Palisades Charter High School, pictured before the fires, is seeking to relocate to a new site. (photo courtesy of Palisades Charter High School)

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued an emergency executive order on Feb. 4 to assist students, schools and child care facilities displaced by the fires and ensure other schools and facilities can accept additional students and children.

“I am exercising my emergency powers to keep families and their communities together,” Bass said. “The last thing families need is bureaucracy that causes more disruption to their children’s lives, and I won’t allow it.”

The emergency executive order increases enrollment caps by 20% to allow displaced children and youth to transfer to other schools and facilities for three to five years. Schools and child care facilities damaged or destroyed by the fires are able to immediately receive a 180-day permit allowing them to relocate and operate anywhere in the city. Currently, such permits allow a 90-day relocation. Schools and child care facilities seeking to operate longer than 180 days in another location will be approved through an expedited review process that eliminates hearings and appeals. Schools can also receive implementation guidance and application assistance from city departments.

An LAUSD spokesman said three campuses sustained significant damage in the Palisades fire: Palisades Charter Elementary School, Marquez Charter Elementary School and Palisades Charter High School. Palisades Elementary and Marquez Elementary are charter schools affiliated with the LAUSD and Palisades Charter High School is an independent charter school. Palisades Elementary has been relocated to Brentwood Science Magnet and Marquez Elementary has been relocated to Nora Sterry Elementary in West Los Angeles for the remainder of the academic year. The district has offered free leasing of its spaces to Palisades Charter High School, the spokesman said.

“We are working to return all our students to the classroom as quickly, safely and reasonably as possible, and we continue to support our affected students who are still displaced, evacuated or who otherwise cannot attend their current school by offering options such as enrollment in LAUSD’s Virtual Academy, or the option to enroll at a different school within L.A. Unified (in the scenario where a family is displaced but can attend another district school from their new location),” read a statement from the LAUSD.

Palisades Charter High School is currently closed and is seeking to relocate to another location. Principle Pam Magee posted an update on Facebook on Feb. 4 stating the school’s campus will not be ready for repopulation until this fall, and “final arrangements” are being formulated to “secure an alternative location” that will be ready in approximately six weeks. Palisades Charter High School is offering full-time virtual learning options in the meantime. Further information was not available regarding the space Palisades Charter High School is seeking to secure. A request for comment from Magee and administrators at Palisades Charter High School on details of the relocation plan was not returned by press time.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order of Jan. 14 allowing students in areas affected by the fires to enroll in other school districts. Forty-seven students from Palisades Charter High School have already enrolled in the Beverly Hills Unified School District.

For information, visit lausd.net and palihigh.org.