LA Schools Struggle To Reopen As Fires Still Rage
At least seven LAUSD schools that were destroyed, damaged or threatened by flames will remain closed, along with campuses in other districts.

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Los Angeles Unified schools reopened Monday, as educators worked to provide respite for shell-shocked students seeking refuge from across the city.聽聽聽
LAUSD officials the nation鈥檚 second-largest district will reopen all but seven schools that were destroyed, badly damaged or immediately threatened by flames.聽
Questions about the district鈥檚 reopening remain, including unresolved challenges about where displaced students will attend school, how they will get there, and whether remote learning will be offered.
Dozens of smaller districts within Los Angeles County also reopened, with the , where the Eaton fire has destroyed at least five campuses and remains mostly uncontained.聽
At a , LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho said the schools slated to reopen are safe to resume instruction after the district last week closed all campuses amid the largest and most destructive fires in LA history.聽聽聽
LAUSD schools will operate on modified schedules without extracurricular activities, he said, and special allowances will be made for students and staff who miss classes.
鈥淪tudents and our workforce will come back having witnessed and experienced a level of disruption not paralleled in the history of our community,鈥 said Carvalho. 鈥淲e will embrace our work with empathy, flexibility and patience.鈥澛犅
The historic L.A. area fires that began last week have killed at least 25 people and destroyed or damaged more than 12,000 buildings. LAUSD began closing schools last Wednesday as fires in the city intensified, fueled by strong Santa Ana winds. At least 340 district staff have so far lost their homes in the blazes, Carvalho said.
As of Monday, the had burned nearly 24,000 acres, destroying many homes and businesses in iconic Los Angeles neighborhoods, including Pacific Palisades and Malibu. The , located on the city鈥檚 east side, had burned more than 14,000 acres in the neighborhoods of Pasadena and Altadena, and is only 33% contained.聽聽
on Monday, bringing the possibility of renewed growth of existing fires and the creation of new ones as local and out-of-town firefighters battle the deadly blazes.
Famed Palisades High School, which was also badly damaged in the fires, will not reopen this week, Carvalho said. Two additional schools in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood that have been completely burned, Palisades Charter Elementary and Marquez Charter Elementary, will be relocated to other campuses later this week.聽In all, more than 2,000 students enrolled at the three schools have been displaced, he said.聽
Carvalho said the district is still working out logistics, such as the possibility of providing transportation for displaced students.聽聽
Marquez Charter Elementary will be relocated to Nora Sterry Elementary, about nine miles away. Palisades Charter Elementary will be relocated to Brentwood Science Magnet, about five miles away.聽
Four other LAUSD schools located in areas that were under mandatory evacuation orders Monday remain closed. Those schools include Canyon Charter Elementary, Kenter Canyon Charter Elementary, Topanga Charter Elementary, Lanai Road Elementary and Paul Revere Middle School.聽
Carvalho said those schools would reopen as soon as fire conditions allowed. He did not say where or if those students will report to class in the meantime.聽聽聽聽
Two additional LAUSD schools that were also threatened by fires could also be closed if conditions worsen, officials said.
On Monday morning, blue skies overlooked Nora Sterry Elementary, which is preparing to welcome displaced students from Marquez Charter Elementary later this week, as teachers and staff scrambled to get ready for the first school day there.
As cars pulled up to drop off聽students, teachers and staff ran into the building to prepare for a busy week. A school nurse held onto her lunch as two district employees loudly backed up a truck to unload supplies.
One mom, walking with her hand tightly clenched to her son, expressed gratitude that the school was reopening. 鈥淲e live in the neighborhood. It helps that he has something to do,鈥 she said.
David Tokofsky, a former LAUSD educator and board member turned consultant, said the district鈥檚 response to the fires is a work in progress. He said district officials should have notified families sooner of last week’s school closures and of the plan to reopen Monday.聽
鈥淣ormally, the district is at its absolute best operationally in crisis,鈥 said Tokofsky, who counts fires, earthquakes, floods, the coronavirus and the AIDS epidemic among the disasters he鈥檚 experienced while working in the district.
Still, the district鈥檚 performance in the face of the ongoing fires can鈥檛 really be assessed so soon, Tokofsky said. Challenges facing LAUSD, including trauma, lost instructional time and logistical matters such as student transportation are still ongoing, he said, and the fires that have already engulfed the city may flare up again and bring even more unprecedented destruction.聽聽聽聽聽
鈥淣othing compares to this,鈥 said Tokofsky. 鈥淲e need teamwork and real, concrete action.”
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