Almost 3,000 high school students started at Palisades High School “South” on August 13.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
By HENRY KAMER
Just shy of 3,000 Palisades Charter High students returned to school today, August 13, at the Sears Department Store Building. Instead of flooding through the quad, students flooded into four floors and the parking lot at the old Sears store turned school located in Downtown Santa Monica.
As one might expect, it was chaos. The same system of controlling flow with different floor release times from last year was applied again, and, believe it or not, it still did not work. Just like April 22, the first day that students were welcomed into “Pali South,” after losing their high school to the Palisades Fire, going from class to class was like trying to get around when a celebrity or politician came into town. Nothing had changed.
So many people were crowded in almost every nook and cranny that could be found in the building. Adding onto the overwhelming claustrophobia students experienced, there were, of course, lots of news crews, yelling, shoving, and people stopping right in front of you to talk to their friends. Isn’t that the best thing ever?
Everyone was happy to see friends as school resumed.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Unlike “normal” Pali, Pali South teachers have classroom assignments completely switched from last semester. Additionally, some teachers have certain classrooms on even days and other classrooms on odd days. This also means chaos for both students and teachers, especially when students’ schedules weren’t released until 8 a.m., 30 minutes before school starts.
Try getting from the basement to the third floor with only two stairwells in the ten minute passing period while everyone else is doing the same thing. Yeah, not fun.
Today was one of the two all-classes meet days, which meant students went from Period 1 to 3, then nutrition, then Periods 5 and 2, lunch, and finally 4 and 6. With block schedules (3 periods a day, not 6) kicking off the second day, on August 14, traffic in the building shouldn’t be as bad going from class to class because there are breaks in between.
It was all fun – before classes resumed.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
Speaking about breaks, where do students go during lunch? Good question. Students are treated to a wild goose chase trying to find their friends while they see what social spaces are available: there are common spaces with couches and chairs in the basement and second floor, hallways galore, tiny classrooms with no doors, or the parking lot with no chairs or places to sit (this is this reporter’s favorite spot. Hey, at least you’re burning some calories by standing).
So, there aren’t that many good places to hang out. However, that may not matter much with there being only 55 minutes of break time compared to five hours of class (one hour and 40 minutes for each class times three classes equals five hours).
Even with all this craziness, Pali South is still able to maintain the culture of the original beloved campus. The diligent cafeteria workers still make sure students that don’t bring food are served, the college center counselors make sure students are confident in their journey, and the librarian, Mrs. King, makes sure everyone has the books they need. Even the student newspaper, Tideline, is still able to produce monthly articles (keep an eye out for those stories, as this reporter just joined the team as a staff writer!).
Being together with friends is always better than being online, even when your school is a renovated department store with no classroom doors or windows. So, just like Dr. Magee said, this year will be defined not by what happened to the Pali community but how the Pali community responds to what has happened.
So, even if this isn’t the best case whatsoever, Dolphins can still turn a bad situation good by demonstrating resilience and unity. Until Pali hopefully returns to our beautiful Palisades campus in January 2026, it will stay #PaliStrong.
The start of school was a good time to catch up with friends.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN
. . .and then it was time for classes to start.
Photo: RICH SCHMITT/CTN