Another Victim of the California Wildfires: Education

K-12 Education,Education,Wildfires,Natural Disasters,California,Elementary School,Middle School,High SchoolTHOUSANDS OF Californians are being forced from their homes and hundreds of thousands more are without power as wildfires spread rapidly across the state, fueled by dry, windy conditions. Overshadowed by the threats to lives and landmarks and property, the fires are also disrupting things like local economies, the delivery of social services and education, with students increasingly missing more class time as a result.

Since the 2002-2003 school year - the earliest for which the state has retained records - nearly two-thirds of emergency school closures in the state have come as a result of wildfires, the threat of wildfires or the fallout from wildfires. California public schools have reported 34,183 cumulative days missed across all public schools because of emergency closures, which include closures due to weather, natural disasters, student safety and infrastructure. Of those total closures, wildfires were responsible for 21,442 days at 6,542 schools, affecting more than 3 million students, according to data from Disaster Days, a report by the nonprofit news site CalMatters that tracks school closures in California. About half of those missed days occurred in just the last two school years.

And the problem is only expected to grow worse, as wildfire season begins later, stretches longer and becomes ever more destructive. Currently, 11 wildfires are burning in California, with the largest, the Kincade Fire, scorching nearly 76,900 acres. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for more than a dozen areas with even more voluntary evacuations in place. Entire school districts, as well as more than a dozen individual schools, have been closed this week because of the wildfires.

Wildfires can result in school closures when they pose a hazard to schools or surrounding areas and it isn't safe to travel, when the air quality is poor and it's recommended that people remain inside or when the fire has created physical barriers, such as damage to roads or educational facilities. Even the threat of wildfires was enough to impact schools this month when PG&E shut off power to try and prevent fires from sparking. Michelle John, the superintendent of Paradise Unified School District, said a lot of people stay home when PG&E shuts off power, and the outages cause schools to scramble to operate in the dark, making sure that things like food preparation can continue and plumbing will function. In just the last two years, 14 schools in California have seen major damage in wildfires, while 12 schools were completely destroyed, according to the state's Department of Education. Butte County, the site last year of the worst wildfire in California's history, sustained the most damage from wildfires, with eight schools damaged and six destroyed.

Wildfire in California's Sonoma County

A hillside smolders as firefighters light backfires to slow the spread of the Kincade Fire in unincorporated Sonoma County, California, near Geyservillle on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. About 90,000 residents were ordered to evacuate as extreme winds predicted for Sunday morning threaten to rapidly spread the blaze. The Camp Fire spread through Butte County last year, burning more than 153,000 acres and killing 85 people. Approximately 5,000 students and 540 teachers in the county lost their homes, and parts of the county were shut down for weeks at a time because of the toxic smoke in the air. Access to certain areas required a police escort.

Every school in the Paradise Unified School District in Butte County was closed because of the fire. The district experienced 154 closure days during the 2018-2019 school year, disrupting school for more than 4,150 students. Also in Butte County, the Chico Unified School District lost 284 days to the deadly fire, affecting more than 14,200 students at 29 schools. While a day or two of missed school isn't likely to have lasting effects, repeated absences can take their toll, Phyllis Jordan, editorial director of FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, said.

"Wildfires create barriers to getting to school," Jordan said. Whether those barriers are health related or because a student lost their home in a fire, when kids miss school for reasons beyond their control, they begin to feel disconnected.

Jordan advises schools to "identify what the problem is and then focus on fixing that," such as getting kids to school if the normal transportation system is unavailable. Calling on the community and organizations for help is key: "Schools alone can't fix all the problems the wildfires cause."

"It's hard in natural disasters to focus on school attendance, but it's important," Jordan added. "Kids are missing out and getting disconnected from their education."

When kids in kindergarten experience prolonged absences for any reason, they may not develop the appropriate social and emotional skills typical students their age gain. Additionally, repeated absences can lead to underdeveloped reading skills by third grade. But just as important as making sure students make it to class, focusing on teacher absences is also key during natural disasters, Raegen Miller, a research adviser at FutureEd, said.

"Their absences truly matter," Miller said. Teachers are important school-based resources for students, not only for education, but for mental and emotional support, as well.

Scott Roark, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, said that the state worked hard to mitigate these effects after the Camp Fire. The department coordinated mental health and trauma support for teachers, students, staff and community members and negotiated nearly $1 million in technology purchases for the Paradise Unified School District in efforts to rebuild schools following the fire.

Additionally, it helped coordinate moving students to portable classrooms, office buildings and to independent study on a temporary basis. The department also coordinated an executive order with then-California Gov. Jerry Brown to waive class size requirements, physical education and residency in an effort to get students back to school as soon as possible. John, the superintendent of Paradise schools, said elementary students in the district were relocated to an empty school in nearby Oroville and room was made in another school in Durham. Kids in grades seven through 12 were relocated to portable buildings in strip malls after the Camp Fire. Additional facilities were set up in an empty warehouse near an airport, which required permits and permission from the Federal Aviation Administration.

"Nothing was easy," John said.

The Paradise district lost five of its nine schools in the fire. While four have been repaired, one continues to be unusable. John, who has worked in the district for 16 years and been superintendent for three, called the devastating fire a "humbling experience."

"We've gone through things no district has endured," she said.

When schools were shut down, teachers met with students in a skating rink, a library and a pizza place to "love them and hug them." While kids are resilient, John said, the fire was traumatic for many who lost everything they had and were left with only "the clothes on their backs."

Extensive counseling was made available in the aftermath of the Camp Fire, with the Paradise school district doubling its number of counselors. Group counseling continues to be available, as well as yoga and art therapy. The district also continues to host resiliency speakers. Through grants, the district has gotten financial support, and Aaron Rodgers, quarterback of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and a Chico, California, native, donated hundreds of new football helmets to several schools in the county. California schools are still in the recovery process. Thousands of people still do not have homes to return to and have been forced to relocate because of lack of housing, leading to a dramatic drop in Butte County's population, signaling a grim future for schools.

"It's not a short-term solution," John said. "It's going to be a struggle to survive for many years to come, and this district may not survive past next year."