Students With Autism Back in Class After Tubbs Fire Destroyed Their School

The sound of laughing children is one of the best indications that the rebirth of a school is really taking hold.

That is the opinion of Andrew Bailey, CEO of Anova, a school for children with autism and learning differences that was among the thousands of structures destroyed in the North Bay fires. Anova served 122 students at its Santa Rosa site who were displaced after the Tubbs Fire spread to parts of the city.

Students were back in classes starting Oct. 30, divided among three separate locations. The goal now, which Bailey calls daunting, is to re-establish Anova within the next two months at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, which was hosting the school before the fire.

In the days after the fire destroyed Anova, several school districts and cities reached out to offer their space as a temporary solution. After getting expedited permits for new locations, Anova classes are now being held at a community center in Healdsburg, a school in Bennett Valley and at Anova's administration building in Santa Rosa.

"Our team couldn't be happier with how things are going," Bailey said.

Anova opened its temporary locations on the same day that Santa Rosa City Schools reopened the rest of its closed campuses, which was a goal all along, Bailey said.

The goal now is to rebuild parts of the Luther Burbank Center that were destroyed and to start classes on that site as soon as possible, he said. As a temporary solution, Anova may consider holding classes in part of the center that wasn't damaged or in portable facilities in the parking lot, Bailey said.

For now, the Luther Burbank Center has offered its space to Anova for its annual Thanksgiving event, which serves dinner to 200-300 people, including students and families.

"That will occur in the lobby of the Luther Burbank Center, which will be something of a triumph and homecoming," Bailey said.