Celerity Exa Charter School closed by Pasadena fire marshal

PASADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- Celerity Exa Charter School was forced to close its doors after the Pasadena fire marshal determined the school's building was unsafe and in violation of several fire codes Tuesday.

Pasadena Fire Marshal and Fire Chief Calvin Wells says the school is too dangerous for children so young. The students boarded a bus for an emergency field trip for the second day in a row Thursday.

"We want them to be in a safe and secure environment and this is anything but should something happen," Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.

Now confusion about what's next. The Pasadena Unified School District, where the charter operates, has given Celerity one week to find an alternate site for 280 students, K-5.

"This would have made our third year here. Now all of a sudden, there's an issue," parent Andrea McGraw said.

The issues are in a single building on the William Carey International University campus, according to the fire marshal. There's no permit for a new school, no automatic sprinklers, no automatic fire alarm, inadequate exits and kindergarten through second-graders are illegally occupying what the fire marshal calls a basement area.

Fire officials say Celerity has been operating under the radar for the last two years, but with far fewer students.

"They are operating currently as a business, so we had not inspected them as an educational facility," Derderian said, "we did not know there was a school there."

Celerity Exa Charter School principal Kimberly Sheuilin says she was not aware the school had crossed a line in the safety codes.

"There was a school prior so we were under the assumption that we were fine there and we were operating for two years prior," Sheuilin said.

Celerity operates charter schools across the nation. Fire officials wonder why they didn't know about codes regulating smaller children.

Parents, meantime, wonder if the inspection is a pressure tactic by the Pasadena Unified School District to compel students to return to regular public school.