Campus Update – Our Return in January

Friday, December 21, 2018

Dear IRDS Families,

As we are only a few days away from the winter vacation we wanted to thank all of you for your continued patience and support as we recover from the fires and bring our campus back better than ever. I’d also like to provide you with an update as to where things stand on campus and our progress in returning home in January. Over the last several weeks a variety of different teams have been working very hard to get campus back up and ready for our children to return as quickly as possible. As you can imagine this has been — and continues to be — a very large project and we have been working nonstop with phenomenal teams of professionals and volunteers.

We are thrilled to report that the classroom remediation is well underway, and our classrooms continue to be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. We are currently preparing the installation of new floors and ceiling tiles around campus, new sand and wood chips are about to enter our yards, new fencing by the freeway is being built, and trees and debris have all been hauled away. We are securing temporary bathrooms for our return, while simultaneously working on a permanent solution for office space, a new computer lab and a permanent bathroom structure over the months ahead. The work has been ongoing and constant, and we are pleased with our progress and our ability to move forward on our remediation timetable as previously planned.

As you are aware, the central hub for our power was destroyed during the fire. While our classrooms and campus have been being cleaned and restored, we have simultaneously been working diligently with an electrical engineer and an electrical company to restore power to campus. This piece of our rebuilding puzzle has been the most complicated to date. We have been constructing a temporary power solution for school over the past few weeks with a permanent solution planned and ready to be built over the coming months. The permitting and approval process for these plans rests with the County of Los Angeles.

Everything has been on track for our return to campus in early January, however, on Monday the County unexpectedly insisted on some additional plans for the temporary power, slowing that process down. Because of this unanticipated slowdown, we anticipate a short delay in our return to campus but fully expect to return to campus before the end of January. This delay may only be a few days, or it may be a few weeks, but we wanted to be direct and upfront with everyone so families can plan accordingly. As the break progresses and work continues, we will update all of you on our progress. At the moment we are planning to return to Temple Etz Chaim when school resumes on January 8 for a short while.

We wish we could provide you with a more definitive date of return to campus. We have been so encouraged by our progress thus far, and issues such as this one with our power, is something we had hoped to avoid. But as most of you know, oftentimes in construction there are unanticipated delays. We promise to all of you that we are working every angle possible with the county to speed this process along.

Please feel free to reach out to me directly at any time with any questions. We know the drive to Temple Etz Chaim is difficult for many of our families, and we pledge that we are working just as hard as we can to get back to our beloved campus. We all want to be there, and we want to be there as soon as possible.

Thank you again for your patience and support. We will update you on January 3rd. In the meantime, we wish you all a wonderful break and a happy new year. We can’t wait to celebrate our return to campus with all of you in 2019.

Thank you,

Yuri Hronsky
Head of School