The Brief

Hugs, high-fives and handmade signs welcomed students and their families back to Pasadena's Don Benito Elementary School on Wednesday.

“You feel the love,” said parent Ravea Miller. “It's always been love. But you just feel it more [today] because everybody was affected.”

The majority of Pasadena schools that shut down during the peak of the Eaton Fire have now reopened. Pasadena Unified staggered reopenings over two weeks, and the final nine campuses welcomed students back Thursday.

Unanswered questions remain about rebuilding, how to make up for three weeks of lost in-person schooling and how the fallout from the fires could exacerbate existing financial challenges.

There’s also relief.

“We're just excited, ready to get back and get the kids back into school, and get them back into the groove again, and make things go back halfway normal,” said Gilbert Moore as he walked his kids into Washington Elementary STEM Magnet School on Monday morning.

Taking stock of feelings

Some students grappled with mixed emotions.

“I'm happy that I didn't get affected by the fires, but I'm sad because other people got affected by the fires,” said fifth-grader Jezzebelle Hernandez.

The district estimates that more than two-thirds of its 14,000 students and 1,387 employees live in evacuation zones.

“We don't know if they're going to come in smiling or they're going to come in crying,” said Cherise Holmes, a wellness coach at Washington.

Dulce Bernabe said her second-grade daughter was worried about her school and her friends during the closures.

“Creo que les sirve mucho estar aquí,” Bernabe said as she walked out of the school. She thinks its helpful for the students to be in class because it shows them that this is their reality. "Tenemos que seguir viviendo con lo que haya pasado.” We have to continue living with what's happened, she said.

A ‘warm and inviting’ return to school

According to district data, an average of 82% of students showed up on the first day of class at the first 11 schools to reopen, and at most schools, attendance has increased in subsequent days.

Don Benito first-grade teacher Amethyst Juknavorian invited her students to wear their pajamas and bring their favorite stuffed animal to the first day of class in more than two weeks.

“We never start like that; we always start with our instruction,” Juknavorian said. “But, for this week, I want it to be just more warm and inviting.”

Don Benito Elementary School first-grade teacher Amethyst Juknavorian, right, welcomes students with a pajama day on Wednesday.

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The students sat in a circle with their stuffed animals in their laps and one by one (and sometimes all at once) shared their feelings and experiences.

They ranged from fear to boredom. A boy in blue plaid pajama bottoms recounted how a tree fell in his apartment courtyard and he saw a dead squirrel — which prompted his peers to shout out dead animals that they’ve seen.

“That does happen,” Juknavorian said.

Abel Hernandez wore a navy blue onesie with a candy cane pattern and held a fuzzy plush longhorn cow. He said he felt sad and nervous.

“The wildfire almost hit my house,” Hernandez said.

LAist spoke with two education researchers who said it’s not the lost time in the classroom that has the greatest potential to negatively affect students, but the stress and trauma of being evacuated, losing a home, or witnessing others in the community go through those experiences.

 ”It's important for educators to provide opportunities for young people to read, talk about [and] make sense of their experiences during the fires,” said UCLA education professor John Rogers. “Because we want young people to come away from this really difficult time feeling a sense of their personal power, as well as how they're connected to others who care about them and about their future.”

USC education, psychology and neuroscience professor Mary Helen Immordino-Yang said young children process disturbing, distressing and frightening experiences throughout a lifetime.

“They are woven into the story of how the world can work and how the world does work and what it means to be safe, what it means to live in a home, what it means to have a school and friends and adults around you who care about you,” Immordino-Yang said.

Fifth-grader Jezzebelle Hernandez and first-grader Abel Hernanandez attend Don Benito Elementary, which reopened on Wednesday. "The mountain looked beautiful, but now it's not," Abel said, referring to the scorched slopes in the distance.

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Gilbert Moore walks his children, Patrick, left, and Daisy, right to Washington STEM Magnet Elementary. Moore, who is also a custodian in the district, said crews worked days, nights and weekends to clean up the schools.

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The Los Angeles County Office of Education and other organizations have deployed dozens of additional mental health staff to Pasadena schools since they reopened.

Juknavorian said she’s already requested support for one child who experienced some anxiety on the first day back, but was “pleasantly surprised” that her students were largely excited to return.

“Children are very resilient,” Juknavorian said. “They just have a gift of just living life and being so full of hope.”

She said in her more than 20 years of teaching, she’s watched students rebound from the loss of parents, divorce and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They can see all, all the destruction and the homes gone, but they're going to smile again,” Juknavorian said. “They're going to move forward because that's what we do.”

