Paradise, California (AP). One of the deadly fires in US history, Camp Fire in Paradise, is one of many natural disasters that have raised American students in the last decade.
Damaged schools, lost houses and trauma layers have left a sign for thousands of children – the scenario will certainly continue as climate changes make these events more frequent and intense.
The challenges that remain in paradise almost seven years later are a reminder of how long a learning recovery can take, and a lesson on how schools can give traumatized children a better opportunity to thrive in the long term.
Associated Press collaborates with Calmatters, Honolulu Civil Civil Beat, Blue Ridge public radio and Centro de Peopmo studies in Puerto Rico to investigate how school communities recover from natural disasters. Here are the main tracks.
Schools have to balance mental health with academics
For many student camp, fire and its effects are almost impossible to focus on school work. The school rejected the academics in favor of mental health – the step that most agreed was necessary, but academically encouraged students, if not for a year.
“People think that natural disaster is mental health. They don’t think about academic component,” said Carrie Dawes, Paradise Unified Health and Health Coordinator. “You set aside when you have a little kid crying because they don’t have a home where you could live. You won’t say, ‘Okay, get out of it. We have math. “
Last year, only 13% of the seniors who graduated from Paradise Unified met the California state universities’ entrance requirements or completed their career training program compared to 45% on a national scale. Many students from Paradise Unified entered the freshman at the University of California.
Test scores reflect academic ailment. Among the eighth grade, only 11% met the state mathematics standard. Only 18% of sixth grade read at class level. The numbers were even worse for low -income students.
Officials who survived through the fire of the camp say that schools would have to give a little priority to academics, even when the impulse has to throw everything in favor of mental health. In the first few years after the day of the fire, the school was almost completely dedicated to social-emotional activities, as therapists and consultants were sent to camps.
“Initially we did a lot of art and singing. We took a walk every day. We had goat baby and therapy dogs,” said Casey Taylor, AuCation Charter School Superintendent. – We needed it.
But that activity should not take place at the expense of algebra and reading, Taylor said.
The closure of schools also contributes to the academic recession
In the fire of the camp, the city of Paradise was almost completely destroyed. Eighty -five people died, including some in their cars when they tried to escape. Burned more than 18,000 buildings, including most city schools. At least 26,000 people were transferred.
Schools began a long recovery process when chaos began to settle: setting up pupils, searching for new facilities, evaluation of damage and returning academics after almost a month’s canceled classes.
According to Calmatters, the Paradise Unified school district of the Paradise Unified School reported about 154 closing days during its dozens of schools due to a camp fire and affected about 4,200 pupils.
Often students spend school after natural disaster because they suddenly become homeless, fighting mental health or both. However, disasters associated with absenteeism can take on extremely large toll students, according to NWEA, non -profit educational research companies. Secondary students who lose school for a week for extreme weather actually spend three weeks reading progress and for almost four weeks in mathematics have been identified by researchers, probably due to difficulty focusing.
Even when the schools open again, the community will never be the same
Taylor described the first few months after the fire as the “phase of the hero” when the community came together and promised to raise his city.
But then there was a difficult period, a lot of frustration. People surviving fire were tired of living in suitcases, and many were intimidated by hassle and cost restoration. Taylor stated that old friends and neighbors began to move away and brought further layers of loss.
The accession to the Paradise Unified increased, but there are still less than half of what was before the fire-1 657 last year, compared to 3.441 in 2017, and the student organization is slightly different from the fire: lower income, diverse, more students with disabilities. At least a quarter of students are newcomers to Paradise and do not have a fire.
Taylor and other Paradise School officials now advise other areas who have experienced a natural disaster, and their most important proposal is to make sure that adults also care.
In paradise, the community relied on teachers to serve as a spine during chaos. However, many teachers also lost their homes, which meant they were in contact with insurance companies to find new places to live and drive long distances – in some cases more than 100 miles – to be with their students.
Taylor’s main moment came when her school could return to her original town after the Chico Church was operating for three years. Families sucking when they saw a new playground and freshly painted school buildings.
The next stage must be academic, she said others. Teachers have to set higher expectations and schools have to provide teaching and other support to help students catch up. Taylor said that the emotional well -being and academic rigor should not be denied by each other.
Paradise Unified June Restoring his elementary elementary school. The 46,000 square feet will feature Stem Lab, Soccer Field and an outdoor scene.
___
The Associated Press Education coverage receives financial support from several private funds. AP is fully responsible for all content. Find AP work with Philanthropies standards, a list of sponsors and funded coverage areas ap.org.