Miraleste Intermediate School will receive $2 million for major infrastructure projects at the campus, which opened in the late 1960s in Rancho Palos Verdes.
The campus has been dealing with collapsed ceilings, power and fire alarm system failures, and sewage backups, according to the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District.
While the planned infrastructure projects will impact the student body in the classroom, they will also benefit the Central Kitchen for Food Services on the Miraleste campus, which prepares meals for 10 elementary schools, three intermediate schools, two comprehensive high schools and one continuation school.
Eighth-graders Brooklyn Farrokh-Siar, left, and Cailin Pollock, right, host Congressman Ted Lieu for a tour of Miraleste Intermediate School on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu tours Miraleste Intermediate School on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Students attend class at Miraleste Intermediate School on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu presents $2 million in funding for the Miraleste Intermediate School Modernization Project on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu is on hand to present $2 million in funding for the Miraleste Intermediate School Modernization Project on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. From left are Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Devin Serrano; Palos Verdes School Board president Sarah Deen; Congressmen Ted Lieu; and Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Paul Seo. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu, right, chats with Miraleste Intermediate School assistant principal Danny Barbara inside a classroom on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Students answer the bell at Miraleste Intermediate School on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu, center, tours Miraleste Intermediate School with school and district officials on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu is on hand to present $2 million in funding for the Miraleste Intermediate School Modernization Project on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. From left are Miraleste Intermediate School principal Michael Lehault; Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Devin Serrano; Palos Verdes School Board president Sarah Deen; Congressmen Ted Lieu; and Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Paul Seo. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu, center, tours Miraleste Intermediate School with school and district officials on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu tours Miraleste Intermediate School’s Central Kitchen, which provides prepared meals to several schools, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Congressman Ted Lieu tours Miraleste Intermediate School’s Central Kitchen, which provides prepared meals to several schools, on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
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Eighth-graders Brooklyn Farrokh-Siar, left, and Cailin Pollock, right, host Congressman Ted Lieu for a tour of Miraleste Intermediate School on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026, in Rancho Palos Verdes. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)
Rep. Ted Lieu, who helped secure the funding, visited the Miraleste campus on Tuesday, Sept. 22, and said the $2 million will help the school in three significant ways.
“One, it’s going to help deliver more nutritious meals more efficiently by modernizing your Central Kitchen,” Lieu said on Tuesday. “Second, it’s going to help with other infrastructure needs regarding utilities and power and alarms and so on. And third, it’s going to help with some seismic needs that this campus needs.”
The “funding is a major win” for the school and the Central Kitchen, said Superintendent Devin Serrano.
“We know that good nutrition is foundational to student learning,” Serrano said. “This project reinforces our district’s commitment to expanding scratch cooking, allowing us to prepare fresh, nutritious meals right here on site. It gives us the flexibility, equipment and efficiency we need to serve high-quality, healthy meal options every single day.”
Brenna Terrones, assistant superintendent of administrative services at PVPUSD, said in an interview that the Central Kitchen uses infrastructure from the 1950s and ’60s.
“This is a very critical piece to us upgrading the Central Kitchen,” Terrones said, “which supports all of our school sites in preparation of food.”
The district is looking to complete the projects by the summer or fall of 2027, Terrones said.
Other funding, Serranos said, will “go towards critical campus infrastructure and seismic retrofits.”
“This represents foundational investments in the safety, functionality and long-term resilience of this campus,” Serrano said. “By upgrading aging utility systems and strengthening our buildings, we are taking proactive steps to protect our students and staff, eliminate service disruptions, and extend the life of these facilities for future generations.”
Funding was submitted following “catastrophic power failure during severe storms in February” 2024, according to a May press release from PVPUSD.
The money was secured as “part of more than $13.7 million in federal funding awarded to projects” throughout Lieu’s 36th Congressional District,” according to the press release.
“I want to extend my sincere gratitude to Congressman Lieu and everyone else who’s worked so hard to secure $14 million in federal funding for local projects,” Miraleste principal Michael Lehault said on Tuesday, “specifically for the $2 million that will be allocated to Miraleste Intermediate School and the PVPUSD Central Kitchen.”
In September 2025, Miraleste hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its School Swimming Pool Project. The $2 million in renovations comprising that project came from the $300 million Measure SOS school bond measure voters passed in November 2024.