L.A. area school destroyed in wildfire helps students thrive amid devastation: “We still have each other”

An L.A. area school is finding innovative ways to keep their students engaged after the school was destroyed during the devastating California wildfires.

Shawn Brown opened Pasadena Rosebud Rosebud Academy Charter School in Altadena in 2007 to give back to the community she grew up in, providing a place for students to learn things like critical thinking and financial literacy.

As Brown, executive director of the school, copes with the loss of her own home, she found time to help students continue learning in the midst of tragedy.

“I haven’t had any moment to think about anything,” Brown said.  “I had to go from hearing that the house and the school burned down, to figuring out, ‘What am I gonna do with these kids next?'” 

Searching for a new building after the wildfires

After the Eaton Fire, which killed 17 people, destroyed the school, Brown and her staff quickly came up with a plan.

“So the first week after all of this, we scheduled field trips,” she said. “One of our pillars is exposure and experience, and so we really like to get our students out of the community. And we know that travel is a huge part of thinking bigger and dreaming bigger.”

One of the places they visited was the California Science Center.

But after the field trips, Brown’s students still needed classrooms.

“I don’t think they (students) understand the gravity of it. They know their school burned down, but I think that a bigger part of that is that they know that we still have each other,” Brown said.

After a long search, her team found a temporary solution. On Monday, the students met up to get bused to their new school.

When the students arrived at The Beehive in South Los Angeles, they were excited.

“It’s a high-tech place, and they serve Black and Brown students. It’s in L.A. and they really bring kids in to help them learn more about the tech field and encourage them that they can get in those fields as well.” Brown said. “They worked around the clock that weekend to outfit each of their studios into classrooms for our students.

Staff at The Beehive went out and got desks, chairs and other supplies for the youngest students, but the solution is only short-term. In two weeks, they’ll need a new place to continue learning.

Student impact

Some students and their families lost their own homes in addition to their school.

“I think that she thinks that we’re on vacation, which is, I kind of like it that way because emotionally it’s been very hard,” said Amber Trejo, whose 5-year-old daughter Caira is a kindergartener at Rosebud Academy.

Trejo’s childhood home where she lived with her grandmother, parents, brother and children burned down.

“We had everything in that home. My whole childhood was in that home, but we will rebuild and we’ll make it stronger,” Trejo said.

She said still being able to keep her daughter in school gives them both a sense of normalcy.

“It makes me happy. It makes me happy for her.”

Life outside the classroom

Back in Altadena, Brown is still dealing with losing her home and the home she grew up in, where her mother Gloria still lived.

Brown’s mother lived in her home for more than 50 years. She finally returned to see what’s left after the wildfire ravaged her community. She said she plans to rebuild her home, and Brown plans to build a new Rosebud Academy.

“We would really need funding to rebuild, and that has been the ultimate goal for the school even when I started it,” Brown said. “The long-term goal is to build something amazing for our students.”

Gayle King

Gayle King is an award-winning journalist and co-host of “CBS Mornings.” King interviews top newsmakers and delivers original reporting to “CBS Mornings” and all CBS News broadcasts and platforms. She is also editor-at-large of Oprah Daily and hosts “Gayle King in the House,” a live, weekly radio show on SiriusXM.