Post-wildfire clean-up

Pasadena Unified has said in statements that more than 1,500 workers joined existing maintenance staff to clean schools, remove more than 159 tons of debris and the top layer of sand from playgrounds.

Wildfires can release chemicals from plastics, lead, asbestos and other toxic substances. The smoke and ash makes the air dangerous to breathe, particularly for children and pregnant people.

Several of the parents who accompanied their students on the first day back followed them into the classroom.

“Other than the worried faces on some of the parents, everything’s looked good,” Henry Ortega said after dropping his daughter off at Washington Elementary STEM Magnet on Monday.

“I drive by a lot and I've seen them working day and night,” Ortega said. “So I know they did a good job.”

After cleaning, the district tested the surfaces inside schools for soot, char and ash and published the results online.

“Every result that's come back has been positive and that our schools are safe places to be,” said Pasadena Schools Supt. Elizabeth Blanco.

California does not mandate specific cleaning or testing before schools located near wildfires can reopen, nor does it require ongoing monitoring.

Though recent rain has tamped down the ash, as it dries and debris clean-up continues, toxic materials can become airborne again.

Blanco said the district will monitor air quality and keep children indoors and restrict outdoor activity as needed.

District staff said they are communicating with the Army Corp of Engineers about debris removal and are looking into installing additional air sensors.

“We’re hearing you, we want you to feel safe returning to schools,” Blanco said after listening to parents and families give hours of public comment at a board meeting Thursday and question the district's reopening plan. "We're responsible for all of your safety ... without the regulations to help us.”

Students return, but questions remain

Each of Pasadena Unified's 14,000 students now have the option to attend school in person, but there are still a lot of unknowns.

To start: The fire destroyed or otherwise forced the relocation of six campuses, including Eliot Arts Magnet Academy, Altadena Arts Magnet Elementary, three independent charter schools and Franklin Elementary, which closed in 2020. The district has also moved several early education programs.

“We had to fit many pieces into this puzzle,” said Chief Business Officer Saman Bravo-Karimi. “We had to figure out what was best overall under very difficult circumstances.”

Bravo-Karimi noted the offers include less space than schools had before and that the district is building additional portable classrooms.

Pasadena voters approved a $900 million facilities bond and $5 million parcel tax in November to fund repairs at existing campuses, mental health support and educator wages. The district’s board of education has resolved to rebuild Eliot, though no details about cost or timeline exist yet.

Charter school leaders have not yet accepted the district’s offer to lease space at three other campuses, according to a presentation at Thursday’s board meeting.

“We created a plan to make sure they had a place within the PUSD where they could return to school at the same time we were returning to school,” Blanco said.

Odyssey South parent Veronica Jauriqui said she doesn't feel comfortable sending her son to the proposed relocation site because of its proximity to the wildfire burn zone. Several other parents have raised similar concerns.

 "We've lost our neighborhood,” Jauriqui said. “We don't want him to lose his friends and his school.”

The region’s schools are no stranger to historic upheaval. White families fled Pasadena schools following a 1970 desegregation order.

There are also the financial questions. Like other Los Angeles-area districts, Pasadena Unified enrollment has declined in recent years— 19% in the last decade.

So far, the district has counted 862 families who lost homes in the fire, and it’s unclear how many may be permanently displaced.

The district reports 90 students have unenrolled since the start of the fires. Fewer students means less funding, because California funds public schools based on an average of how many students show up each day.

Learning recovery will be another long-term issue. Results from national standardized tests show students in California — and throughout the nation — have not made up reading and math skills lost during the pandemic.

District Chief Academic Officer Helen Chan Hill said students had access to online learning materials during the closures and the district's focus on social and emotional learning as school reopened was informed by other schools that have experienced disasters.

“You have to ensure that basic needs are being met so that academics can really flourish when the time is right,” Hill said.

Blanco said the district was already working to address learning loss through summer programs.

“ We were working on that prior to COVID and making sure that students were learning grade-level content as well as making up skills that they need,” Blanco said.

The district has not announced any academic recovery programs specific to the wildfires.

UCLA’s Rogers suggested that instead of adding additional days to the calendar, schools consider how to create opportunities for students to collaborate on creative work over spring break and during the summer.

“ I think it's by taking action and showing that you can do things together with others that young people will feel a greater sense of belonging and will feel more whole in the process,” Rogers said.

This story was originally published by The LA Local on Feb. 26, 2026.

The city’s police inspector general will begin monitoring LAPD encounters with federal immigration agents and report its findings to the Police Commission, the office confirmed to The LA Local.

