Standing with Communities in Southern California: Resources for education leaders on the frontlines
The images and stories from the fires burning throughout Los Angeles are terrifying and overwhelming to contemplate. Among the many impacts, 8 schools have burned down or been damaged and more than 700,000 children across 17+ school districts had their schools closed on Thursday and Friday. The fires, evacuations, and closures represent disruption, trauma, and millions of lost instructional hours for impacted students. These figures only begin to dimensionalize the mental, social, and emotional toll of these events on children and their communities.
As families and communities navigate this unprecedented moment, so too do school and district leaders. We’ve curated resources for school leaders across Southern California making decisions about closures, communications, air quality, and activities. Please share them widely with school leaders in your network:
San Mateo County Office of Education created and organized excellent guidance and tools for planning and communicating about emergencies, including wildfires. Embedded within this site you can find:
Hazard Response Guidance: Fire Off-Site (pg 6-7); Fire On-Site (pgs 8-9); Poor Air Quality (pg 14)
Student Release Guidance for Schools following an evacuation or emergency incident on campus
CDE released new School Air Quality Guidance in October 2024. The Association of California School Administrators has these guidelines for schools to get smart about wildfire smoke.
The EPA has resources for school building owners and managers, school facility managers, public health officials, and emergency managers to reduce smoke concentrations in buildings during wildfires.
From Climate Central, California wildfires worsened by climate change-driven heat.
You can find these resources and more in our Climate Resilience and Adaptation Toolkit, developed in partnership with the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence and Ten Strands.
We are grateful to the thousands of first responders and public servants working around the clock to protect lives and infrastructure. We grieve with our friends, family, colleagues, and communities impacted by this sobering disaster. And we are determined to continue raising awareness, lifting up solutions, and driving action.
If you’re looking for somewhere to donate, the California Department of Education is partnering with SupplyBank.org to provide crucial supplies, support, and resources to schools and communities in need. Make a donation here.
