Sonoma County students set to mark first anniversary of October fires

Students of the Anova Center for Education, a north Santa Rosa school for children and young adults with autism that was gutted by the Tubbs fire, will spend Oct. 9 encountering giraffes and watching cheetahs during a scheduled field trip to the Safari West wildlife preserve.

The same morning, students in the Mark West district will deliver and plant five male ginkgo trees at a park in Mark West Estates, and other trees in Larkfield Estates.

Later in the day, Schaefer Charter School students - many of whom lived in the surrounding Coffey Park neighborhood, where the Tubbs fire leveled entire blocks - will hear from a motivational speaker.

There’s no handbook for how school communities should acknowledge the first anniversary of the most devastating siege of wildfire in California history. Each school affected by the fires is finding its own way to remember and reflect.

“For the anniversary coming up, I think there’s a lot of mixed emotions,” said Megan Furze, a first-grade teacher at Schaefer Charter School. Furze attended the school as a student and lost her childhood home nearby. “I think people are so sad to relive the day in their head.”

Schaefer Charter School, which was spared from the flames, nevertheless closed for months afterward because of ?toxic debris and ash. About ?100 students transferred out of the school. Some remaining students now travel longer distances to make it to class, or are still in limbo as homes are being rebuilt, said Principal Kathy Harris.

“Nobody that I’ve talked to wants to do a ‘Let’s remember fires’ event,” Harris said. “Our families are still living and suffering with the effects of the fires every day.”

Educators and administrators brainstorming ideas to mark the fire anniversary at schools have come up with an assortment of events that don’t fit one mold. At Schaefer, Furze recruited Mister Brown, a speaker who visited with Redding schools affected by the Carr fire this year, to talk with students about life lessons and making good choices. Furze hopes Mister Brown’s visit will encourage students to speak about their emotions around the anniversary of the fires.

“For a lot of kids, it’s hard to talk about because it’s a sad, tragic thing,” Furze said.

In an effort “to come back to school on a positive note” after the fires, Schaefer hosted a pancake breakfast earlier this month for the Piner Olivet district. Over 400 people attended, Harris said.

“It was beautiful,” she said.

Hidden Valley Elementary School, which lost its satellite campus in the fires, plans to have a similar type of gathering on Oct. 9. A free pasta dinner will be hosted by the school’s parent faculty organization that evening for the community to gather, reflect, and heal, according to the event flyer.

“Everybody was affected in some way last year,” said Hidden Valley principal Brad Coscarelli. “It’s a tough time for everybody, but we’re trying to make it a positive family event.”

Hidden Valley students are also gathering gift cards, toiletries, bath toys, shoes, clothing, journals, hair ties, socks, Hot Wheels and other trinkets to put in about 150 shoeboxes they plan to send to two schools affected by the Carr fire in Shasta County. The idea comes full circle, as Hidden Valley students had received shoeboxes from an elementary school student in Redding just weeks after the Tubbs fire.

“When I heard it was Redding being affected I thought we should do something about that,” said fifth-grade teacher Karri Haven. “The shoeboxes have fun little things they can open up and put a smile on their face.”

Putting the shoeboxes together also serves as a therapeutic activity for Hidden Valley students, Haven said.

Coscarelli said teachers will be extra alert for signs of trauma in students on the fire anniversary.

“We have to be careful that day,” Coscarelli said.

Cardinal Newman High School, which was hit hard by the Tubbs fire, plans to have a remembrance during flex period on Oct. 9 led by the school chaplain. A video presentation will allow students to share their fire experiences and speeches will be given by Graham Rutherford, who led Newman through the disaster as principal and now serves as dean of student life, as well as President Laura Held.

“It’s a balance of remembrance and a type of celebration because it’s a shared experience,” Rutherford said. “I do think the anniversary is a powerful thing … Because of the uncertainty of things after the fire, it made people count on each other more. We are still leaning on each other, we still need each other.”

The Tubbs fire destroyed the school’s library, front office and 20 classrooms, causing an estimated $15 million in damage. Students were displaced from the campus for more than three months, with grade levels split up across four sites in the county. Construction on Newman’s replacement humanities building is set to wrap up in January.

But in the ceremonies next month, there will be less emphasis on what was lost, and more about what was gained in terms of community support, Rutherford said.

“How do you want to view life? Is it something that just happens to you or is it something where you makes choices in how you react?” Rutherford said.

Next to Cardinal Newman, Roseland Collegiate Prep, ?a school for seventh- through ?12-graders, saw its campus - the former Ursuline High - heavily damaged in the Tubbs fire, which claimed the gymnasium and a block of eight classrooms. Roseland Collegiate Prep moved to the former Roseland University Prep campus on Sebastopol Road in December when that school moved to its new campus.

Roseland Collegiate Prep student leaders are making a plan for the fire anniversary, which will likely be something low key and student-centered, said Assistant Principal Brandy Raymond

“We didn’t want to disrupt classes any more than they’ve already been,” Raymond said.

The Anova Center for Education is taking a different approach on Oct. 9 by sending its 130 students on a field trip to Safari West, a 400-acre wildlife preserve in the Mark Springs area. The preserve was overrun by the Tubbs fire but its ?1,000 animals survived.

“For us to spend the day with them, who also lost so much, it just seemed like a natural fit,” said Anova CEO Andrew Bailey. “This will be, in some ways, a happier event - if that’s possible.”

A $10,000 grant from the Young Presidents Organization will fund the field trip, Bailey said.

During lunchtime at Safari West, Anova will have a moment of silence in remembrance of the wildfires. Nine Anova students lost their homes in the fires, in addition to losing their school, Bailey said.

“We want to put together something that’s meaningful for these families,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Susan Minichiello at 707-521-5216 or susan.minichiello@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @susanmini.