It's difficult to teach biology without a lab.

That's a problem Kristin Bornhoft, the teacher at Orcutt Academy High School, no longer has after the school christened its new lab Friday.

"It's going to be very liberating because we're in a classroom where we can't do much," Bornhoft said. "My hands have been kind of tied until now."

The new facility was actually created from an old one. The school relocated a portable classroom onto the high school campus and fitted it with all of the necessary equipment for a new lab.

In addition to all of the work stations with sinks, electrical and gas hook-ups, the lab has six new desktop computers and the capacity for wireless computers. Sixty district-owned laptops also will be used in the classroom.

The lab includes the requisite eye wash and deluge station in case of any kind of chemical or burn accident.

The district intended to have the lab ready when school started in August, according to Ken Parker, associate superintendent. Work started the day school let out in June and finished just this week.

The project ran into just about every stumbling block it could hit, Parker said. But maintenance and construction personnel finally knocked out the finishing touches this week.

"It's without a doubt the most complex classroom ever built in the history of the Orcutt School District," Parker said.

The problems weren't just in planning and construction.

The project began with some money the district received from absorbing the Casmalia Elementary School District, but it wasn't enough to finish the lab. Additional funds were donated by Plains Exploration and Production Company, local attorney Dick Weldon and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Foundation.

"In the economy we're in now, you can't do anything without partners," Parker said.

Since school started, Bornhoft's biology class has been confined to a spare classroom at May Grisham Elementary School. Now, they'll be able to do real lab work.

The room opens to students Monday.

"When we get in there, we'll have everything we need," Bornhoft said.