When an earthquake ripped through Aldama Elementary School in Highland Park, Principal Laura Gutierrez stood outside supervising recess when her visceral reaction began in a split second.
She began to dance—tremble with tremors. Several students saw her, were frightened for a moment, and danced with her.
“They looked at me, a lot of them with big eyes. I looked back and thought, ‘Okay, let’s do this.’ So a lot of them did it with me.
She then immediately contacted the plant manager and supervisory assistant via radio to coordinate a comprehensive campus response.
A moderate earthquake struck the Los Angeles Unified School District at 12:20 p.m. on the first day of school, causing no damage but stoking tension and testing preparations during earthquake drills.
The 4.4-magnitude earthquake was centered in El Sereno and particularly shook nearby areas, including Wilson High School, which was temporarily evacuated, the sheriff said. Alberto Carvalho. Students on many campuses went into hiding, and a few followed with short-term evacuations.
Academia Anawakalmekak is a charter school whose main campus is just two blocks from the epicenter. The power of vibration is not something to dance about.
“It felt like an ocean liner had hit the building,” said Marcos Aguilar, co-principal of the K-12 charter school.
Aguilar said the initial shock was the worst, with subsequent tremors lasting only a few seconds.
That’s what Jose Montes de Oca, vice president of the Upper School, thinks — though he uses the word “truck,” not “ocean liner.”
Aguilar, who was working upstairs with some staff, acknowledged that he and his colleagues ignored standard protocols for ducking and covering and instead rushed downstairs to check on students.
They were fine and followed the rule of hiding under or near the table and then evacuating under adult supervision once the shaking stopped. Montes Deoca said many, if not most, students were already outside because it was lunch time.
Parents have been calling to check on their children – something that has happened at other schools, including Aldama. Charter school staff were initially unable to answer calls because they, too, had to evacuate. But the school quickly sent a text message saying everyone was safe.
Aguilar rushed to the campus to find the youngest student “because I thought that was where the focus was more.” About four students were frightened, and one was crying. “Everyone else was excited to be outside. It did shock some of our staff. They may have memories of bigger earthquakes.
During an afternoon school assembly for students and parents, part of the first-day routine, Montes de Oca reviewed earthquake safety, including what to do at home.
Although the incident lasted several seconds, Aguilar noticed that no one was evacuating from the restaurant next door to the store.
Back in Aldama, Principal Gutierrez said about two-thirds of students are already outside — either during recess or lunch. Students inside appeared to be following safety rules. It helped that she chose earthquake safety as the theme for Monday’s school assembly. Like charter schools, Aldama conducts earthquake drills every month.
Parent Lauren Quan-Madrid works in Whittier and didn’t feel the earthquake. But her husband, a teacher at Wilson High School, alarmed her to check on their daughter.
A powerful earthquake struck the Wilson campus, prompting a campus-wide evacuation and a grueling campus inspection that left students temporarily trapped outside.
Their sophomore student, Valeria Madrid-Romo, said the earthquake scared her. She was already anxious about entering a new year at school and wondering whether she could handle the more difficult classes.
By the end of the day, she felt secure academically and over the effects of the earthquake. When her mother arrived breathless and pulled her out of class, Valeria demanded to know: “What are you doing here?”
Juvenal Rodriguez and his wife were also shocked, but fellow sophomore Mateo was unmoved. He said it was even more fun when hail fell on their home during the recent rainy season.
Madison Alvarez, a junior at Aldama, thought the earthquake sounded like a falling tree, so she wasn’t too worried. What really stood out to her was that it was the first day of school.
“We did a lot of art and coloring,” she said. “The first day off was short but really fun.”
Jorge Alvarado, a 12th-grade student at Academia Avance, another charter school, was sitting in class when he saw the mirror shaking, then he felt the floor vibrate, then saw the wall On the move.
“I was just shocked because we were in class and I didn’t expect this to happen,” Jorge said. But like other schools, he and his classmates knew what to do.
Principal Gutierrez chooses to be positive: “We dance at Aldama for any reason.”
