Students at Santa Rosa’s Cardinal Newman High School are off the rest of the week as district officials assess the damage to the campus. Anser Hassan reports.
Students at Santa Rosa’s Cardinal Newman High School are off the rest of the week as district officials assess the damage to the campus.
The question on everyone’s minds is whether students will be able to complete the school year at 50 Ursuline Road, a small campus that houses just over 600 students. Tragedy struck as students were getting ready for homecoming, which will likely at least be delayed.
The school's principal estimates that up to 18 of the school’s 35 classrooms were burned. That includes the library, main office and many portable classrooms – not to mention equipment like computers, text books and other resources.
Over the next few days, Cardinal Newman officials will try to determine how much of the school is still usable. But if more than 50 percent of the school is damaged, the big challenge ahead will be where then to send the students.
Superintendent Steven Herrington issued a statement that said in part: “We are still learning the impact of these devastating fires on our community as this situation unfolds. I urge everyone to make safety their top priority.”
Meanwhile, on social media, several rival high schools tweeted out good wishes to Cardinal Newman High School students.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help rebuild the school. As of Tuesday morning, $775 of a $5,000 goal have been raised.
Here's a list of Northern California school districts that will be closed Tuesday as deadly fires burn:
- Santa Rosa City
- Petaluma City
- Cotati-Rohnert Park
- Alexander Valley
- Bellevue
- Bennett Valley
- Cinnabar
- Cloverdale
- Dunham
- Forestville
- Gravenstein
- Geyserville
- Guerneville
- Healdsburg
- Harmony
- Horicon
- Kashia
- Kenwood
- Liberty
- Mark West
- Monte Rio
- Oak Grove
- Old Adobe
- Piner Olivet
- Rincon Valley
- Roseland
- Sebastopol Union
- Sonoma County Office of Education
- Sonoma County
- Sonoma Valley Unified
- Two Rock
- Twin Hills
- Two Rock
- West Side
- Wright
- West Sonoma County Union
- Wilmar
- Windsor
- Wright
