PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The Los Angeles Unified School District is working to reopen two schools this fall that were badly burned in the Palisades Fire.
The Palisades Fire damaged or destroyed much of the vital infrastructure that serves thousands of residents, including three LAUSD schools: Marquez Charter Elementary School, Palisades Charter High School, and Palisades Elementary Charter School.
Although students have been relocated to other campuses, a massive effort is underway to bring students back to Marquez Elementary and Pali High as early as this fall.
“The campuses are going to be ready, meaning the bungalows will be here — the infrastructure, the utility, the internet, the environmental testing. The community will make a collective decision when parents are ready, given air quality and their comfort,” said Nick Melvoin, the LAUSD school board member who represents Pacific Palisades. “By August, these physical campuses will be ready. My gut is that it will be a little later in the fall that students return.”
Portable classrooms now occupy Pali High’s baseball field and part of Marquez Elementary, but some parents have environmental concerns about sending their kids back to the Palisades.
“Very conflicted. Like many parents, we’re just trying to do what is best for our kids, hence the reason why they’re attending Marquez in the first place,” said Ethan Tyer, who has two kids at Marquez Elementary. “But, all we want to do is to be able to make an informed choice about where to send them in the fall.”
The district says extensive testing will take place before students are allowed back.
Palisades Elementary won’t be moving into portable classrooms and will instead stay on the campus of Brentwood Science Magnet until construction is complete. Some parents are pushing the district to move up the timeline, and LAUSD says that’s their goal.
“They’re saying they’re going as fast as they can, but are they really? And, this is considering previous projects, they’re comparing to that. This is for communities that wanted a school remodel. Pushing for a new school to be rebuilt,” said Hilary Cannon, who has three kids at Palisades Elementary. “This was thrust upon our community. We didn’t want this remodel, this rebuild. We just want our school back.”
To rebuild all three schools in the Palisades will cost roughly $600 million. A $9 billion construction bond that voters passed in November will be key to funding the Palisades schools’ rebuild.
“We’re trying to bring a sense of normalcy back to the kids, and that’s why you start with the schools. Our schools are our civic cathedrals, and if you can normalize the situation for kids, your teachers are back, your school’s back, your playground is back. It really drives the greater infrastructure,” Melvoin said.
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