PAWNEE COUNTY, Okla. — Students affected by the March 14 wildfires are returning to school this week after a spring break marked by devastation.
2 News Oklahoma’s Douglas Braff listened to a family in Pawnee County as their son with special needs heads back to class.
13-year-old Thaxter Lanham and his family suffered a painful loss on March 14.
“He doesn't feel safe here anymore,” his mother, Paula Venegas, told 2 News on Monday.
“Constantly, he's always saying he wants to go home, wanting his dogs,” his father, Tim Lanham, added, starting to choke up. “But there's no home to go to.”
Right now, they’re staying in a friend’s Winnebago, with hopes of eventually buying a trailer to park in their yard.
“Nothing set in stone,” said Tim. “It is real worrisome that I don't have no place for him.”
Some of their pets died in the fire, while others went missing, as his mother Venegas told us on Sunday for a story about people losing pets in the wildfires.
With his home destroyed and some of his pets either dead or missing, Thaxter’s family told us one of the remaining constants in his life is school.
“That's it,” said Venegas. “That's all he has.”
Thaxter is currently a sixth-grader at Cleveland Middle School. He returns on March 25.
“I think that it'll just be better for him to get back to something that is a little bit of his normal so that he's not so affected by this,” said Venegas, “but there's no way he won't be.”
He is autistic and non-verbal. At school, he has a special curriculum teaching him basic life skills like brushing teeth, washing hands, or cooking.
His parents think returning to school will give Thaxter a sense of escape.
“I think that they will do very well to distract him,” his mother mentioned. “His school's amazing with him.”
His parents said all of his teachers reached out after the wildfire to check in with them.
“Even his teachers from previous schools in other towns have all reached out,” Venegas pointed out, starting to well up with emotion. “Thaxter makes an impact on everybody. He's just such a sweetheart.”
This has a family’s GoFundMe to help pay for their basic needs. Anybody who wants to donate can click here.
2 News reached out to Cleveland Public Schools Superintendent Sol Bayouth for an interview, but he declined. Instead, he sent us this statement saying the district wants to help affected families however it can:
Our priority as we return from Spring Break is ensuring that every student affected by the fire feels supported, whether they are physically on our campus or not. We recognize that normalcy is essential for our displaced families, and we are committed to meeting their needs in every way possible. Initially this looked like a place for immediate resources after the fire, connecting people to area centers, and helping be a communication hub. We are now focused on ensuring our students who have been displaced due to the fires are able to return to tomorrow with as much normalcy as possible.
Whatever their need has been and will be; clothes, supplies, hygiene, laundry, counseling, we are dedicated to meet. Tomorrow morning we will have staff members transporting displaced families as far away as Stillwater, just so students can come back to where they feel safe and comfortable, our campus.
As a public school, this is our call everyday, to meet students where their needs are and help. Cleveland Schools, and all of our affected peers, consider ourselves blessed to have the opportunity to love and serve our students in the aftermath of the past 10 days.
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