Nearly seven years after the Camp Fire devastated Paradise, California, the town shows signs of physical recovery. Pine trees once again fill the air with their scent, new homes have been built on former burn sites, and businesses like an ice cream shop have opened near the rebuilt high school. However, recovery in local schools has lagged behind other aspects of the community’s revival.
“We’ll get there, but we have not yet recovered,” said Superintendent Tom Taylor before his retirement in May. “We’re not yet where we want to be.”
The 2018 Camp Fire was one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history and is part of a trend where natural disasters disrupt student learning across the country. Damaged schools, lost homes, and ongoing trauma have affected thousands of children—a situation that experts expect to become more common as climate change increases both the frequency and intensity of such events.
A collaboration between The Associated Press and several news organizations is examining how school communities recover from these disruptions.
Paradise’s experience underscores how long it can take for students to regain academic footing after disaster strikes. It also highlights the challenge of balancing mental health support with maintaining educational standards. In Paradise schools, administrators initially put academics aside to focus on mental health needs.
“People think, natural disaster — mental health. They don’t think about the academic component to it,” said Carrie Dawes, health and wellness coordinator for Paradise Unified. “You put that aside when you have a little kiddo crying because they don’t have a house to live in. You’re not going to say, ‘OK, snap out of it. We’ve got math to do.’”
In the aftermath of the fire, students were displaced—often moving between temporary classrooms set up in hardware stores or churches—and many struggled with anxiety and grief that pushed academics into the background.
Kenny Michael was in fifth grade when her family survived the fire but lost neighbors and pets. She failed fifth grade due to difficulty concentrating and now attends an online school while living with her grandmother in Magalia. She does not plan on attending college immediately after graduation.
Academic performance data reflect these struggles: last year only 13% of graduating seniors from Paradise Unified met entrance requirements for California public universities or completed career training programs; statewide that figure is 45%. No student from Paradise Unified enrolled as a freshman at a University of California campus last year. Test scores are low: just 11% of eighth graders met state math standards; only 18% of sixth graders read at grade level—with even lower rates among low-income students.
The effects are not limited to Paradise alone; nearly one million students across California were affected by closures during the Camp Fire due to drifting smoke leading over 1,600 schools statewide to close temporarily. Since 2022-23 alone, more than 3.5 million days of instruction have been lost in California because of disasters (https://undauntedk12.org/research/disaster-days), compounding learning loss through both missed time and heightened stress levels.
Research from NWEA indicates that middle schoolers who miss a week due to extreme weather can fall three weeks behind in reading progress and four weeks behind in math (https://www.nwea.org/resource-center/research/impacts-of-weather-related-school-closures-on-student-achievement/). Similar setbacks have occurred elsewhere: following Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and wildfires in Hawaii—including Lahaina’s August 2023 fires—students lost weeks or months of instruction time (https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/03/how-lahaina-schools-and-families-are-coping-with-the-loss-of-learning-after-the-fires/).
Even as facilities are rebuilt or reopened—such as King Kamehameha III Elementary School in Maui—students’ test scores remain below pre-disaster levels.
In addition to academic challenges, rebuilding community identity has proven difficult for Paradise residents who continue coping with displacement and changes within their neighborhoods.
Casey Taylor, superintendent at Achieve Charter School whose own home was destroyed by fire, described initial optimism giving way to disillusionment as families grew weary during reconstruction efforts: “It hurts…Your community just starts spiraling.”
Enrollment at Paradise Unified remains less than half its pre-fire numbers; last year there were 1,657 students compared with 3,441 before November 2018. The current student body includes more low-income families and greater diversity; about one quarter did not experience the fire firsthand.
Teachers also faced hardship—many lost homes themselves while continuing their work supporting traumatized students amid personal upheaval.
“We found that initially, the adults needed attention the most. You think it’s going to be the kids, but they’re so much more resilient in the moment,” said Michelle Zevely from Butte County Office of Education.
Former teacher Tamara Conry noted teachers often suppressed their own distress while prioritizing students’ needs: “Teachers just needed to talk or cry…but they couldn’t because they’re in classroom.”
Early post-fire school days focused on social-emotional activities rather than academics—a necessary step according to Taylor—but she now believes stronger emphasis on academics must follow once immediate emotional needs are addressed:
“In beginning we did lot art singing…We spent lot time talking about emotions…that’s what we needed.” Still she added this should not come at expense algebra reading or other core subjects long-term.
Some former students credit teachers’ support for helping them eventually return focus toward education despite delays; Aryah Berkowitz plans join Army after graduation thanks partly supportive staff during difficult years post-fire.
Other disaster-hit districts nationwide are applying similar lessons by reintroducing academic rigor alongside continued mental health supports—for example Lahainaluna High School added Advanced Placement classes two years after Maui fires along with stricter attendance policies aimed at boosting achievement despite lingering adversity (https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/03/how-lahaina-schools-and-families-are-coping-with-the-loss-of-learning-after-the-fires/).
Paradise Unified recently began construction on its main elementary school campus which will feature modern facilities including STEM lab soccer field outdoor stage as part ongoing efforts restore full educational opportunities for local children.
