Palisades Charter School Campuses Cleared Following Fire

LAUSD Officials Provided Interim, Permanent Rebuilding Updates at PPCC Meeting

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have cleared the campuses of Palisades Charter Elementary, Marquez Charter Elementary and Palisades Charter High schools, officials confirmed on Friday, April 4.

The three campuses were the charter schools that were partially destroyed in the Palisades fire, which began on January 7. Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho were joined by USACE Colonel Brian Sawser, LAUSD Board Member Nick Melvoin and a parent of a Pali Elementary student to make the announcement on April 4.

“The debris removal at our Palisades school campuses is a big step forward,” Councilmember Traci Park said in a statement. “These schools are anchors in our community, and clearing them brings us closer to rebuilding and reopening for our students and families. I’m grateful to the Army Corps for their swift work.”

LAUSD representatives Dr. Debra Bryant (executive director, Division of School Operations), Issam Dahdul (director of Facilities Planning and Development) and Carlos Torres (director, Office of Environmental Health & Safety) spoke during the most recent Pacific Palisades Community Council board meeting on Thursday, March 27, to provide updates regarding interim and permanent rebuilding efforts at the three schools.

With the removal of fire debris now complete, facility assessments are now underway, with a preliminary timeline of being complete by summer 2025, according to Dahdul. This includes “environmental assessments and remediation,” “infrastructure assessments” (including electrical, water, waste and more), and “building and building systems (including HVAC) assessments.”

When it comes to building and infrastructure replacement and repairs, Dahdul said an anticipated timeline—pending assessments—could be available in May.

“Once we identify what needs to be done to those existing buildings, then we will have a better idea of how long it will take to do the work in those buildings,” Dahdul explained. “Hopefully by May, all of that assessment is complete, and we’ll be able to understand better what the next work is going to be, and how long that might take to get those buildings back up and running.”

Where applicable, interim classrooms were anticipated to be placed on campuses in 2025 with admin and support spaces, while completion of permanent facilities is underway, which Dahdul described as “a multi-year process.”

Dahdul explained the fire damage at each campus, beginning with Marquez, which, when it comes to campus facilities, “all” were “deemed total loss,” including 37 classrooms, primarily in portable buildings, food service and outdoor lunch area, administration, auditorium, playground, and staff parking area.

At Pali Elementary, the fire damage inventory included 17 classrooms (about 70% of total), administrative support spaces, multipurpose room, storage facilities, play equipment and shade structures, and landscaped area and trees. The main administration building and cafeteria were not destroyed in the fire, Dahdul added.

The fire damage inventory at Pali High included 21 classrooms, which is about 30% of the total, administrative support space, synthetic track and field, storage facilities, and landscaped area and trees.

LAUSD confirmed it would be seeking community feedback through a series of town halls, which began Wednesday, April 9, before moving forward with its interim campus proposals and permanent rebuilding plans, including whether or not to provide temporary portable classrooms on site at Marquez and Pali Elementary.

“I do want to emphasize, we have been out in the community and will continue to go out in the community to gather inputs on the rebuilding plan, both temporarily and permanent reconstruction,” Dahdul said. “We’ve had multiple meetings a couple weeks ago, and we continue to host meetings as we go forward.”

Following the fire, Pali Elementary has been at Brentwood Elementary School, while Marquez has been convening at Nora Sterry Elementary School.

Pali High shifted to a virtual setting since its campus closed, but will be resuming in-person learning at a temporary campus being constructed at the former Sears building in Santa Monica, which is slated to open to students on April 22. Plans are in the works for students to return to the Pali High campus in portable classrooms as early as fall 2025.

Later in the meeting, Dahdul confirmed the district planned to use “bond funds,” as well as FEMA and insurance money to complete construction projects.

“The money part of it … we have it figured out, in terms of how to proceed and move forward,” Dahdul said. “In terms of the timing to go faster, I can promise you, we’re looking at every way possible to try to speed up getting the permanent buildings back up under construction as quickly as possible.”

Torres presented an environmental safety update, including LAUSD’s “efforts to safeguard schools” across the district after the fires, which included inspecting all campuses for ash and soot, “enhanced cleaning” at schools closest to the Palisades fire, and “focus on HVAC” and provided air purifiers.

Ongoing recovery efforts, Torres explained, include agency cleanup activities at the three charter school campuses. This includes the Department of Toxic Substances Control (which was tasked with “environmental cleanup of hazardous materials, such as lithium batteries, paint and other chemicals”) and USACE (which removed all fire-related debris within the footprint of the burn area, as well as the top six inches of soil “within the footprint of destroyed buildings”).

“We’re concerned not only with our campus and what we’re going to do to clean our campus to make sure that they are ready for when students and staff return, but we also have to have in mind what’s going on around our campuses,” Torres explained. “And so we’ve asked the United States Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize the cleanup of the surrounding properties around our schools, so that by the time our schools return, there won’t be a lot of work needed.”

The district’s plan for the remaining impacted buildings at the charter schools includes evaluating and conducting abatement of asbestos and lead-based paints, removing ash and debris in the buildings, cleaning building surfaces, and conducting environmental sampling, Torres said.

Steps for “new interim buildings” include to “oversee contractors to ensure that soil handling and disposal requirements are being conducted according to federal, state and local regulations and guidelines,” as well as conducting air monitoring during construction.

Safety measures that will be in place when students return to campuses include to continue environmental monitoring through the LAUSD “Know Your Air Network” (which includes monitoring for air quality (PM2.5) in real time with public access and enhancing by adding sensors for measurement of PM10 and met data).

“It’s important for us to be able to look at our sensor network and look at it from different types of aspects, from the smaller stuff or the bigger stuff,” Torres described.

LAUSD also plans to “create [a] program to monitor air quality during community recovery efforts” to help “get some hyper-local information.”

The officials took questions from board and audience members during the remaining portion of their time during the PPCC meeting.

A link to the LAUSD presentation from March 27 is available on the PPCC website.