JACKSON COUNTY, Ore.- Sunday marked four-years since the Almeda Fire and the devastation it brought to the Rogue Valley. Since then, educators are finding ways to continue to support their community outside of the classroom.
More than 2,400 people lost their homes and for educators like Phoenix-Talent School Superintendent Brent Barry, their first instinct was to serve their kids and community who didn’t know if they’d have a home to come back to.
“We just immediately kind of reached out and basically asked a series of questions: are you safe, do you have shelter, do you have a comfortable place to stay, what are your needs? Do you have food?” said Barry.
Within hours, teachers from Phoenix-Talent were at emergency response centers to help because kids and their families recognized them.
Assistant Superintendent Tiffanie Lambert was part of the district’s response effort.
“Within an hour she had a full team from Talent Elementary and we went tent-to-tent, car-to-car, cot-to-cot, to really get connections, we take care of peoples’ children, or their grandchildren, or their neighbors’ kids, so we’re automatically a trusted source. When I was out at the expo, I was wearing a Phoenix-Talent School shirt and people just came up to me,” Lambert said.
That outpouring of help led to an influx of support. $2,000,000 was raised from around the world for the school district. Here at home, families donated gift cards at the grocery store and found other ways to provide local support
“Relationships that we had with our local and state government, community-based organizations, healthcare professionals, faith-based organizations, it was really the community coming in,” added Lambert, “and even though we went through a traumatic event, we were stronger because we had that connection and that gave a sense of community pride and I‘m proud to be a part of that.”
Today, they say they’re down 300 students from the fall of 2020, there are still kids who don’t have permanent homes, and some students who lost their homes still face educational disparities.
“That’s a responsibility we have to make sure they have the academic support they need to get back up to grade level. Because they’re wondering where they’re going to be living next or how they’re going to be provided for. So that extra time helps support those kids and families,” Barry said.
Four years come and gone; they say that they’re still as dedicated as ever to continuing to help their students.
To help students who are experiencing opportunity gaps, the district now has a robust summer school to help fill those gaps.
District staff also says because of community support, there was a 100% graduation rate for students who lost their homes in the fire.
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