Students from Palisades High start new school at Santa Monica Sears building

CBS News

2 days ago

After the Palisades Fire tore through their school campus, students from Palisades Charter High School will be starting a new school year at the Santa Monica Sears building.
The January wildfire severely damaged parts of the school, leaving students to attend classes online for several weeks before relocating to the vacant Sears building on Colorado Avenue in April.
The department store was outfitted with classrooms and learning spaces to allow students to finish the rest of their school year. The school received donations from the community, which included furniture, carpet, paint, air conditioning and internet service.
Now, on the first day of school, students will be more familiar with their surroundings at the Sears building as they seek a sense of normalcy in the fallout of the devastating fire. As many as 500 students and 11 staff members lost their homes to the Palisades Fire, according to Principal Dr. Pamela Magee.
"All of this is so important as we bring everybody back together and try to get back that stability and normalcy that we all need," she told CBS News Los Angeles.
The project to relocate an entire high school should've taken years, Magee said. She said she hopes that the school will be able to relocate to its main campus by January.
In June, Pali High students celebrated their graduation at the Hollywood Bowl. Students were able to celebrate their big accomplishment and cross the stage after enduring an unimaginable year.
All three schools in the Palisades community were burned during the Jan. 7 wildfire. The Los Angeles Unified School District budgeted $600 million-plus towards the rebuilding of the three schools.