Kids are back in class 3 weeks after wildfire
A bit of normalcy is back for those who were devastated.
For 31,000 students, it’s back to school - again - even with many of their classrooms in ruins after California’s deadliest wildfire.
With PARADISE, CALIF. — hugs, teachers and a touch of anxiety, thousands of children returned to school and some semblance of routine Monday, three weeks after Northern California’s deadly wildfire destroyed their homes and classrooms.
About 31,000 students in all went back to school for the first time since Nov. 8. Many of them are going to class in other buildings because their schools were damaged or destroyed, or are inaccessible inside evacuation zones.
Some families have left the state. Others are staying with friends or relatives, too far from the fire-stricken area to drive in every day.
But nearly all the teachers are returning to provide a familiar and comfortable face to the children who are able to make it to class.
“It’s important that the kids are able to stay together and have some sort of nor- malcy in the crazy devastation that we’re having now,” said Jodi Seaholm, whose daughter Mallory is a thirdgrader.
Mallory underwent radiation in October to treat a recurrence of brain cancer and showed no fear, Seaholm said, but “this situation with her house burning down has absolutely devastated her.”
Counselors brought in from around the country were in nearly every class- room Monday to help chil- dren who were distressed by their escape through a burning town and the loss of their homes, Paradise Super- intendent Michelle John said at a celebratory news con- ference. Many of the teach- ers lost their homes as well.
“Our kids are trauma- tized,” John said. “Their families are traumatized.”
Two neighboring school districts have allowed chil- dren from Paradise to take over available space.
Most of Paradise High School survived but is inac- cessible.
The district doesn’t have space yet for intermediate and high school classrooms, so for the 13 days before the holiday break begins, those students will learn through independent study. Also, there’s a drop-in center at the Chico mall where they can get help from teachers and see classmates.
But schoolwork will prob- ably be secondary to dealing with trauma and reconnecting with friends, said Paradise High Principal Loren Lighthall.
“They don’t have their church, they don’t have their school, they don’t have their work, they don’t have their friends. They don’t have any of that stuff and we’re asking them to write five-paragraph essays?” Lighthall said. “It’s just unreasonable at this point. We’re going to do it, but we’re going to be super flexible.”
Marissa Nypl is living with her family at her husband’s coworker’s home in West Sacramento, which is 90 miles from her 10-year-old daughter’s temporary school in Durham, until they can move into a rental home much closer.
It’s too far to drive every day, but Nypl wanted to be sure her daughter was there to be with her peers on the first day back.
“The school’s going to be the only thing they have to latch on to to feel like some- thing’s still routine,” she said.