“We’ll be working with the department to request notification of all future incidents of department personnel responding to calls for service at the scene of immigration enforcement action,” Inspector General Matthew Barragan introduced at the police commission meeting on Tuesday. “A police special investigator, a member of my team, will review all body worn video recordings and will report back to this full board at future meetings regarding compliance with the executive directive.”

The move follows Mayor Karen Bass’ Feb. 10 directive requiring the LAPD to turn on body cameras and ask federal immigration agents to identify themselves during operations.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the department would be in “full compliance with the directive.”

McDonnell recently faced backlash from residents, state senators, City Council members and immigration rights advocates after saying he would not enforce a new law that makes it a crime for agents to wear masks during immigration operations. He argued the law was bad policy and could threaten public safety if enforced.

Soon after those statements, a judge temporarily blocked the mask ban while considering a federal government lawsuit claiming the law improperly limits its work. Other provisions, including requirements that agents identify themselves, remain in effect.

While McDonnell did not explicitly retract his earlier statements on the mask ban during Tuesday’s meeting, he said the mayor’s order is now being followed.

Immigration agents have regularly worked while masked and at times refused to provide their names, agencies and badge numbers to the public, a departure from longstanding law enforcement practice and a violation of recently enacted California law.

Bass directed the police department to enforce the portions of the law not under litigation. The order also requires the department to retain footage for potential use in legal actions by county or state prosecutors.

One commissioner said each LAPD division is expected to designate at least two officers as immigration liaisons, responsible for communicating with department leadership about what’s happening on the ground.

McDonnell said a department administrator would provide a more detailed update on the LAPD’s knowledge of immigration operations across the city at the next commission meeting. He also said the department plans additional public outreach to help communities better understand its role.

“We’re there not to enforce civil immigration law, but to be able to keep the peace at the scenes where this is occurring and to be able to be the police department for everybody,” McDonnell said. “Trust is our currency and we have some work to do to be able to build that up after the incidents we’ve seen since June. So that’s some work in progress, but we are including all of our community members.”

The priority deadline for California students to apply for federal and state-based financial aid is March 2. And as students hustle to meet this deadline, the state is also encouraging them to claim their CalKIDS scholarship—up to $1,500 that can be used to pay for college or a career training program.

Typically, scholarship applications involve writing essays, meeting GPA requirements and maybe even securing letters of recommendation in a competition for limited funds.

But the CalKIDS scholarship requires none of that, said Noah Lightman, assistant deputy director at ScholarShare Investment Board, which oversees the program.

About 60% of California’s public school students are eligible for the scholarship, and it’s non-competitive. Students are entitled to the money by state law, Lightman said — they just have to claim it.

CalKIDS launched in 2022. To date, about 850,000 California students have claimed their scholarships.

Lightman pointed to research showing that children with even a modest amount of money set aside for higher education are three times more likely to attend college—and four times more likely to graduate college than children who don’t have any savings.

He knows from personal experience, having juggled coursework, extracurriculars, standardized tests and college applications while figuring out how he’d pay for college. Knowing there’s easy-to-access money “can be life-changing,” he added.

How are the CalKIDS scholarship amounts determined? And how do I claim it?

Students in second grade and up who are eligible for a CalKIDS scholarship will get at least $500.

The state determines eligibility based on a variety of factors, including family income and whether the student is learning English as a second language. If a student is unhoused or fostered, they will receive an additional $500. Eligible students who are unhoused and fostered will receive $1,500.

Lightman encourages everyone to check, though.

To claim their scholarships, Lightman said, students just need their 10-digit Statewide Student Identifier, which is assigned to them at school. (If you don’t know what yours is, ask your teacher or counselor.) Once they have their SSID, students or their parents can go to the CalKIDS website, plug in that number, along with their birthdate and county where they attend school, and readily find out if they are eligible and, if so, for what amount.

Students do not need a Social Security number to access these funds.

The process takes about five minutes or less, said Julio Hernandez, a college and career administrative coordinator for Los Angeles Unified School District. Counseling teams across the district have been instructed to tell students about CalKIDS, Hernandez added. He’s also used the website to secure a $500 scholarship for his son. Once he graduates, Hernandez’s son will be able to use that money to help cover tuition or other higher ed expenses.

According to CalKIDS, students have used their scholarships to pay for everything from books to housing bills.

Students can start using their CalKIDS funds as young as 17, and they don’t have to spend it while they’re undergraduates. If they would like to hold on to that money till grad school, they may, Lightman said—but the money must be spent by the time they turn 26. Currently, he added, nearly 150,000 students are using CalKIDS to help pay for college.

