Pali High is returning to its original campus in January 2026, roughly one year after it was damaged by the Palisades Fire, school Executive Director and Principal Dr. Pamela Magee announced in mid-August.
“Palisades Charter High School will return to its campus in the Palisades at the start of the second semester,” Magee said. “Staff will report on Jan. 12, and students will return on Jan. 13.”
Pali’s Board of Trustees considered moving back to the main campus after Thanksgiving Break but decided to push back the start date in order to facilitate “academic continuity and school operations,” Magee said in a statement.
Students and staff have a variety of feelings about returning to Pali in January.
Pali Librarian Andrea King said she is “excited about [returning to Pali],” but she still has a lot to do before students return.
“We had over 8,000 books in the library,” King said. “In November, we’re going to start buying [books], so hopefully they’ll be there in January.”
Freshman Gabe Smith said that he is looking forward to starting his second semester of high school at the Pali campus.
“I’m super excited to go back to Pali,” he said. “It’s going to be very sad to walk around and see a lot of things gone, but the Pali campus survived. There’s the Caruso development, which survived. There’s a lot of fun places there, and hopefully new places will reopen to replace what was there.”
Meanwhile, senior Uma Ramaswami, who came back to Pali after transferring for a semester to Mira Costa High School, has mixed feelings about the school community’s return to the Pacific Palisades.
“I think it’s a good decision for us to go back because I think it will be really nice to be on campus,” she said. “But there’s definitely some health concerns. I think it’s going to be really weird having a school in the middle of a building site, because most of the houses have already been cleared, and I know that I’m rebuilding… so there’s going to be a lot of chemicals in the air.”
Still, both Ramaswami and Smith said they will stick with Pali in the spring.
“I chose to go to Pali because my older sister has had an amazing experience,” Smith said.
Likewise, Ramaswami said, “I might have to still commute, which would kind of suck…but Pali’s worth it.”
