Takeaways from our collaboration on schools recovering from wildfires

PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — One of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, the Camp Fire in Paradise is among the many natural disasters that have upended American students’ learning over the past decade.

Damaged schools, lost homes and layers of trauma have left a mark on thousands of children — a scenario sure to continue as climate change makes these events more frequent and more intense.

The challenges that persist in Paradise nearly seven years later are a reminder of how long learning recovery can take, and a lesson on how schools can give traumatized kids a better chance of thriving long term.

The Associated Press is collaborating with CalMatters, Honolulu Civil Beat, Blue Ridge Public Radio and Centro de Periodismo Investigativo in Puerto Rico to examine how school communities are recovering from the disruption of natural disasters. Here are key takeaways.

Schools must balance mental health with academics

For most students, the Camp Fire and its aftermath made it almost impossible to focus on schoolwork. Schools pushed academics aside in favor of mental health, a move that most agreed was necessary but set students back months, if not years, academically.

“People think, natural disaster — mental health. They don’t think about the academic component to it,” said Carrie Dawes, health and wellness coordinator for Paradise Unified. “You put that aside when you have a little kiddo crying because they don’t have a house to live in. You’re not going to say, ‘OK, snap out of it. We’ve got math to do.’”

Last year, only 13% of graduating seniors in Paradise Unified met the entrance requirements for California’s public universities or completed a career training program, compared with 45% statewide. Not one student from Paradise Unified enrolled as a freshman at the University of California.

Test scores reflect the academic malaise. Among eighth graders, only 11% met the state’s standard for math. Just 18% of sixth graders were reading at grade level. The numbers were even worse for low-income students.

Officials who lived through the Camp Fire now say schools should prioritize academics somewhat, even when the impulse is to drop everything in favor of mental health. The first few years after the fire, school days were dedicated almost entirely to social-emotional activities as therapists and counselors were dispatched to campuses.

“In the beginning, we did a lot of art and singing. Taking daily walks. We had baby goats and therapy dogs,” said Casey Taylor, the superintendent of Achieve Charter School. “That’s what we needed.”

But those activities shouldn’t come at the expense of algebra and reading, Taylor said.

School closures contribute to academic decline, too

In the Camp Fire, the town of Paradise was almost entirely wiped out. Eighty-five people died, including some in their cars as they tried to escape. More than 18,000 buildings burned, including most of the town’s schools. At least 26,000 people were displaced.

Schools began the long process of recovery as the chaos began to settle: locating students, finding new facilities, assessing the damage and getting academics back on track after nearly a month of canceled classes.

During the 2018-19 school year, the Paradise Unified School District reported 154 closure days across its dozen schools as a result of the Camp Fire, impacting about 4,200 students, according to data analysis by CalMatters.

It’s not uncommon for students to miss school after a natural disaster, either because they’ve suddenly become homeless, struggle with mental health, or both. But disaster-related absenteeism can take an especially steep toll on students’ learning, according to research from the NWEA, a not-for-profit education research firm. Middle schoolers who lose a week of school due to extreme weather actually miss three weeks of progress in reading and almost four weeks in math, researchers found, most likely due to trouble concentrating.

Even when schools reopen, the community will never be the same

Taylor described the first few months after the fire as the “hero phase,” where the community pulled together and vowed to resurrect their town.

But then a more difficult period ensued, rife with disillusionment. Fire survivors got tired of living out of suitcases, and many were daunted by the hassle and expense of rebuilding. Old friends and neighbors started moving away, bringing further layers of loss, Taylor said.

Enrollment in Paradise Unified has been increasing but is still less than half what it was before the fire — 1,657 last year, compared with 3,441 in 2017. And the student body is a bit different from before the fire: lower-income, more diverse, more students with disabilities. At least a quarter of the students are new to Paradise and didn’t experience the fire.

Taylor and other Paradise school officials now advise other districts that have experienced a natural disaster, and their top suggestion is to make sure the adults are cared for, too.

In Paradise, the community relied on teachers to serve as a backbone amid the chaos. But many teachers also lost their homes, which meant they were haggling with insurance companies while finding new places to live and commuting long distances — in some cases, more than 100 miles — to be with their students.

For Taylor, the pivotal moment came when her school was able to move back to its original campus after operating out of a church in Chico for three years. Families sobbed when they saw the new playground and the freshly painted school buildings.

The next milestone must be academic, she and others said. Teachers need to set higher expectations, and schools need to provide tutoring and other support to help students catch up. Emotional wellness and academic rigor should not be mutually exclusive, Taylor said.

Paradise Unified broke ground in June on rebuilding its main elementary school. The 46,000-square-foot campus will include a STEM lab, soccer field and outdoor stage.

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