THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512290290
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: 1995: YEAR IN REVIEW
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
THE FIRST FIRE ALARM came at 1:36 a.m. Sept. 1, and when firefighters arrived at Princess Anne High School they found the front section of the city's oldest high school in flames. For five hours, the flames chewed through the building, destroying 27 classrooms, administrative offices, a cafeteria and the library.
As firefighters did their jobs, they unwittingly unleashed an even more pernicious problem: asbestos. For years, the deadly mineral had been encapsulated in the building and thus kept safe from students, teachers and administrators. But when firefighters cut through portions of the building with gas-powered saws to douse hot spots during the fire they unleashed asbestos throughout the burned portion of the building and into areas that were spared the flames.
The contamination complicated an already difficult situation and added to the ultimate cost of making repairs, $7 million as set by the Aetna Life & Casualty Co.
Bad as it was, the fire claimed more than merely a portion of the building. Lost were the countless mementos that teachers had gathered over a lifetime of teaching, instructional aids, favorite student projects, maps, posters, everything that a talented and creative teacher needs to help children learn.
But this story had a silver lining that over time came to amaze us all. From the start, students rallied to the cause. They washed cars, baked cookies, did almost anything to raise money to pay the replacement costs of items not covered by insurance.
They raised more than $50,000, an astonishing amount considering how informal and spontaneous was the collection effort. Even then, the story continued to unfold in ways that gratified the community.
The school was old and as such lacked some of the amenities that other, newer buildings had. So another informal group, calling itself Operation Phoenix, arose to call upon the School Board and the City Council to allocate additional money to the rebuilding effort to add instructional space for the arts, expand the media center and the cafeteria.
The expansion would add $1.5 million to the restoration project and it could not have come at a worse time. The district was in the middle of a protracted budget crisis that had left the 1994-95 budget $12.1 million in the red. To deal with that problem, the School Board enacted a series of spending cuts that would save money - money that Operation Phoenix badly wanted.
But as if the entire story had been destined for a happy ending, the School Board found money in a building fund that could pay the tab.
It was part of a ``site acquisition fund'' set up to bank land the district would need for future school sites. The fund had about $3 million in reserves and no immediate need for them. So the School Board held its collective breath and tapped into the money to pay for Operation Phoenix.
Construction began soon thereafter and school officials expect the refurbished high school to open its doors in January 1997.
Meanwhile, most students at Princess Anne continue to hold classes two miles east of their campus in Celebration Station, a former shopping mall.
At the time of the fire, the school district had been trying to get out of a lease it had on the building, which was used primarily for school office space. The fire gave reason to hang onto the site for at least another year, while insurers help pay the rent.
- Tom Holden ILLUSTRATION: Staff file photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
As firefighters doused the flames Sept. 1 at Princess Anne High,
they unwittingly unleashed an even more pernicious problem -
asbestos - into areas not damaged by the fire.
Most students at Princess Anne continue to hold classes two miles
east of their campus in Celebration Station, a former shopping
mall.
Staff file photo
by MORT FRYMAN
by CNB