I'm Temmie Sadri, an attendant of Orange County School of the Arts (aka OCSA). I also live in Irvine, a city affected by the current Silverado Canyon fires. While I am not in a section that needs to evacuate, I live right next an evacuation center and know many friends and classmates that have had to evacuate due to the fires, so I have seen how this fire is affecting many. Many school districts in and around affected areas have shut down completely, for even if some people in their district aren't in evacuation zones, the fires are still uncontained and it is simply too stressful a situation to work.

Yet in the wake of these fires, the Orange County School of the Arts administration has lacked to offer any real assistance or alleviation to their students. They sent out an email simply saying that "Students who are impacted, under evacuation orders, or currently without access to technology for distance learning are encouraged to communicate with their teachers, as well as the Attendance Office as needed." I have been told by fellow students that few teachers have acknowledged the fires and even those that do are still giving out work regardless. This feels like a big middle finger, as in this stress figuring out schoolwork should be the last thing on our impacted students minds. This experience is traumatic for many and the fact that OCSA is telling their affected students and faculty to simply figure it out is cruel.

This isn't the first time OCSA has shown this sort of negligence to community concerns, and I doubt it will be the last. However, it is only fair that more action must be taken to help their students in these dire times. It is somewhat understandable that they wouldn't want to cancel school; OCSA's population is spread out meaning that only a fraction of the population is affected by the fires, and to cancel school means losing days. However, in these times, is maintaining school really more important than maintaining health? In compromise, OCSA should offer more asynchronous days throughout this week and next week, as well as offer an extension on all work until at least November 6. This will save impacted students the stress of having to call in absent and email their teachers for extensions, but will still give those that aren't affected a chance to continue their schoolwork. In times like these, compassion is of the upmost importance, and we could use a lot more of it from our current administration.