PARADISE — Gov. Gavin Newsom visited Paradise to meet some of the kids at the reformatted Paradise Ridge Elementary School on Wednesday.

He spoke to a class of second-graders and one of kindergartners less than a week after the students returned to the school for the first time since the Camp Fire.

Forty-six percent of the student population in Paradise Unified School District before the Camp Fire has returned this school year, said Michelle John, Paradise Unified School District superintendent. Students are taking buses from Oroville, Durham and Chico to attend school in Paradise. Some are driving an hour or more to school.

The new Paradise Ridge Elementary School, located at the previous Paradise Intermediate School, has students from Ponderosa Elementary School and Paradise Elementary School, which were burned or damaged in the fire.

“You get a sense really quickly how a community is doing through the eyes of children, and I feel really more optimistic now,” said Newsom. “That teachers are committed and parents are committed to getting their kids back in school is amazing. That’s the seed.”

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom checks out the hair style of kindergartner Leonardo Castrejon during his visit Wednesday to the Paradise Ridge Elementary School in Paradise. Newsom toured the school and visited with students and teachers that just returned to school last week from the summer break in the community that was ravaged by last year’s Camp Fire. (Rich Pedroncelli — Associated Press)

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom takes questions from second graders during his visit Wednesday to the Paradise Ridge Elementary School in Paradise. Newsom toured the school and visited with students and teachers that just returned to school last week from the summer break in the community that was ravaged by last year’s Camp Fire. Loss of home insurance or spiking policy prices are one consequence of California’s deadly and destructive wildfires in recent years. (Rich Pedroncelli — Associated Press)

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom visits a group of kindergartners during his visit Wednesday to the Paradise Ridge Elementary School in Paradise. Newsom toured the school and visited with students and teachers that just returned to school last week from the summer break in the community that was ravaged by last year’s Camp Fire. (Rich Pedroncelli — Associated Press)

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, takes questions from second graders during his visit Wednesday to the Paradise Ridge Elementary School in Paradise. Newsom toured the school and visited with students and teachers that just returned to school last week from the summer break in the community that was ravaged by last year’s Camp Fire. (Rich Pedroncelli — Associated Press)

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom ponders a question by kindergartner Kali Pello during his visit to the Paradise Ridge Elementary School in Paradise on Wednesday. Newsom toured the school and visited with students and teachers that just returned to school last week from the summer break in the community that was ravaged by last year’s Camp Fire. (Rich Pedroncelli — Associated Press)

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom takes questions from second graders during his visit Wednesday to the Paradise Ridge Elementary School in Paradise. Newsom toured the school and visited with students and teachers that just returned to school last week from the summer break in the community that was ravaged by last year’s Camp Fire. (Rich Pedroncelli — Associated Press)

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The Butte County Office of Education has increased counselors in all Paradise schools. California HOPE of Butte County and Mindful Littles, a Bay Area program teaching children self-care skills, have also provided services to children who’ve gone through the disaster.

“They’re scared if you see smoke in the air, like if a rice field is burning, that will trigger them, sometimes, but for the most part they are incredibly resilient,” said John. “The adults seem to be a little harder, they don’t seem to be quite as resilient.”

The second-grade class Newsom visited is learning about the life cycle of a frog, so Newsom led a conversation about animals. He mentioned his very first pet, a river otter named Potter, who would cuddle with him on his bed and play with the telephone cord.

When a child asked him how he kept California going when he was traveling all the time, Newsom laughed and said it was difficult and the state had all sorts of people who may disagree.

State lawmakers quickly provided backfill funding for Paradise Unified School District for three years after the Camp Fire. But John reminded Newsom on Wednesday that it will take longer than three years for the student population to return to its pre-disaster levels, if it ever does.

“We know we are going to be facing drastic cuts,” said John.

Other school officials, including Paradise Ridge Elementary School Principal Ed Gregorio and Board of Trustees president Mike Greer, also met and talked with the governor during the school visit.

The governor, who has visited Paradise before right after the Camp Fire, said he was heartened by the progress he saw in the town. Newsom said he wanted Paradise to be a model of recovery for other towns in the state and country who’ve gone through a disaster.

“This is the great opportunity,” said Newsom, who mentioned how his hometown, San Francisco, came back after it was destroyed by an earthquake in 1906. “It’s a revelatory example of what’s possible in making a more resilient and more spectacular community.”