The city of Paradise school students returned to school Thursday with expectation of getting back to a reasonable normal school year. Now, as students return to school, some are traveling to their hometown campus while others are in new schools entirely.
A former middle school is now the Paradise Ridge Elementary School, which combines former Paradise Elementary and Ponderosa students. Both schools were destroyed in the Camp Fire.
Seventh and eighth-grade students from Paradise Intermediate now have their own school on the Paradise High School Campus. Ridgeview High School Students will attend school in a portion of the old Mt. Ridge Campus.
Half of the districta s 4,200 students moved away after the fire and many of them now live miles away in Oroville, Chico, and Durham. Those students were bused in, but the district is still working on the details of bus routes and aims to expand them. About 40% of the school population last year have returned to home schools at Paradise.
The district has worked hard to ensure that campuses are clean and safe to return to and Assistant Superintendent Tom Taylor said there is much to be thankful for.