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Nearly two years after a fire severely damaged Marysville School in Southeast Portland, the school district is finally poised to rebuild it.

Portland Public Schools‘ board on Monday night voted unanimously to use approximately $4.5 million in fire insurance proceeds 鈥� along with $300,000 of district money 鈥� to reconstruct the K-8 school at its original site, 7733 S.E. Raymond St. A design and construction period is expected to last about 14 months, and the school could reopen in January 2013.

But the vote came after many frustrated parents, staffers and community members complained in the last several months that the new reconstruction plan was progressing slowly after the original plan fell through. The money to rebuild Marysville was incorporated into a bond measure that would have provided $548 million for district projects; however, voters in May rejected the bid.

When reconstruction of Marysville was incorporated into the bond, a full modernization was planned: designed an approximately $21 million, state-of-the-art facility. The plan the school board approved on Monday is much more modest.

鈥淭he truth is that from the beginning, we saw the other ($21 million) plan as a pie in the sky that we didn’t really believe was going to come through,鈥� said Becky McAlister, a second-grade Marysville teacher who has been an outspoken proponent of rebuilding the school at its original site. 鈥淭he district had a grand plan, but that was their baby 鈥� We’re just thrilled that they’re going to send us back home now.鈥�

Since the fire on Nov. 10, 2009, Marysville has operated from the former Rose City Park School in Northeast Portland. Enrollment has dropped and the school community has struggled to adjust to the distance.

鈥淲e’ve been languishing for a while,鈥� McAlister said. 鈥淭he whole community was frustrated with the way the district handled everything and caused it to take so long.鈥�

But McAlister said the Marysville community is ready to forgive and forget. The district increased its communication efforts by hosting several work sessions over the past few months, and Monday’s vote received a standing ovation from McAlister and a handful of others wearing 鈥淲e will rise again鈥� T-shirts.

鈥淲e gave that community the space to really brainstorm and look at all of the data and options, and then we had conversations about how to move forward,鈥� said Matt Shelby, a Portland Public Schools spokesman. 鈥淎nd that is a process that we can apply to the rest of the district. No one is arguing that our buildings are just fine.鈥�

The district also considered moving Marysville to the shuttered Kellogg Middle School on Southeast Powell Boulevard, and although that option wasn’t chosen, Shelby said the conversation was worthwhile.

鈥淗earing what people liked about the Kellogg building and looking at what that building has and Marysville doesn’t led to a better plan moving forward,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the end of the day, we’re going to end up with a Marysville building that will better serve the school and the community than the one before the fire.鈥�

The plan calls for rebuilding the fire-damaged portion of the school to its pre-fire condition, transforming the heavily damaged 鈥淒iscovery Zone鈥� into a half-sized middle school gymnasium with the possibility for expansion later, relocating the media center and computer lab and replacing them with three new classrooms, and performing seismic, accessibility and other upgrades.

Bobbie Regan, a Portland Public Schools board member, expressed concern about using the $300,000 of district money to remove vinyl siding and refurbish the building’s exterior. At the work session she emphasized the distinction between 鈥渘ice to have鈥� and 鈥済ot to have.鈥� But Regan nevertheless contributed to the unanimous vote for the resolution.