Homeless students, destroyed campuses, ‘invisible injuries’: What California schools learned from recent disasters

California schools ravaged by fire, floods and mud this year have mostly re-opened and are diving in to a new semester, but district leaders say they've learned some crucial lessons about handling natural disasters that all schools could benefit from.

"A disaster could happen anywhere at any time in California," said Steven Herrington, superintendent of the Sonoma County Office of Education, where two public schools were destroyed, nearly a dozen schools were damaged and hundreds of students and staff lost their homes. "We all have emergency plans. For us, overall, things went pretty smoothly. But nothing can really prepare you for a major disaster like what we experienced."