Most schools across Los Angeles County reopened Monday, welcoming back students for the first time since the area's devastating fires erupted last week.
While students are back in class, schools aren't exactly back to normal.
“Many of the lessons we have designed for these first few days are, you know, to give students time to talk about maybe what type of mood they're in today," said Jim Symonds, superintendent for the San Gabriel Unified School District, which reopened all eight of its schools on Monday. "I think we'll feel the impact of this for quite some time."
The ongoing Eaton Fire in nearby Altadena forced evacuations for some of the district’s students and teachers and even destroyed their homes.
While most schools were back in session across the district, several schools in hard-hit areas remain closed as districts work to evaluate when it might be safe to finally welcome back students.
Meanwhile, reminders of what's been lost in the inferno are everywhere. Just outside a classroom window at McKinley Elementary in San Gabriel, students can see the scarred mountain side where the Eaton fire roared through. Even on the school playground, kids can be heard recounting harrowing stories of survival in the midst of the deadly wildfires.
“It’s been like kinda scary and it's like made me and my sister worried, but my parents always assure us that it's going to be okay,” said fifth grader Ian Jimenez. “Like sometimes, the power turns off, too. Sometimes, it's strong winds. There's like a bunch of stuff going on all over the news and everything. It's just like scary.”
Mental health experts recommend having honest but age-appropriate conversations with your children, even with kids as young as two years old.
“Otherwise, children will make up stories about what might be happening and the stories might be scarier than the reality,” said Dr. Karen Rogers, a child psychologist at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. “Listen more than you speak. We want to give children an opportunity to ask questions or talk about whatever is on their mind and we won't know that unless we're really prepared to listen to them. Feeling heard is so helpful when you're going through something difficult.”
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Rogers and her team offer trauma training to educators across Los Angeles County, including California’s largest school district, the Los Angeles Unified School District, which also welcomed students back on Monday at most of its more than 1,000 schools.
Students' returning to class, however, is only the beginning of the recovery for students weary of what could come next.
"What if we have to evacuate here and I'm not with my parents?" wonders Jimenez. "What if we all have to evacuate somewhere else? It's kind of worrisome...so you kind of just have to live with it and just live your life to the fullest. Because you can't really just be stuck inside all day worrying about what's going to happen."
Follow Bigad's reporting on the wildfires in southern California
- "I caught on fire a couple times': Altadena man describes battling wildfire with garden house
- Southern California schools reopen amid wildfires as kids return with trauma
Contact The Investigative Unit
submit tips | 1-888-996-TIPS | e-mail Bigad