Jeanna Bassett puts a piece back on one of her Lego Star Wars collection at Concordia Elementary School on Monday, February 11, 2019 in San Clemente, CA. The school was broken into in November, 2018 and most of the 120 Star Wars pieces she had on display in the school’s library were destroyed. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Vandals destroyed most of Jeanna Bassett’s Lego Star Wars collection that was on display in the library at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente in November, 2018. (Photo courtesy Jeanna Bassett)

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Jeanna Bassett has put most of her Lego Star Wars collection back together, with the help of volunteers, after vandals broke apart many of the 120 pieces she had on display at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente, CA. The school was broken into in November, 2018. The rebuilt pieces sit on top of the bookshelves in the library. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jeanna Bassett has put most of her Lego Star Wars collection back together, with the help of volunteers, after vandals broke apart many of the 120 pieces she had on display at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente, CA. The school was broken into in November, 2018. The rebuilt pieces sit on top of the bookshelves in the library. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jeanna Bassett adjusts one of the characters in her Lego Star Wars collection at Concordia Elementary School on Monday, February 11, 2019 in San Clemente, CA. The school was broken into in November, 2018 and most of the 120 Star Wars pieces she had on display in the school’s library were destroyed. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Vandals destroyed most of Jeanna Bassett’s Lego Star Wars collection that was on display in the library at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente in November, 2018. (Photo courtesy Jeanna Bassett)

Volunteers help to sort Jeanna Bassett’s Lego Star Wars collection that was on display in the library at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente and destroyed by vandals in November, 2018. (Photo courtesy Jeanna Bassett)

Jeanna Bassett’s office at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente, CA is filled with Lego Star Wars items. The school was broken into in November, 2018 and most of the 120 Star Wars pieces she had on display in the school’s library were destroyed. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jeanna Bassett has put most of her Lego Star Wars collection back together, with the help of volunteers, after vandals broke apart many of the 120 pieces she had on display at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente, CA. The school was broken into in November, 2018. The rebuilt pieces sit on top of the bookshelves in the library. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jeanna Bassett has put most of her Lego Star Wars collection back together after vandals broke apart many of the 120 pieces she had on display at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente, CA. The school was broken into in November, 2018. She shows off some of the larger pieces on Monday, February 11, 2019, that were broken into pieces and rebuilt by herself and volunteers. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Volunteers help to reassemble Jeanna Bassett’s Lego Star Wars collection that was on display in the library at Concordia Elementary School in San Clemente and destroyed by vandals in November, 2018. (Photo courtesy Jeanna Bassett)

SAN CLEMENTE — “You won’t believe the Legos I have!” said Jeanna Bassett, a longtime art teacher at Concordia Elementary School. “Most of the big Legos are back: the Death Star, Star Destroyer, X-wing fighter, Sandcrawler, Snowspeeder, Y-Wing and all the TIE Fighters. Ninety percent of the Legos are back together.”

Bassett was ecstatic, recently, over the support she has received since a collection of 30-year-old Lego sets she had on display in the school’s library were destroyed by vandals in late November.

The incident was reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Nov. 26 after Bassett and her students returned from Thanksgiving break to find about 125 Lego sets had been destroyed.

In December, school officials said some of the vandals were identified as local middle and high school students.

Since the incident, Bassett has received an outpouring of support, first from the school’s parent community and then from Goodwill of Orange County, where two Lego builders assembled a new Millennium Falcon made of 7,541 pieces and presented it to Bassett just before Christmas.

More recently, a team of 40 Lego builders from the Lego Users Groups of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties and the Inland Empire came to San Clemente. With the help of a few Concordia families and school principal Rob McKane, they assembled the vandalized Lego pieces and recreated almost 60 of the original Lego sculptures. Members of the 501st Legion Star Wars cosplay group also helped out.

“To paraphrase Liam Neeson, as adult fans of Lego, we “do have a very particular set of skills” that were perfectly suited for solving this problem, said Paul Lee of the Los Angeles Lego Users Group. “We have the building experience and expertise, and we have the resources in terms of replacing damaged or missing pieces.”

On Jan. 11, Concordia hosted a school assembly to thank all those who participated in the rebuild, with 600 students and 100 adults in attendance.

McKane said he wasn’t surprised by the community’s generosity.

“The support for Jeanna was truly wonderful to behold and be a part of,” he said. “The one quote I heard more than any other was, ‘We win. Not those that would do such a thing.’ I believe there is more good than bad in the world and this was a testament to it. My students got to see and enjoy the results of others’ selflessness. I believe they took away the idea of supporting things bigger than themselves, even if it’s to support one person.”

Bassett also received $2,000 worth of Lego kits from The Lego Group toy company.

“We were thrilled to be able to help Jeanna rebuild some of her amazing collection by sending her an assortment of Lego Star Wars construction sets,” said Michael McNally, senior director of brand relations at The Lego Group. “There are 20 years worth of ‘Star Wars’ adventures to build in LEGO form and we hope that our small contribution to her collection will inspire her to keep building and sharing her passion with her students and community for years to come.”

Bassett also received an autographed “Star Wars” poster from Rian Johnson, a San Clemente resident who directed “Star Wars: Episode VIIl — The Last Jedi.” Two of his nephews attend Concordia.

“The kids are really into all the new Lego sets,” Bassett said. “They noticed the Legos back in the library before the librarian noticed them. Even the kids that have trouble with school work want to talk about ‘Star Wars.’”

On Sunday, Feb. 10, Bassett and her husband, Donald, were back at Concordia setting up more of the Lego sets in the library.

“Every day I get something new,” Bassett said. “Now, each class is giving me a Lego set. There will be more than when the vandalism started.

“It’s really the story of how the community came together,” she said. “It’s sad it had to happen in the first place but it shows you people really do care.”