Eastside students go back to school as Lineage warehouse cleanup continues

By Laura Anaya-Morga | Boyle Heights Beat

Published Aug 12, 2026 9:30 AM

A family with two children walk down a sidewalk past a fence of a school as a person stands holding a sign that reads "environmental racism."

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This story first appeared on The LA Local.

It’s the first day of school across the Los Angeles Unified School District, and students on the Eastside are returning to their classrooms after an unusual summer break dealing with the aftermath of the Lineage cold storage warehouse fire in June.

Summer school sites were relocated, baseball games were canceled, and instead of spending time outside, some children spent the past two months behind closed doors to avoid the unhealthy air, mounting stench of rotting food, and hordes of flies and rats in their community.

“[This summer] was horrible, like living through another pandemic,” said Lizandra Jimenez, who lives in East L.A. two blocks from the Lineage warehouse with her 11- and 14-year-old sons. “It was hell where we were isolated from information, where we had to endure a smell, where we had to endure the heat.

"My sons were anxious because they wanted to go outside but we couldn’t, and there was no information about air quality,” she said.

Students, with some wearing face masks, and parents wait along a fence with a design on it that reads "Eastman..."

That worry about air quality lingers for Jimenez, whose children attend Griffith STEAM Magnet Middle School and Roosevelt High School less than 3 miles away from Lineage. She said she also worries about the safety of the students who attend Eastman Avenue Elementary, the LAUSD school closest to the warehouse, where she works as a school supervision aide.

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LAUSD has assured that campuses near the site have been thoroughly cleaned and deemed safe for students to return. With schools now open, the cleanup at the warehouse continues as Lineage rushes to meet L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ Friday deadline to remove the rotted food waste from inside.

LAUSD says campuses are safe to return

Over the past few weeks, LAUSD has provided updates and hosted webinars to inform parents on the cleaning and environmental testing efforts it conducted for the more than 50 schools within a 3-mile radius of the Lineage warehouse.

Those efforts included:

Deep-cleaning school campuses including floors, walls, furniture, drinking fountains, lunch pavilions, playgrounds and walkways.
Replacing all MERV-13 HVAC filters and placing air purifiers in all classrooms and offices, and;
Independently testing air quality, water, dust and soil samples.

A white van with South Coast AQMD branding is parked outside next to equipment connected to the side of it.

The district said air monitoring will continue at Eastman Elementary School and Stevenson Middle School for the duration of the cleanup.

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A 561-page environmental assessment report released Tuesday by the LAUSD Office of Environmental Safety concluded that the Lineage fire did not result in widespread contamination at nearby schools and thus, were safe for students and staff.

The report did, however, find lead levels in the soil at City Terrace Elementary School and Christopher Dena Elementary School that exceeded California’s acceptable threshold. The district said it does not believe the findings are tied to the warehouse fire.

As students return to campus, LAUSD said there will be masks available for students and staff upon request, school principals will decide whether students should remain indoors based on odors and outdoor conditions, and psychiatric social workers will be available on-site to support students.

Lineage says cleanup is 90% complete

Meanwhile, Lineage said it is on track to meet the mayor’s 45-day deadline to remove all the food waste from the site by Friday. As of Monday, the company said they had removed 90% of the food waste.

“At ninety percent, we are in the final stretch, and we will continue to tirelessly work until the work is done,” Jeff Rivera, chief operating officer of Lineage, said in a statement.

The company said it expects to spend $80 million to $100 million on the cleanup.

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Last week, the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Hearing Board unanimously approved an abatement order requiring Lineage to strengthen odor-control measures, expand air monitoring and improve communication with residents.

Parents’ and teachers’ worries linger

For weeks, parents and teachers across the Eastside have been calling on LAUSD to have stronger protections for students and to be more transparent about environmental testing results. The groups, including Eastside Padres and United Teachers Los Angeles, have also called on Lineage to leave the community permanently.

A crowd of people cheer behind a banner with writing on it and hold signs, with some in Spanish, that include "Lineage out," "Air over profit," and "Lineage out of Boyle Heights." A woman in the center speaks into a megaphone as people in front of the banner take photos and videos.

On Aug. 6, UTLA, the union representing LAUSD teachers, sent a letter to the district demanding that it expand resources and share the data before the first day. (LAUSD ended up posting its report on testing efforts on Tuesday.)

Following the fire, Jimenez said her family endured headaches, sore throats, congestion and irritated eyes for days. Now, she said she hopes LAUSD has taken the necessary steps to ensure that doesn’t happen again.

“Who’s going to solve this for us? Or why?” Jimenez asked. “We’re not to blame.”

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