Palisades Charter High School students are scheduled to return to their campus in January, one year after the Palisades fire devastated their community and badly damaged the popular school, displacing some 3,000 students.<\/p>\n
The plan is for students to use the approximately 70% of campus that was damaged by smoke but not destroyed as well as 30 portable buildings that will temporarily occupy the baseball field.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the buildings … that are intact, we\u2019re going through the industrial cleaning process and getting those buildings repaired,\u201d Issam Dahdul, a senior facilities administrator, said in a presentation Tuesday to a committee of the Board of Education. The property occupied by the independent charter school is owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping they\u2019ll be able to return after winter break,\u201d Dahdul said. \u201cThey have not cleared all of the environmental clearances yet, so we\u2019re still working on that, and we\u2019re going to continue to work with that community to inform them as to when it\u2019s safe to return to those buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n
The full $266.6-million project, which will include a new classroom building and a restored baseball field, is expected to be finished by the third quarter of 2029. <\/p>\n
The return to campus will allow students to leave temporary quarters at the former Sears building in Santa Monica. <\/p>\n
After the fire, the school operated online<\/a> for four months \u2014 using strategies similar to those developed during the campus closures of the COVID-19 pandemic. By the time the vacant Sears building was refitted and repurposed<\/a>, about 1 in 6 students had left the school, either because other options offered a more normal high school experience or because dislocated families faced logistical hurdles getting to the temporary campus. <\/p>\n The conditions in the Sears building have been challenging, and some parents have expressed concerns over such issues as crowding, security, ventilation and lack of green space. <\/p>\n In all, the Palisades fire destroyed or damaged three L.A. Unified campuses, and some parents at these schools have expressed concerns about returning quickly to the original sites and whether, for example, toxic substances might remain in the soil.<\/p>\n District officials insist that thorough testing and monitoring practices are in place.<\/p>\n Parent Johanna Minassian greeted the news of the impending return with tempered enthusiasm.<\/p>\n \u201cLife, politics and the holidays are heavy for our community right now,\u201d Minassian said. \u201cMost of us celebrate every little win in the Palisades, like returning to our beloved campus, the Turkey Trot<\/a>, the Holiday Tree Lighting in the village this weekend. … Palisades families focus on healing and moving forward, and find solutions when we hit a bump.\u201d<\/p>\n