“Welcome back”: Community turns out as Palisades High reopens

As Palisades Charter High School reopened Tuesday, alumni and longtime residents turned out alongside parents and school staff, many saying they wanted to be there for a moment that felt bigger than the first day of school.

“We don’t have much of a community left,” said Tolley Casparis, a Palisades High alumna who graduated in 1982. “This is our first big moment of the community coming home.”

Casparis gestured toward the surrounding neighborhood, much of it still bearing scars from last year’s wildfire.