monrovia High School was nearly destroyed by an arsonist who threw a “Molotov cocktail through a window.” – Photo by Terry Miller
According to Marchetti, who gave a tour of the facility earlier this week, the district, with the approval of the insurance company, made several minor changes to the building to improve workflow and traffic movement. Several rooms were reconfigured to create a staff work room and lounge and others to create a more functional counseling office. Both these areas had suffered major damage in the fire.
All this work was done in cooperation with the school’s principal, Kirk McGinnis, and with the approval of the state whose school architect must okay all changes and work. The building, which was completed in 1928, also now has substantially improved lighting.
Marchetti also said that with all the work done in restoring the areas that had smoke and water damage, the areas not impacted looked rather shabby. School Board Member Ed Gilliland, who was on hand for the tour, said they board had voted to allocated funds to repair and repaint these areas as well. The whole now building is now looking very bright and fresh,” Gilliland said.
Marchetti said that it was a group effort that made the swift completion of the project possible. He echoed the superintendent’s praise for the students and staff at the high school, but also noted the work done by district staff. Marchetti said that Robert Morales, the project manager assigned by the insurance adjustors, Young and Associates, had been instrumental in overseeing the work.
Connie Wu has been working with the insurance company throughout the process of repairing and restoring the building. She said that she will be meeting with the insurance company representatives in August at which time the entire cost figure will be determined. She estimated that the entire cost would top $7 million, but emphasized that the district was only responsible for the deductible of $25,000.
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