Oak Knoll Montessori Marks Recovery After Losing Campus in Eaton Fire

In August, 2024, Oak Knoll Montessori School welcomed a new head of school, Allwyn Fitzpatrick. As any seasoned school leader, and especially a Montessori-trained teacher, does, Fitzpatrick spent those early months scientifically observing and making notes for future plans. Hopping easily back-and-forth between the school’s Toddler and Preschool campus on North Lake Avenue on the edge of Bungalow Heaven and the Elementary and Middle School campus a mile north on Loma Alta in Altadena, Fitzpatrick settled into a semester designed to pave the way for a stable year and beyond.

When the shocking and perniciously destructive Eaton Fire struck on January 7, 2026, life was upended in Altadena. For Oak Knoll Montessori, the damage was barely comprehensible. Overnight, the entire Loma Alta campus burned to the ground with only two monuments evidencing its former health: the husk of the school van left on the asphalt play area, and, just feet from the ash pile that had been the school’s kitchen, a miracle: a chicken coop and chicken yard, unscathed, the school’s astoundingly hearty five chickens clucking away as the smoke cleared.. The Lake Campus was thoroughly ravaged by smoke and ash, necessitating weeks of environmental clean-up and testing as well as the replacement of tens of thousands (62k) of dollars of special Montessori classroom materials, many lovingly handmade over decades by the school’s uniquely trained teachers.

Even more devastating, over thirty families and teachers throughout the school lost or were displaced from their homes: yes, for twenty three children, the Eaton Fire meant losing their school and their home in the same moment. Though it’s hard to quantify the shock and grief that began with the fires and continues to this day, Oak Knoll also very quickly recognized that this was the time, if any, to remember its mission to provide for children’s emotional and social development as well as the academic.

Thanks to the concern and closeness of its tight-knit community, families whose homes were spared by the fire immediately jumped into action to provide structured, hosted social gatherings by the following week. Go Fund Me collections were also launched to provide immediate relief to the most affected OKMS community members. Oak Knoll teachers and Montessori teachers throughout the world responded to the tragedy by re-making what were almost irreplaceable handmade classroom materials. Thanks to social media, donations poured in from around the world. Within two weeks, thanks to the generosity of community partners Kids Club, Pasadena Heritage’s Blinn House, and Chandler School tentative Oak Knoll classrooms were set up so that Oak Knoll’s students could return to their friends and teachers, the first semblance of normalcy. In new electric VW buses acquired through extremely generous terms from Volkswagen of Pasadena, Head of School Fitzpatrick spent those early days as a bus driver, shuttling siblings dropped at one temporary campus to another, to minimize further disruption to struggling families.

But bus-driving was the least of it. By Friday, January 10, while Eaton Fire embers still glowered, Fitzpatrick already initiated a deal with Optimist Youth Homes & Family Services in Highland Park, to lease a significant portion of their multi-acre campus for a new home for Oak Knoll’s Elementary and Middle School programs. Simultaneously, she was one of the first in the community to contract for environmental remediation and apply for FEMA, insurance, and grant funding that have marked Oak Knoll as one of the earliest and most successful institutional recoveries from the disaster. 

By February 24th, the preschool classrooms on Lake Avenue were cleared for rehabitation, and with top-grade air purifiers running, the school’s youngest children were welcomed back to campus. Older students’ longer period of recovery in their temporary classrooms were made enjoyable by the opportunity to forge new friendships on the playground with their Chandler School friends. But by April 14, Fitzpatrick cut the ribbon at the Optimist facility in Highland Park on gorgeous, fully-remodeled classrooms, and suddenly Oak Knoll was truly starting over and beginning to plant new roots. In addition to the bright and spacious classrooms, the new facility boasts a full-size gymnasium and a sunny open soccer field—spaces that encourage movement, teamwork, independence, and joy. Even the surviving chicken flock is back, the beneficiaries of a campaign fittingly dubbed “#re-cooping.”

Fitzpatrick’s efforts have garnered unprecedented attention and support for the 40-year old school. In the ensuing year and a half, OKMS has received significant foundational grant support from a long and growing list of community partners, including the Genesis Inspiration Foundation; LA Rise; Los Angeles Small Business Relief; the Low Income Investment Fund; Pacific Oaks College; the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts; Village Rising; and Fire Aid. 

Through ongoing grief and the struggles characteristic of such a devastating disaster, the school itself has proved the efficacy of the core Montessori values of independence, community, and resilience. Oak Knoll’s Board of Trustees, who met on Zoom calls nightly for months after the fires, have been guided by the commitment to Montessori as a safe and stabilizing home for children. Thanks to the efforts of an Oak Knoll Montessori community that has expanded to include supporters from around the world, OKMS remains the only toddler-adolescent Montessori school in Los Angeles that is fully accredited by the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), and a true home where families and children feel safe, inspired, and deeply known. Limited openings for next school year are available: info@oakknollmontessorischool.org.