Parents and community members welcome students back to Palisades Charter High School.
Credit: Mallika Seshadri
A cacophony of community members cheering, cars honking, drums beating, and dogs barking, with Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration” playing in the background, welcomed Palisades Charter High School students back to their home campus Tuesday morning.
The students’ return comes just over a year after the Palisades fire damaged or destroyed roughly 30% of the historic campus, which has been featured in films like “Carrie” and “Freaky Friday.”
“They’re so resilient; they’re so strong,” said Malou Garcia, whose son, an 11th grader, longed to be back in the campus theater as a student in the school’s performing arts program. “I’m just so proud of them that they were able to endure what they endured.”
Among those cheering the returning students were dozens of parents and community members — many wearing Pali sweatshirts, shaking pompoms and holding homemade signs with messages like “Welcome back Dolphins!” and “Resilience looks good on you.”
In April, the students were relocated to an overhauled Sears building in Santa Monica, nearly 6 miles away.
For freshmen, who began the school year in Santa Monica, Tuesday marked the first day at their school. Ninth grader Noah Beroukhim said he and the other students toured the campus on Monday.
“I forgot how it feels to be at a real campus. And when I was touring the school yesterday, I realized just how beautiful and welcoming the Pali campus and community is,” Beroukhim said. “I’m super pumped to get back into the groove of things.”
With a tennis racket poking out of his backpack, Beroukhim said he’s also looking forward to athletics and being able to practice closer to home — instead of having to carpool and commute.
In the year since the fire, the school’s enrollment has dropped from roughly 2,900 to 2,500. It has cost roughly $30 million to get the partially burnt campus where it is now. Its rebuild is slated for completion in 2029.
The new campus sits atop the school’s old baseball field and is home to 30 portable classrooms, as well as bathrooms and administrative spaces.
Despite the progress, some parents and students expressed concern about the potential environmental hazards and air contaminants.
“They looked at this data through a singular lens: If it were us, and our children went to Palisades Charter High School, or our family members worked there, would we feel okay sending them back? The answer was yes,” Principal Pam Magee wrote to the school community on Saturday following the release of an independent review of the most recent environmental testing, which found the site was safe enough for students to come back.
While Tuesday marked the formal return to campus, sophomore Zoe Friedman said she and her peers in the Associated Student Body had already been on the campus, decorating it with welcoming posters.
“Obviously, nothing will ever be the same as it was before Jan. 7 [2025],” Friedman said. “But, I just know that we’re working so hard to get close to that, and it makes me so happy.”
The school’s Associated Student Body is also preparing for homecoming, which the school postponed from the fall to celebrate together at their home campus this weekend.
“We were really excited for that,” Friedman said. “And, it’s really a true homecoming.”