A like-new Pajaro Middle School reopens after March 2023 levee breach flooded its campus

About 385 Pajaro Middle School students will walk onto their campus for the first day of school Wednesday to brand-new classrooms, new flooring in the gym and a returned sense of normalcy. 

After the March 11, 2023, Pajaro River levee breach flooded most of the community of Pajaro – which at the time was home to more than 3,000 residents – hundreds of homes were damaged and many families were displaced. Some moved away after their homes were destroyed, and damaged crops limited the farming community’s job opportunities.

The flood seriously damaged Pajaro Middle School, forcing its sixth grade students to relocate to Ohlone Elementary School and seventh and eighth grade students to relocate to Lakeview Middle School for the remainder of the 2023 school year and entire 2023-24 academic year. 

After the flooding, and as soon as they could reenter Pajaro following weeks of evacuation orders, Pajaro Valley Unified School District officials immediately began the cleanup, assessed the damages and started a long road to renovations. The cleanup cost $3.4 million – of which the district contributed $160,000 – and the extensive renovations cost $4.5 million. The Federal Emergency Management Agency covered 90% of the rebuild costs; the district covered the rest. 

On Tuesday evening, dozens gathered at the school for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate the nearly-finished renovations. Superintendent Heather Contreras gave opening remarks as teachers and community members admired the new classrooms and freshly painted buildings. Officials said the final touches are still being done but will be completed in the coming weeks. 

Wednesday is the first day of school for all Pajaro Valley Unified School District’s approximately 16,000 students. 

Math and science teacher Ebelin Mata, who had been working at the district for only seven months when the flooding happened, said teachers and students feel a lot of excitement, and some anxiety, about the return. She walked into her classroom last Monday for the first time since the flooding and felt a lot of emotions. 

“I feel happy to be back, but also nervous, just because there’s so much to be done, even within the space,” she said. “I like making my classroom feel like home for my students.” 

Mata said many students have had to move away because of the flooding. Last year, she recalls, the school’s total enrollment was about 400 students. This year’s enrollment estimate of 386 sounds low to her. 

This year’s 150 or so eighth graders are familiar with Pajaro Middle School – they were about halfway through their sixth grade year there when the flood happened. This year’s 140 seventh grade students were at Ohlone Elementary last year as sixth graders. And the 100 sixth graders starting at Pajaro Middle School are just coming out of elementary school. 

The school’s 18 teachers have been a constant, with many having worked there for more than 10 years, according to new principal Nicole Killian (formerly Marsh). Three of the teachers are new this year. Killian has worked in PVUSD for about 16 years, with previous roles including academic coordinator at Bradley Elementary. Last year, she was principal at Main Street Elementary in Soquel Union Elementary School District before returning to PVUSD this year. 

Killian said teachers are elated to be back in their own spaces, though there will be difficulties this year getting adjusted to the new setting, just as they had to adjust to a temporary setting the past year and a half. There are still a lot of supplies and finishing touches that need to be done to have the school at 100% complete. Last week, planning officials said the school was about 95% done. 

“They always say it takes about a year to get a new house together,” said Killian, sitting in a newly renovated office last Monday. The new walls, shelves and desk were still completely empty. 

But she said the biggest challenge will be connecting with students who have been through so much turmoil. During the 2023 year, about 38.7% of Pajaro Middle School students were chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism is when students are absent 10% or more of the instructional days they were enrolled. The school’s rate is slightly higher than the district’s average of 37.3%

Pajaro Middle School students had to travel much greater distances to Lakeview Middle compared to their commute to Pajaro Middle School. In many cases, buses were late or traffic tripled their commute times. 

Last year, the principal at Lakeview and for Pajaro Middle, Katie Kriscunas, said the commute was one of the greatest challenges for the students. Many Pajaro Middle School students live in Las Lomas, an unincorporated community south of Pajaro. 

Killian says she’s aware of the challenges and honored to be asked to bring the community together again. 

“So the challenge is giving each other that time and space to be together again, to find out how the Pajaro Panthers operate on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “We call it our ‘Pajaro Pride.’ How do we live that out every day?…There’s a solid foundation that’s been here, but we’ll be reviving it and continuing that legacy and growing together.” 

Killian will also be the principal for Pacific Coast Charter School, an alternative education school with more than 100 mostly high school students enrolled. She applied for just that position originally, and because of a shortage of applicants for the principal position at Pajaro Middle, the district asked her to take on both roles. She said the total enrollment for both schools is about 500.

Last Monday, PVUSD Superintendent Contreras told Lookout that other districts across the state also have challenges filling administrative positions, and are also experiencing declining enrollment. 

“That decision is really predicated upon trying to make sure we’re fully staffed,” she said. “We’re supporting all of our schools in the best way under the shortage of hiring applicants.”

She said across the district, they’re still trying to hire for four special education and six elementary school positions. But she was confident those positions would be filled by the first day of school.

“Everyone is going to start with a highly qualified teacher in the classroom,” she said. “We’re in a good position for that.” 

The day before classes started, math and science teacher Mata said it’s a surreal moment returning to the school. She hopes people don’t forget about the flooding and its lasting impact on Pajaro residents and Pajaro Middle School students. 

“The toll that it took in the short term is nothing compared to the toll that it’s taking in the long term,” she said, including learning loss from absenteeism. “My hope is for these students, and families, to have a more stable, strong connection with the community and the school.”

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