Rebirth for Laguna School : Once-Innovative Buildings Destroyed by Inferno Had Become Outdated

LAGUNA BEACH â€”  When Thurston Middle School opened in the late 1960s, educators from around the world came to visit what was called one of the most innovative schools of its time.

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In the spirit of that era, Thurston students created their own schedules each morning, picking from a list of class offerings organized weekly by teachers using an IBM computer known as “Big Al,� a computer that had never been used by a school before.

Such flexible scheduling called for flexible buildings. As a consequence, there were movable walls inside the campus buildings, allowing teachers to create large or small settings at will.

But as educational theories changed, and school board members and administrators came and went, Thurston underwent a transformation.

In the mid-1970s, students shifted to a more standard schedule, attending the same six or seven classes each day. Permanent walls were added where none existed.

And what time did not change, fire recently did, giving educators the chance to rebuild the heart of the school.

The school’s main academic building, with 14 classrooms housing every subject except science, was destroyed in the Oct. 27 firestorm that swept through Laguna Beach, taking 366 homes and causing more than $400 million in damage.

At the 545-student campus, which sits on a Park Avenue knoll with expansive views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island, the damage was estimated at more than $3 million.

The challenge of rebuilding the heart of the school may be born of disaster, but Laguna Beach Unified School District officials are taking advantage of the unexpected opportunity to meet the modern needs of the school, which have changed so much since it opened.

“We have a good opportunity here to create an environment that supports the kind of teaching and learning environment we believe in,� Principal Cheryl Baughn said.

The school board recently hired a Newport Beach architectural firm, Blurock Partnership, and a school committee is considering three main rebuilding options, two of which call for new designs.

Several teachers have said they would like to start with more traditionally styled classrooms.

The addition of walls in the old building in the 1970s created odd-shaped rooms, many without windows or doors to the outside. Some rooms also had poor ventilation, and were either too hot or too cold, depending on the season.

“We want something that meets our needs and looks toward the 21st Century,� said Terry A. Bustillos, chief financial officer for the district.

Marie Thurston Intermediate School, which was named after the first schoolteacher in Laguna Beach, opened in 1968 and was hailed in numerous newspapers, magazines and journals as a school ahead of its time, both in academics and architecture.

It was the only intermediate school in the nation with a total program of team teaching and what was known as “flexible daily demand scheduling.�

One newspaper described the system as a “second campus revolution,� not to be confused with the “antics of student activists� making headlines at other campuses, the writer expounded.

Another article told how the school was moving away from “classroom boxes� to a program where, in the words of founding Principal David Lloyd, “the student is king.�

The school’s 450 students in the seventh and eighth grades moved through their subjects grouped by ability, not grade level. They divided their days into 26 “modules� of 15 minutes each for both required and elective subjects.

The United States Office of Education was so impressed that it brought educators from home and abroad to visit the school.

Thurston computer and math teacher Wick Lobo, who ran the scheduling computer, said the early years at Thurston were the most exciting of his professional life.

“What a nice way to start,� said Lobo, a teacher since 1961 who lost his classroom in the fire.

Yet the system had its flaws, Lobo said.

Scheduling demands could be overwhelming, and some students found ways to get around the system, signing themselves up for lots of free time and other activities rather than required basic subjects. Some failed to sign up for classes at all.

“But you couldn’t ask for a better system for those who were reliant and responsible,� Lobo said.

English teacher Gail McClain, who started her career at Thurston in 1968, said she was sorry to see the end of flexible scheduling, although she realizes it had its problems and was expensive to operate.

“It was supposed to be a very student-centered approach to education, really allowing students to feel like they had some control of their environment,� said McClain, whose classroom also was destroyed.

One of the students who thrived under the flexible scheduling system was Marla McKeown.

“I loved it,� said McKeown, who now teaches at the school. “I was one of those students who liked to be challenged and see how far I could go in my classes.�

Except for the remaining campus buildings, including the science wing and library, there’s little left of the old Thurston system.

But teachers say innovation, in such forms as technology and hands-on activities, still lives inside the classrooms.

And out of the disaster now comes new opportunities, said McClain, a member of the reconstruction committee.

“This is really an opportunity to do some real good things,� she said, “and be as innovative now as we were back then.