New superintendent ‘optimistic’ for schools on the ridge Working to rebuild
‘People are realizing Paradise is where they want to be,' new PUSD superintendent says
PARADISE >> Taking charge of a school district that has fought hard to stay on the fire-singed ridge is no easy feat in a year after the Camp Fire, but Tom Taylor feels up to the challenge.
As rain poured down on the trees outside his office — always a blessing in the town — the new superintendent for Paradise Unified School District expressed his thankfulness for the district, and the efforts of those in the community as so many families try to return. After former superintendent Michelle John's exit Dec. 1, Taylor says he is optimistic about continuing to work in Paradise.
Although he wasn't born in the town, Taylor consider himself a true Paradise resident, after over 50 years attending school and teaching in the area. He's also been with the district for about 17 years.
“It feels good to be able to serve the community that I grew up in,” he said.
The connection to the town which Taylor has personally experienced is something he hears echoed by many parents who have moved back to the ridge, or are trying to. Despite ongoing concerns, people still want their kids in Paradise and back in the district, he said.
“I just had a parent talk to me this morning and their child has realized that, well they didn't move back up the hill, and now they want to come back up the hill,” Taylor said. “And we actually hear that quite frequently. People are still realizing that Paradise is where they want to be. People are coming back even this late in the semester still.”
But that doesn't change how much the district faces to recover and rebuild.
A lot has happened since the beginning of the school year. The district has faced a string of power shut-offs by PG&E that have limited time to repair classrooms as well as limiting precious classroom days.
“We're still in the recovery stage, and we're starting to move into the rebuilding stage,” Taylor said. “We thought we were going to have Ridgeview at Ponderosa a few months back and that proved not to be an option … the damage to Ponderosa was much more extensive than we originally thought. “
Part of the consideration for rebuilding is that the district is at half its previous size, about 1,700 as opposed to 3,400, and there is less staff, and no assistant superintendents. Approximately 300 students are still bussing up and down the ridge from Chico and other communities.
“When you have a high school of 700, it's very different from a school of 1,300,” Taylor added.
Taylor said he talked to Santa Rosa's district (burned by the Tubbs Fire in 2017) to get advice about repairing the district after a major fire — but even comparing the two situations doesn't always bring answers.
“They said, ‘we don't even know what to tell you,'” he said. ‘“What you're dealing with is so far beyond what we dealt with. We lost neighborhoods and we shifted our students to other schools.' Well we (Paradise) couldn't even get back up the hill … so that was something very different that we had to deal with.”
On the positive side, there were more options available for space to use for students in Chico during the spring when students could not return to their campuses — and the building process has been “much quicker in Paradise,” Taylor said.
Taylor's biggest concern now is purchasing power generators, in case of future power shut-offs, that are large enough to power entire campus sites for heat. The shut-offs have caused considerable loss of food (thousands of dollars' worth) and other resources but especially heat. The generators will cost millions if funding is approved, he said.
For now, the school continues to wait for the waiver for some of the days that the district was closed during the fall shut-offs — and is just finally getting waivers approved for the days lost after the fire.
“We believe the state will waive some of those days,” Taylor said. “The waivers require you to use your built-in potential snow days, and we have three remaining and we plan to use those days. We will be open on those days.”
Making up lost time can't entirely be fixed, however.
“A day lost of learning is a day of learning, and the way you make it up is with another day,” he said. “We owe it to our students to give them the best education we can, and you have to be in a classroom to do that.”
All students are housed, at least and there is still space for all, Taylor said.
“It can get a little cramped sometimes so what we're dealing with right now is that some of the things we would like to do right now at some sites we can't because we had to put students there.”
There are 15 major building projects underway, including a new gym for Paradise High School and a completed new playground for younger elementary students on Paradise Intermediate School's campus. For now, Taylor said he and the facilities planning committee and the hired architect have to make careful decisions for how to spend insurance money on building projects.
For the community
Despite so many concerns, the need for the district in the community remains. Many families who return do so because of their feelings of community, not just connection to the town.
“You always run into someone you know, and you develop that social network, that social support group,” Taylor said. “And when people leave, they realize they're not only leaving their town, they're losing that support group. “
That's part of why he has stayed — even though many friends have moved away.
“I still have that strong support group, and I think that's what draws people back to our community.”
The superintendent's executive assistant, Sheila Craft also went to school in Paradise, and although she later moved to Chico and Sacramento, she found herself returning to raise a child out of the city.
“We're a tight bunch … this is where our roots are,” she said. “We're kind of a niche group of people.”
That personal connection is part of why Taylor still feels optimistic about the district and the community. But there is a lot of pressure to get everything right now, and make sure the district is prepared for the future.
“What we do here for our kids will matter … for 35 to 50 years,” Taylor said.