What might keep students from claiming their scholarship?

At Long Beach Unified, counselors help students and parents navigate the claim process.

Counselors at the district also describe the process as quick and straightforward. But, Candyce Simpson, a counselor at Jordan High School, noted in an emailed statement to LAist that students and their parents are often “bombarded with emails about college and the cost of college.”

“There are predatory programs that spam our kids about scholarships, if you pay a fee,” she added. “As counselors, we constantly remind our students and families that if they ask for a credit card, they should delete the email immediately. These programs are very savvy, and they look very legitimate.”

Messages from CalKIDS may get “buried,” Simpson said. “Students know FAFSA and Studentaid.gov; we need to add CalKIDS to our narratives more intentionally.”

Hey, new parents! There is also a CalKIDS scholarship for babies 

Every baby born in California on or after July 1, 2022 is also eligible for a separate CalKIDS scholarship—regardless of their family income.

These scholarships start at $100. To access them, parents need their child’s 13-digit local registration number, which can be found on their birth certificate. If families choose to link this money with the state's official college savings program, ScholarShare 529, CalKIDS will add another $50 to their account.

The scholarship, though small in comparison to escalating college costs, “serves as a conversation starter,” Lightman said, “helping families look at college savings in general.”

Community members have organized an event called “Disneyland Raza Invasion” outside the theme parks to take place the same day as the planned "MAGA Takeover" at Disneyland in Anaheim tomorrow. Here’s what to know about the dueling events.

Disney is not involved in the events. The two are solely organized by outside groups with no direct affiliation with the amusement park, such as “Dapper Dan Day” and “Bats Day.”

Park officials declined to respond to LAist’s requests for comment.

Organizers with 805 Patriots say “Patriots in the Park” is a “peaceful” event for “family-oriented” conservatives to enjoy a day at the park. They’re encouraging attendees to show support for the president by wearing attire permitted by Disneyland, such as red hats, shirts and accessories.

Organizers say the “MAGA Takeover” meet-up is strictly recreational and participants should enjoy the park as regular visitors, without seeking attention or creating disruptions.

“It is NOT a march, protest, demonstration or political action. Attendees will enter the park as everyday guests and are expected to follow all Disneyland guidelines,” according to a statement from 805 Patriots.

Signs, flags or any form of disruptive conduct are prohibited, according to Disneyland’s rules of entry.

The Brown Berets of California, a Chicano community organization, is also planning a “Disneyland Raza Invasion” outside of the main park entrance on Saturday from 7 to 11 a.m.

Organizers on social media said the “peaceful, united presence” is to “stand against hate and intimidation.” The group speaks out against the Trump administration’s policies, including immigration raids.

Every year, a South Bay ice cream gives kids the opportunity to turn their ideas into sweet, sweet frozen reality.

Over the years Kansha Creamery’s kids’ flavor contest has yielded all kinds of creations, some featuring hibiscus, others with strawberry lemonade or kinako (roasted soybean powder) — and 2026 marks the competition's 10th anniversary.

The shop is in a strip mall off Western Avenue on the border of Gardena and Torrance, and owned and operated by siblings James Marumoto and Elaine Marumoto-Perez. Their neighbors include a yakitori spot, a ramen shop and a dentist.

The kids flavor contest is a reflection of the owners’ vision for their shop, a space shaped by the people in their neighborhood.

“We were kind of just open to just trying anything,” Elaine said of their first contest in 2015. “We really wanted to just kind of be a part of the community. So it was a good way to do that.”

Putting the community into ice cream

As kids, James and Elaine said they entered Mitsuwa — then Yaohan— grocery store’s annual Mother and Father’s Day drawing contests.

They looked forward to seeing their art displayed in-store and their parents were excited about the free gift card.

Kansha’s contest invites kids 12 and under to submit a drawing of their flavors. James and Elaine weigh the entries’ art, story and likelihood the idea will yield tasty ice cream.

One of the winners in 2023 was Wafu-Wahoo Japanese Memory by Kairi Kitagawa. The flavor is so popular, Kansha’s made it on-demand for wedding orders. “ It's like super cool, the fact that they're like making my ice cream [at] special events,” Kairi said. “I feel, like, really happy about that.”

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Kairi, now 15 (back left) said he was inspired by a summer trip to Japan where he toured a mochi factory. His sister Sayana, pictured here with his mom, won the kid’s flavor contest in 2018 with Love Love Strawberry Heart.

