A fire ripped through a section of a small private, nonprofit, school in Menlo Park early Thursday morning, and by daylight, the principal was worried about replacing all the lost supplies.
David Laurance, principal at Beechwood School on Terminal Avenue, told NBC Bay Area that he's sure that the school would "pull through'' the fire's aftermath, but he was already putting the word out to the community that the school of 170 students would be in dire need of supplies.
He said the fire, reported about 3:45 a.m., burned through a third-grade portable and destroyed a lot of office supplies and records.
The school is set in a working-class neighborhood and serves children in East Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Many of the children come from homes where Spanish is the native tongue.
Firefighters said the one-alarm blaze was contained to administrative portions of the campus, and the principal said that classes will be canceled for at least the next two days.
One fifth-grader told NBC Bay Area that she was sad and that she'd rather be in school.
There was no immediate word on why or how the fire started.
