Dive Brief:
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Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in California history, left Paradise Unified School District with eight schools damaged or destroyed, and at least 3,800 or its more than 4,200 students without homes, closing the district until Dec. 3, EdSource reports.
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Other districts have rebuilt after similar disasters — and the article notes a "herculean effort" to find new schools for Santa Rosa students following last year’s Tubbs Fire — but the magnitude of the destruction in Butte County (where Paradise Unified School District is located), coupled with the region’s isolation and lack of resources, has raised some concerns about the rebuilding process.
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California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has pledged state support for Paradise USD, and his office is already applying for a federal grant that, following the 2017 Tubbs Fire, levied $14 million for state and local agencies.
Dive Insight:
The Camp Fire is one of several that has impacted school life across California this month, as EdSource notes. A private Jewish school in Agoura Hills (Ilan Ramon Day School), for example, was destroyed by the Woosley Fire, and three districts in the area — Conejo Valley Unified, Las Virgenes Unified and Oak Park Unified — will be closed until after Thanksgiving.
The current spate of fires and the unpredictable destruction they leave in their wake highlights the need for districts to plan ahead with disaster preparation and response strategies, especially if they're located in an area where a natural disaster is likely to occur.
Though it may be a bit dated, in 2007, the U.S. Department of Education released a guide for practical crisis planning, dividing the process into four categories:
- Mitigation/Prevention (having drills, and giving out IDs to all students and faculty so as to stop an intruder from getting onto campus)
- Preparedness (defining roles and responsibilities of who will be student caregivers, the liaison to emergency responders, etc.; getting necessary equipment and supplies; and developing communication methods)
- Response (communicating accurate and appropriate information, and documenting everything that occurred)
- Recovery ("returning to the 'business of learning' as quickly as possible," making sure to have safety audits of the buildings, and having stress management during class time).
According to the Brookings Institute, research shows that children who have undergone “climate shocks” experience lower levels of educational attainment and academic performance and higher levels of absenteeism. This latter issue is something that was addressed by NPR in a 2017 article that detailed how some districts found creative ways to make up lost school days post-disaster.
“The Manatee County schools in Florida, with almost 49,000 students, added 10 minutes to every school day from Oct. 2 to Dec. 20, along with a shortened Thanksgiving break,” the article stated. It also noted that, following Hurricane Harvey and Irma, state education commissioners waived several required school days as the extreme nature of the hurricanes made it almost impossible for schools within the states to meet the standards.
In 2010, the National Commission on Children and Disasters offered 81 recommendations for communities dealing with disasters after finding that state and local governments needed to do a better job pre-disaster of thinking about the housing, education, health and mental health needs of children. A follow-up report by Save the Children in 2015, however, found that only 17 of the recommendations had been “fully met.”
In addition to the physical plans school districts must think about pre-disaster, like making sure data is stored in cloud so it won’t be lost, districts must also think about the psychological impact of disasters.
In 2016, the Center on Conflict and Development at Texas A&M University published a paper titled “The Impact of Natural Disaster on Childhood Education,” which discussed how natural disasters can trigger symptoms similar to PTSD.
“The psychological impact of natural disasters can hinder a student’s ability to perform well in school,” the paper states. “After a natural disaster, survivors have shown symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can last up to five years following the disaster and decrease academic performance.”
There is also the issue of poverty and unstable circumstances post-disaster. According to the Strategic Data Project (SDP) at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, before Hurricane Katrina, 49% of students in New Orleans were eligible for free and reduced lunch. The year after the storm, the number jumped to 79%.
In Houston, following Harvey, it was announced that all students would receive three free meals a day for the entirety of the school year.
According to a study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this summer, smaller rural districts were also less likely to fund emergency preparedness training than their larger counterparts.
The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities published a guide in 2008 with tips for districts to think about with buildings as it pertains to wildfires. It can be viewed here.