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Korra entered the contest several times before winning with Winter Chip in 2024. “I really [like] mint chip and I thought about winter,” she said. “I thought of snow.. and the marshmallows were like the same colors.”

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Korra's mom, Winnie, estimated she bought more than 30 pints of the flavor to share with family and friends.

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Elaine remembered a submission from a few years ago that proposed an ice cream flavored like rain on pavement.

“That is so beautiful and so artistic, but we cannot make that flavor,” she said.

Other times, the contest doesn’t align with the right season for a particular ingredient.

Once they select the winners, James is responsible for making them a reality.

“It's more stressful than like a regular day,” James said. “Because I don't want to let the kid down. I also don't wanna let the parents down.”

Opening a South Bay ice cream shop 

Before James and Elaine opened Kansha in 2015 they rotated between part-time jobs. Elaine nannied and taught piano. Both worked at local restaurants.

They donated part of what they made to charity, but wanted to do more.

“Kansha means gratitude in Japanese,” Elaine said. “We kind of wanted to embody that in our business practices.”

James and Elaine way back when.

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They chose an ice cream shop, in part, because they wouldn’t need additional employees and they said there were few options for frozen treats in the South Bay at the time.

James taught himself to make ice cream from books and emails with other makers. Early flavor experiments included mustard and straw.

The organic ice cream base for every flavor is from Northern California’s Straus Family Creamery. Some of the store's best-known flavors, including matcha, draw on their Japanese heritage and the area’s Asian diaspora.

The flavors rotate frequently, but the Mr. Universal — vanilla ice cream with caramel and oatmeal cookies — is always on the menu.

The flavors rotate frequently, but the Mr. Universal— vanilla ice cream with caramel and oatmeal cookies— is always on the menu.

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It represents “the humble and the rich,” James said. “Anyone can enjoy it.”

The business survived the pandemic by switching from in-store scoops to pints-to-go.

“It's kind of a miracle,” Elaine said. “We believe in God and so we're like, ‘this is God's story and he's been taking care of us this whole time.’”

On a recent afternoon, the shop’s customers included friends catching up over cones, a grandmother and granddaughter, and school age kids doing homework and playing Jenga.

After more than a decade in business, Elaine and James are still the primary employees. Their cousin helps out on the weekends.

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“They want you to stay,” said Winnie Laurel, a regular who lives nearby. “It's not a turn and burn, you know, type of place.”

Elaine greeted many people personally — asking about their kids or a recent concert they’d attended.

She said the siblings have grown more confident and more connected to the community over the years.

“The job before was, kind of like, to give the product to the person,” Elaine said. “But now… I feel more like a host of this place and make people feel comfortable.”

They also give back: Within six months of opening, Kansha had donated more than $10,000 to feed children in need. The shop now reports their lifetime giving tops more than $550,000.

The 2026 kids’ flavor contest winners 

About two dozen kids entered the contest this year.

Charlotte's reaction to her first bit of Ooey Gooey Greatness? "Oh, that's good!"

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The hue of 8-year-old Charlotte Hosmer’s painting of a gold-brown scoop of Oooey Gooey Greatness caught James’ eye.

“ It's hard to capture the color of salted caramel, and that was like the perfect color of salted caramel,” James said.

Hosmer envisioned the flavor as a combination of hot fudge, caramel (the Ooey Gooey) and chocolate chips.

“The greatness came from 'cause I thought I was gonna be great,” Charlotte said.

After more than a decade of making ice cream, James can reference the shop's encyclopedia of past flavors for techniques to create the kids’ ideas.

Amaya Ingram's initial reaction to tasting Golden Zoeycolada for the first time?  "I think it's really good!"

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Take the second winner, Golden Zoeycolada— piña colada with pineapple chunks and shortbread cookie— which borrows techniques from a previous Taiwanese pineapple cake ice cream.

Creator Amaya Ingram, 6, was inspired by her favorite fruit and the breakout song from “KPOP Demon Hunters.”

Zoey, the rhyme-spitting star from Burbank, is Amaya’s favorite of the trio and what she dressed up as for Halloween last year —  “She looks a lot like me. Like she has bangs. I have bangs.”

“ I worked so hard on this flavor,” Amaya said. “ I did drawing and thinking and writing and typing.”

How did winning feel?

“Amazing."

Elaine said she hopes the kids who participate feel like their voice matters.

“ Even if you don't win, it's like you made something that you're excited for,” James said. “And you have a chance of something good happening.”

Afterall, everyone who entered gets a free scoop at the shop this week.

Thanks to Cindy Ujiiye for translation help