L.A. Unified schools sites burned in Palisades fire hit milestone in $600 million rebuild

The $600-million effort to rebuild the three L.A. Unified schools burned in the Palisades fire has hit an important milestone ahead of schedule — all debris has been cleared from the properties, Supt. Alberto Carvalho said Friday.

Calling the debris removal a “pivotal moment for all of us,” he detailed rebuilding plans that aim to get students back to campuses quickly.

“Today we recognize that people of goodwill can carve out common ground to achieve great things together in unity,” Carvalho said alongside Mayor Karen Bass at Palisades Charter Elementary School, one of the campuses that burned.

About 70% of the school was destroyed by the fire that began Jan. 7. Now, nearly three months later, tidy expanses of soil are all that is left in spaces where structures once stood.

Bass touted the speed of debris removal across the area scorched by the Palisades fire, which destroyed nearly 7,000 structures and burned more than 23,000 acres, saying, “We are absolutely committed to making sure that Palisades is rebuilt as fast as possible.”

Marquez Charter Elementary was also destroyed, and Palisades Charter High School was closed because of major damage. Students at the two elementary campuses have been relocated to nearby public schools.

The next steps in the rebuilding effort include contracting architects and engineers, Carvalho said. He added that there will be ongoing environmental testing of the soil and remaining structures at the three sites. Officials are also taking steps to put portable classrooms on one of the sites. It’s part of a plan that aims to get students back to their campuses “as soon as possible” — but “no sooner than the community wishes for it to happen,” he said.

It will cost about $150 million to rebuild each elementary school, Carvalho said, and about $300 million to rebuild a significant portion of Palisades High.

The school’s 2,445 students, who have been online for classes since the fire, will soon relocate to the former Sears building in downtown Santa Monica. Only about 30% of Palisades High’s campus was damaged or destroyed — including some classroom buildings and athletics facilities — but it is a much larger site than the two elementary schools, Carvalho said.

Carvalho said the district would tap the $9 billion construction bond that voters approved in November to launch the construction. It “could not have come at a better time,” he said. The district will also use about $50 million from its insurance policies. Then, it will turn to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“We’re going to front load the financial liability with our own dollars approved by the people of the good city of Los Angeles, and then seek a reimbursement from the federal government,” he said.

But Carvalho also addressed questions about the federal government’s support of projects such as LAUSD’s rebuilding effort. In recent months, the Trump administration has cut billions of dollars in funding across many areas, including public health and education.

“I think it would be the understatement of the decade if we said that we have concerns about the expediency of federal support, not only here in California, but across the country,” Carvalho said. “We hope that the issue of rebuilding the Palisades, or any part of our country impacted by fires, natural disaster, storms, hurricanes or the like … will not [be] politicized. We certainly hope that there is no weaponization of disasters for political benefit. Shame, shame on anyone who would do so.”

Clothing left at Palisades Charter Elementary School after the school was damaged in the Palisades fire.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

A representative of FEMA told The Times that L.A. Unified’s request for assistance has been approved, and the “exact amount of funding and reimbursement will depend on the eligibility of the facilities, work performed, and associated costs as assessed through the [agency’s Public Assistance funding] process.”

“Specific dollar amounts have not yet been determined, as LAUSD is still in the process of submitting its damage impact lists and project details,” said FEMA spokesperson Brandi Richard Thompson.

At least four private schools burned in the Palisades, including St. Matthew’s Parish School and the Village School, both of which have relocated to office buildings in Santa Monica. And several public and private schools were destroyed by the Eaton fire, including Pasadena Waldorf School and Eliot Arts Magnet Academy.

Carvalho said that the speed of the cleanup at his district’s properties in the Palisades could bode well for other campuses aiming to reopen quickly.

“The process that we’re currently utilizing for debris removal, soil testing, environmental mitigation, as well as the reconstruction process — we are literally reducing the timeline of rebuilding by as much as 50%,” he said. “That bodes well for the entire community, if not the entire state, in terms of embracing better, faster processes to rebuild better, faster, stronger than ever before.”

Also on Friday, Bass announced that a Palisades playground damaged in the fire would be restored thanks to a nearly $1 million donation from benefit concert initiative FireAid, and contributions from others. In all, support topped $1.3 million, Bass’ office said in a statement. The private funding will allow the playground to open earlier than expected. Once it is remodeled, it will include a play fire truck that will stand in tribute to first-responders who fought the blaze.