Pasadena Unified School District late Thursday night, Jan. 16, released a detailed time table for its phased reopening plan, with the first group of students set to return to classrooms next Thursday, Jan. 23.
Schools that are not directly affected by the Eaton fire have been categorized into three tiers based on their proximity to the fire and the level of damage from debris and smoke.
Tier 1 schools, the least impacted, will reopen on Jan. 23, with parents receiving notifications by Jan. 21, district officials said during a special Board of Education meeting Thursday night.
“We are expecting approximately 3,400 students to be able to return, that includes (transitional kindergarten) through Rose City High School,” Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD)’s Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said during the board meeting. “That’s not counting our charter school students or our Twilight Adult School.”
The Tier 1 schools include Hamilton Elementary School, Willard Elementary School, Willard Children’s Center, Blair Middle School, Blair High School, San Rafael Elementary School, McKinley Middle School, Rose City High School, the Center for Independent Study, Pals and Twilight Adult School. In addition, Aveson will be able to open their sports program, Blanco said.
Tier 2 and Tier 3 schools — the schools that sustained moderate to significant fire damage — have more fluid reopening timelines, according to Blanco.
“We are hesitant to announce the next two boxes because it’s a fluid process,” Blanco said. “We meant to change that to phases, and it’s based upon the cleaning.”
As an example of the fluid situation, Blanco noted that she had received word Thursday that one of the charter schools was being cleaned even though that school wasn’t on the district’s initial cleaning list because the district hadn’t expected to gain access.
All school sites must pass critical environmental safety tests by the California Office of Emergency Services before reopening, district officials said. These tests require a 24 hour turnaround time.
“And as soon as we get the results of the test, we’re committed to telling you that you can return the next day, hopefully between 12 and 2 the day before,” Blanco said. “There is less time in between the releases because the cleaning will be picking up.”
For now, Tier 2 schools are scheduled to reopen on Jan. 27, with parents notified on Jan. 26. These schools include Field, Washington, Madison, Norma Coombs, and Roosevelt elementary schools; Jefferson Children’s Center; Hodges; Octavia E. Butler Middle School; Burbank; Pasadena High School; Linda Vista and La Casita.
Approximately 5,400 students attend Tier 2 schools.
Tier 3 schools, the most impacted, are expected to reopen on Jan. 30, with notifications sent on Jan. 29. These include Altadena, Don Benito, Sierra Madre Elementary, Sierra Madre Middle, Jackson, Webster, Longfellow Elementary, Audubon (Odyssey), Cleveland (Alma Fuerte), Muir High, Marshall High and the District Service Center.
Tier 3 schools serve about 5,000 students.
“We are hopeful that a lot of the schools that are in Tier 3 or Phase 3 might move over to 2. It just depends on how quickly we can get them cleaned, and how quickly we can get the test results back,” Blanco said. “So as I mentioned earlier a couple of times, our goal is to have every child — regardless if they were attending one of our Pasadena Unified public schools or a public charter school — in a seat ready to learn in-person by Jan. 30.”