Fire brings end, new beginning to high school

The following Monday saw the impromptu reincarnation of the high school at the community church. During the next two months, each school day began with the ringing of the church bell as community members, contractors, and school employees worked frantically to build a temporary high school on the elementary school football field.

Finally, after the Thanksgiving holiday, students and staff moved into new facilities consisting of six modular buildings. Although these buildings have proven to be more than adequate as a temporary place to continue the educational process, it is clear that the loss of Lee Vining High School is a tragedy which has affected every part of this small community. In the words of local contractor and school board member Jeff Hansen, "The day before the fire, the school meant a lot to people. The day after the fire, it meant a whole lot more."

For decades the high school served as a focal point for community activities: games, plays, dances, meetings, assemblies, and graduations. Important parts of Committee history have taken place at LVHS. On January 23, 1989, the high school gym was used for part of the memorial service for David Gaines and Don Oberlin. One by one, friends and colleagues filed up to the microphone to share memories and offer moving tributes to Dave and Don.

Many Committee members can recall happier times at LVHS. Its ball fields and locker rooms have served as a home away from home to Bike-a-thon and Century cyclists for many years. After toiling through the desert, cyclists found the cool green expanse of the football field to be the perfect place for a well-deserved rest, except when the sprinklers accidentally came on at 4:00 am.

Just last September, the Committee prepared to kickoff our 20th Anniversary celebration with "Music in the Park." It soon became clear that the weather was not going to cooperate. A frantic call to high school Principal Nancy Lampson resulted in her graciously allowing people to use the gym for music, dancing, and "indoor camping" throughout the weekend.

Today the gym is silent except for the sound of fluttering wings. Pigeons now roost in the rafters above the buckled and shattered hardwood floor. Rays of sunlight stream through the huge hole in the ceiling, illuminating rectangular "clean" spots on the smoke-stained walls where Hi-Lo League championship banners once hung. Thankfully, these banners, as well as trophies, yearbooks and other tangible symbols of Lee Vining Tigers tradition were saved and now await a new home.

Last January, the insurance company announced the terms of a settlement, under which the high school would be almost completely gutted down to the masonry and then rebuilt as it existed prior to the fire, with required code upgrades. Anything not damaged in the fire, and not required by code to be upgraded, will be reused. For example, insurance would not pay to replace the old single-pane windows unless they were damaged.

The rebuilding of LVHS is a golden opportunity to modernize the facility with improvements such as double-paned windows and technology upgrades. One intriguing proposal is to install a stream study laboratory to augment the biomonitoring of Lee Vining and Rush creeks that has been done by LVHS students in conjunction with entomologist Dave Herbst of the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory.

It has become apparent that donations will play an important role in how LVHS will take shape since the school does not appear to qualify for state hardship grants under newly revised criteria. If Lee Vining is to have a high school and library that reflects the unique character of its community, and is to be equipped to study its extraordinary natural surroundings, it will be largely through the efforts of people who care about the school, its students, and their future.

Donations of time, money, equipment, or ideas will be gratefully accepted by the Lee Vining High School Fire Restoration Fund, P.O. Box 268, Lee Vining, CA 93541, 760-647-6366. Donations to the fund are tax deductible.