Extreme fire danger, poor air quality and other hazards shut down hundreds of schools across about two dozen Los Angeles-area districts on Wednesday — and likely longer — as officials were en route to survey “significant damage” at 63-year-old Palisades Charter High School, famed as a location in the movie “Grease” and several other Hollywood productions.
The main structure at the 3,000-student school had survived as of midday Wednesday. But there was substantial damage in the back of the campus, where the Palisades fire burned much of the school’s athletic facilities and bungalow structures to the ground.
The back buildings continued to burn, with flames shooting from the roof during a tour of the school by L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho and school board member Nick Melvoin, who represents the area.
Two other area schools are feared to be total losses: Palisades Charter Elementary and and Marquez Charter Elementary.
Portions of the main Marquez building and several portable buildings were still standing Wednesday, but the main office and many of the original classrooms were completely destroyed. Flames were still burning on the property, putting the remaining structures at risk.
Melvoin and Carvallo said there was little chance that any part of the main building would survive as firefighting resources were unavailable. They had been told that firefighters had to prioritize life-threatening situations over empty buildings.
The historic administration building of Palisades Charter Elementary was largely standing, but the entirety of the school behind it was smoking rubble. The grass in front of the school and the sculpture of the school’s signature dolphin were intact while a house was burning across the street late Wednesday morning.
Carvallo said it would be impossible for instruction to resume at either of the two elementary schools. The district will develop plans to reassign displaced students to nearby campuses.
The closures included more that 200 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, all schools in the Santa Monica-Malibu school system, Pasadena Unified, Arcadia Unified and numerous private schools, including Harvard-Westlake. More than 70 charter schools also closed across the region, including all in the Alliance, Bright Star, Fenton and ISANA networks and PUC schools in the San Fernando Valley.
Near the Eaton fire, officials said Pasadena Unified schools would be closed for the remainder of the week, while at least 19 additional districts — including Alhambra, Glendale and La Cañada — said they were considering further shutdowns.
In an address Wednesday morning, Carvalho said leaders in the nation’s second-largest school district had “shut down a number of schools in the eastern part of the school system” after evaluating air quality and wind conditions, although many of the schools themselves were out of the range of fires.
Most of the closed L.A. Unified schools, Carvalho said, were within the boundaries north of Manchester Boulevard/Firestone Boulevard, east of 10th Avenue, west of the 710 Freeway and south of the 134 Freeway.
“We know today is not going to be a perfect day,” Carvalho said. Administrators at all campuses would be “flexible” for students and employees. “It won’t be a typical day. We need flexibility, patience and grace.”
School districts closer to the flames in the western and eastern regions of the county sounded alarms.
“It’s been a terrible day for many of our staff who have lost their homes and are evacuated,” said a statement from Arcadia Unified, which will remain closed on Thursday to “give people time and peace of mind” and “relieve some stress if possible.”
At Palisades Charter High, Principal Pam Magee said in an email to The Times that leaders were scrambling to get updates on the campus, which was in Tuesday’s evacuation zone and viral social media videos showed in flames.
“We know there is damage at the rear of the campus, stadium, and other areas. We do not know how extensive this damage is at this time,” Magee said. “The Palisades community is remarkably resilient and will rally to support Pali High and all of the schools in the area. We join our families, friends, and neighbors as we work to assure everyone is safe and to develop a path forward.”
Juan Cotom-Lopez, a senior at Palisades, said in an email that he was worried about his school’s recovery, “including alternative forms of learning, prom, and graduation.”
“Many students and families are anxious about the school’s programming and decision-making during this challenging time,” Cotom-Lopez said.
Several colleges also announced closures Wednesday, including Santa Monica College, which said its Malibu campus was closed, and CalTech in Pasadena. Pepperdine University, which survived damage from the Franklin fire in December, shuttered its Malibu and Calabasas campuses Wednesday.
Even though fierce winds continued to whip the region and air quality fluctuated, most of the 1,000 schools in Los Angeles Unified remained open, prompting complaints from several workers and teachers.
“LAUSD should be closed,” said Lisa Gadood, a teacher at George K. Porter Middle School in Grenada Hills. “There are not enough staff members to cover teachers who could not come in, and kids have had to wait outside or go in to an adjacent classroom.”
Jennifer Ventress, a teacher at Pacoima Middle School who lives in Santa Clarita — near the Hurst first in Sylmar — said she stayed home Wednesday despite the school being open.
“I was up until 2 a.m. on an evacuation watch,” Ventress said. “We fortunately are safe, but my worry about my home, family and pets was overwhelming. To then worry about school and whether I need to be at school felt almost violating. I chose my home and family today and I miss my students, but having to send lesson plans just was an added stress.”
The Los Angeles district posted a list of LAUSD closures online, and the L.A. County Office of Education posted information on closures across the county.
