PARADISE — Nearly five years after the Camp Fire, which flattened and blackened most of the town of Paradise and areas nearby, the landscape is starting to recover.
Sure, there are still large swaths of treeless ground that shows the effects of the 2018 conflagration. Downtown still has many foundations without buildings on them. Recovery is visible, but slow, for sure.
On the other hand, recovery and progress at the Paradise Unified School District is really beginning to increase its speed. The district has modernized some of its campuses, rebuilt parts of others from scratch and has generally made its facilities better, in anticipation of continued enrollment growth.
Meanwhile, the guy who sits at the steering wheel is thrilled to talk about the progress and what’s ahead.
Tom Taylor, superintendent of the PUSD, led off his discussion of the district’s progress with the most obvious and visible topic — construction.
For starters: “We have modernized about 70% of Paradise Junior High School,” Taylor said, “and we’re expecting to wrap up the current projects by the begin of school year. That includes the installation of pickleball courts, modernizing the classrooms, installing new play fields, and an update of gym flooring and the bleachers.”
Paradise Junior High School was known as Paradise Intermediate School for many years, but changed its name following the fire after a shuffle of students who were enrolled at other district facilities that sustained damage.
In Magalia, at Pine Ridge Elementary School, Taylor said there’s a modernization project which got going during the 2022-23 school year. He said district officials expect it to wrap up this year. Pine Ridge students – ranging from transitional kindergarten through sixth grade — will enjoy modernization of all the school’s permanent structures, including the classrooms, library, gymnasium, cafeteria and administration building.
“It’s the entire campus,” Taylor said. “We’ve put in new play fields and a new kindergarten playground.”
The big project has been Paradise High School’s main building. Gone is the 1957 structure which had served students almost since the school’s establishment. In its place is a shiny, fresh 31,000-square-foot building with 19 classrooms, and facilities for student services, counselors and administration.
The district hopes members of the community will come to the school’s Aug. 9 open house, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., to see the facility. There will be a ribbon cutting at 6 p.m., followed by tours of the structure.
This building is in addition to the new gym, new softball field and new tennis courts the school inaugurated in the past two years.
Taylor said the main building is two stories — “not common in Paradise,” he said — and features an elevator for accessibility.
“We’ve also modernized our library and science rooms — four science classrooms and a tech room,” he added.
Cedarwood Elementary School in Magalia — which Taylor described as “really a bunch of portables” — is shuttered while crews construct a permanent building for the cafeteria and library, and a foundation for a building which will host the classrooms.
All 238 students from Cedarwood are “living” at Pine Ridge in portable classrooms, Taylor said, and will return to their campus in August 2024 if construction stays on schedule. Weather could play a part, with heavy snows halting construction earlier this year.
Finally, the district’s continuation high school, Ridgeview, is in a brand-new building. Paradise Ridge Elementary School, on Pentz Road below Wagstaff Road, was modernized two years ago.
It’s a lot of activity for the district, which had about 3,400 students before the fire but plunged to 1,400 afterward. Taylor said his office expects 1,579 to show up for the first day of school Aug. 16 — about 100 more than originally projected.
“The growth rate has been higher than we’ve anticipated, which is good news,” Taylor said.
Regarding personnel, he said: “We’ve been able to maintain a lot of our teachers after the fire. We had reduced class sizes during COVID times. We’ve hired a couple of teachers, but have had the staff to handle the increase in enrollment.”
The personnel angle led neatly into Taylor’s next subject: teacher training. Taylor wants to continue to momentum the district is experiencing by boosting professional standards.
“Most exciting for us is the instruction happening in classrooms,” he said. “We’re refocusing on learning within our district,” creating what he called “professional learning communities” thanks to consultation with Creative Leadership Solutions, a Doug Reeves-led organization. Reeves is an nationally recognized expert in improving professional leadership.
In addition, 21 high school teachers are attending a conference in Seattle, discussing professional learning communities.
That means teachers consider, “What do we want our students to know? Want them to get through (state and federal) standards, but what do we want students to know at each grade level? We identify a map or a guide for the year for each grade level.
“It’s a teacher-driven process. They then develop a map. It’s not every single thing, but what are the priorities? What must every student know at this grade level? Teachers establish timelines, and they identify assessments. How do we know these students learned it? If they’ve learned it, great — but if not, what do we do then?”
Regarding mental health issues: “We’ve gone through a lot like everyone else. COVID had an impact on social and emotional wellness,” Taylor said. “We’re turning a corner to put a focus back on schools.
“It’s not just for us. It’s an educational statement. It doesn’t mean we don’t provide counseling, but one of the things we know as educators is if we can help students be successful in the classroom, that will help them be successful later.”
Taylor summarized the district’s rebound, which he said mirrors that of the greater community.
“There were 14,000 structures lost in the fire; we’ve gained about 2,000 back,” he said. “People are starting to understand the town is rebuilding. The town council, police department, the community — people are really dedicated to the process.”