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.
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.
“For the buildings … that are intact, we’re going through the industrial cleaning process and getting those buildings repaired,” 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.
“We’re hoping they’ll be able to return after winter break,” Dahdul said. “They have not cleared all of the environmental clearances yet, so we’re still working on that, and we’re going to continue to work with that community to inform them as to when it’s safe to return to those buildings.”
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.
The return to campus will allow students to leave temporary quarters at the former Sears building in Santa Monica.
After the fire, the school operated online for four months — 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, 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.
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.
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.
District officials insist that thorough testing and monitoring practices are in place.
Parent Johanna Minassian greeted the news of the impending return with tempered enthusiasm.
“Life, politics and the holidays are heavy for our community right now,” Minassian said. “Most of us celebrate every little win in the Palisades, like returning to our beloved campus, the Turkey Trot, 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.”
“Our students and athletes are killing it in competitions, all while at the Sears building and bouncing between fields, theaters, borrowed instruments and lost team uniforms,” Minassian said. “Their dedication to their academics and social well-being is a testament to our faculty, admin, and resilient students.”
The $11-million cost of the Sears campus was almost entirely paid for by insurance policies held by the school, according to campus administrators. As an independent charter school, Palisades High is run by a private nonprofit, even though it remains a government-funded public school.
The Palisades fire destroyed 6,800 buildings and killed 12. Marquez Elementary was destroyed and Palisades Elementary was mostly burned to the ground. Palisades Elementary will continue to operate out of the Brentwood Science Magnet during its reconstruction. Marquez Elementary — which occupies an unusually large site for an elementary school — opened in September in temporary buildings laid out at its original location, while the permanent campus is under construction.
The cost of the temporary Marquez campus — about $19 million — makes up about 9% of that school’s $202.6-million reconstruction project. District officials did not immediately provide the cost of the temporary Pali High campus.
Last spring, there had been some hope that the temporary Pali High campus also would be ready this fall, but that timelime proved unrealistic despite a fast-tracked schedule and state oversight process.
“Given the emergency nature,” said school board facilities committee Chair Nick Melvoin, “we have commitments from the governor all the way down on waiving everything they can. … The commitment we’ve made, and that I’ll say again publicly now, is that we’re going to continue to ask about those things.”
The temporary modular buildings on the baseball field are essentially ready to go.
“That portion of the work is complete,” Dahdul said. “We’re still going through the remaining cleaning of the existing buildings to get those ready for the return to campus, and then the phase-two schedule would be for us to build back 30 classrooms.”
The three school construction projects will be paid for initially out of voter-approved school bonds — although these dollars were originally targeted for other purposes. District officials hope to reimburse the bond account through federal disaster relief funds and insurance payouts.
