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The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing

The night of January 7, 2025, ushered in one horror after another for Shawn Brown. As a wildfire whipped through Altadena, California, Brown evacuated her home with her daughter and father — only to see footage of flames engulfing the charter school she founded to educate and uplift students of color. In a flash, Pasadena Rosebud Academy was gone.  The next morning, Brown drove to her house, confirming with her own eyes that the blaze had leveled it as well. But she did not unravel. As the executive director of Rosebud Academy, the career educator started making plans for her students and their families, many of whom were also left homeless after the conflagration. “I knew that people were kind of looking to us to help them,” she said.  A year after the Eaton Fire killed 19 people and destroyed over 9,000 structures, Rosebud Academy still lacks a permanent home. But with Brown’s leadership and inventiveness to serve a school in transition, the Rosebud community has remained united and even thrived after the catastrophe. Confronted with an uncertain future during the early days of recovery, the academy achieved resilience by leaning on its support network, adapting to changing circumstances and pressing ahead day by day.  A former teacher for the Pasadena Unified School District, Brown founded Rosebud in 2007 to close the racial achievement gap and provide an environment in which marginalized students in  transitional kindergarten through eighth grade could excel. She reiterated her commitment in a “Good Morning America” interview days after the fire started, emphasizing her intention to meet  student needs and set aside her personal grief. Pasadena Rosebud Academy Charter School was destroyed in the 2025 Eaton Canyon Fire which burned through huge swaths of Altadena, CA. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) “I think I was just in ‘go’ mode,” she recalled of the first weeks of recovery. “It was really about problem-solving, figuring out how we can get our students back together and bring our community back together.” She and her team organized a gathering for the Rosebud community at a local church, providing activities, food and a therapist for traumatized families. They planned a week of field trips to destinations such as the aquarium, the zoo and a science center to give parents time to figure out their next steps. Meanwhile, Rosebud leaders brainstormed about temporary sites.  “What are we going to do with our students?” Brown recalled them all wondering. “We needed a place.” Finding somewhere to resume classes for a few weeks in the middle of a school term and at the start of a new calendar year wasn’t easy. Some venues were simply too expensive, and others didn’t meet code guidelines for a school. With no clue where classes would be held the next week, Brown began to panic. “It was Thursday night, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I just don’t know what we’re going to do,’” she said. “‘We have to have a plan.’” Desperate, she sent an email to the leaders of The Beehive, a South Los Angeles event space with a 13,000-square-foot technology and entrepreneurship center. “They called at eight o’clock the next morning and said, ‘We would love to have you,’” Brown said. “They worked all weekend to put that place together. They were like God-sent for us.” For three weeks, Rosebud’s 189 students were bused daily from a Pasadena church to South Los Angeles, roughly 20 miles away and up to an hour’s drive depending on traffic. Afterward, the Pasadena Unified School District, the school’s charter authorizer, arranged for them to share a campus with a local public school. Rosebud has held classes in a group of bungalows on that site since February. While operating in a compact space where they initially combined classes wasn’t ideal, Brown appreciated even that opportunity.  “It’s a space where we’re able to continue the work that we’ve been doing,” she said. “But the goal is, we need to get our own facility because we can’t really unfold our program the way we want to in this shared, small space that we have.”  Through it all, Rosebud has retained nearly all of its students, Brown said. The few who stopped attending simply relocated too far away to keep coming. But even families who moved a considerable distance from Altadena continue to enroll their children. This school year, enrollment actually increased, Brown said. “Going through this whole ordeal really kind of solidified what we have and how tight and resilient our community is,” she continued. “We are really more like a close-knit family, and everybody just wanted to stay. They really appreciate the work that we were doing and just how we engage with them after the fire.”  Rosebud Academy students attend the temporary campus co-located with Don Benito Fundamental School in Pasadena. (BETHANY MOLLENKOF FOR THE 19th) Rosebud’s growth after the Eaton Fire may also be due to the school’s academic reputation.  “It’s like, you’re going to a private school and you’re not paying for a private school,” said Mary Mendoza, a parent of three enrolled students. The fact that Rosebud holds its students — more than half of whom are socioeconomically disadvantaged — to high academic and social standards has contributed to its success, Brown said. School leaders also emphasize accountability, which means they measure student progress through empirical evidence such as test scores and other data points.  “If you have high standards and there’s no accountability to it, then those standards are really just suggestions,” Brown said. In recent years, Rosebud has outperformed other schools in its district in English and math, though the wildfire slowed that momentum in 2025, according to state test results. Rosebud’s pillars around academics, behavior and accountability, along with its small class sizes and culturally responsive teaching, have proven beneficial for students of color, many of whom are marginalized in traditional schools. Just before the wildfire, the academy won a seven-year charter renewal from Pasadena Unified — a contract reserved for high-performing