Palisades Charter High School is entering a critical final stretch, with just 72 hours to prepare its campus before students return Tuesday this marks a major milestone in recovery after last year’s Palisades fire.
Walking the campus this week, parent Scott Davis pointed out where entire sections of the school were lost.
“Depending on how you look at it, about 30 to 40 percent of the campus was destroyed by the fire,” Davis said.
While some buildings survived, the entire campus had to be stripped, remediated, and tested before anyone could return.
“Every single room, every single space was individually remediated,” Davis explained.
Originally, the school expected to have weeks to move back in. Delays shortened that timeline dramatically.
“We’ve gone from three weeks to three days,” Davis said, describing what he called a “mad scramble” to bring furniture, computers, and classroom supplies back from the temporary Santa Monica campus known as “Pali South.”
For students, the return comes after a year of upheaval. Junior Anna said the experience felt familiar, in the worst way.
“After the fires, we were on Zoom… reminiscent of the COVID days,” she told KNX reporter Nataly Tavidian, adding that sports, exams, and daily routines were scattered across Los Angeles.
Teachers were displaced as well. Science teacher Steve Engleman said his classroom of more than 25 years didn’t survive the fire.
“My classroom here didn’t,” Engleman said. “I had a lot of personal stuff inside there.”
Despite the losses, school leaders say the focus now is helping students and staff feel comfortable in a changed but familiar place.
Executive Director and Principal Dr. Pam McGee said the priority is easing yet another transition for a community that has already endured so much.
“Our students have had to be very resilient,” McGee said. “The most important point for all of us was to be together.”
Classes resume Tuesday morning, as Palisades Charter High begins its next chapter, back home, even if the campus looks different than before.