School Fire Update

I should probably call this "Update #1", as I'm sure there will be more information forthcoming. For the moment, however, this is what I've got for you:

The school is still in the Fire Department's possession and is a crime scene. The FD should complete their investigation within the next two days, at which point the school will be turned over to SJUSD. Once the district is allowed to access the campus, salvage crews will go in to save what they can (most likely nothing), as well as to mitigate any smoke damage in the remaining buildings. We're told the rest of the school - even the six classrooms twenty feet away from the main building - have only very minor smoke and water damage.

At this point I have to interject with a giant HOORAY! for the San Jose Fire Department. They were on-site within five minutes of the first call, and at the peak of the action 30 of the city's 35 engines and 100 firefighters were working to safely put out Building A and keep the surrounding buildings, trees, and homes from burning. They did an amazing job - as you can see, the trees right outside my classroom door are still alive, and this was a six-alarm fire that completely destroyed the 25,000 square foot building and which is, in fact, still smoldering 36 hours after the fire started. Thank you, SJFD, for your efforts on behalf of the Trace/Rose Garden community!

Returning to the timeline as it now stands: after the district's salvage crew goes in we will decide (rapidly, as we only have SIX WEEKS until school starts), the footprint and location of the new building. Once that is determined portable classrooms will be installed. We (the teachers) are all hoping against hope the portables will be in place at least a week before school starts. The school district is dedicated to keeping us on-site, so we'll see where they squeeze 16-20 portable rooms.

We were informed today that insurance will cover furniture, materials, and some of our education-related personal purchases. This means that eventually (hopefully by August 12!) we will have replacement desks, tables, chairs, computers, projectors, document cameras, paper, pencils, etcetera. We may or may not have the money to replace the items we've purchased on our own (classroom library books, literacy kits, science and social studies realia, etc.)

Fortunately, the community is already asking how they can help us, many teachers throughout the district are offering materials and time, and at least one school has volunteered to adopt a classroom. I'm doing okay at the moment, but I know my stress level will go up and up at least until I have a classroom. Once I have a room and an insurance reimbursement I can start to get back on my feet. It should be interesting, going back to how things were when I first started teaching.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE OFFERED TO HELP, you can:

a) wait until I find out exactly what I need (six weeks or so), and pitch in then,
b) watch for Donor's Choose posts to go up and then donate online,
c) send Target or Amazon gift cards, and/or
d) any combination of the above.

If you go for option C, you can mail things to our home address or to Robb's work address:

Robb Thurmond

Trace Donations

46269 Warm Springs Blvd.

Fremont, CA 94539

Thank you all for your support. You can't imagine how helpful it is to know you care and are ready and willing to help.