LOS ANGELES — Victoria Ramirez has four children in school and a job to report to, so she understands the inconvenience of closing schools for any reason.

Yet she supported the decision to close campuses Thursday and Friday in the Los Angeles Unified School District as the region deals with an ongoing fire emergency.

Ramirez has a 10-year-old son with asthma, who attends a middle school dual-language program housed at Franklin High in Highland Park.

"For him to stay home, it's safer than coming to school," Ramirez said.

Air quality was a primary reason for the cancellation, said L.A. schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, who emphasized that pandemic-related investments in air filtration has made classroom air quality "better than what a lot of our kids would experience at home."

"The issue is getting to school," Carvalho said. " So you know, whether you're walking a quarter of a mile, a half a mile, you'll be exposed to this. That is the issue. It's not the school itself. It is getting to the school that becomes a challenge."

The ongoing fire emergency also weighed heavily in the decision.

"I was with the mayor and the fire chiefs last night during the press briefing, and it was surreal to see the Hollywood Hills fire start right in front of us, through the monitors," Carvalho said. "The entire community is still under red alert."

"In the Hollywood Hills, the evacuation notice has come to an end, but in other sites, it continues," he said.

On Wednesday, the district tried to soldier through — keeping the vast majority of campuses open, closing those in and near evacuation zones. But there were problems.

Fire destroyed much of two elementary schools and also damaged Palisades Charter High School, which had not yet opened for the semester. The burned Palisades elementary schools were evacuated late Wednesday morning, before fire reached them.

In addition, at the peak, 52 campuses had no power, Carvalho said.

There also were campuses with power but no internet, said school board member Karla Griego, who visited three campuses Wednesday in the northern part of her district, east of downtown, near or adjacent to fire zones — at which fewer than half of students and staff made it in.

She said students were moved into the auditorium or large multipurpose rooms.

"The staff that was there, the principals, they handled it," she said. Griego, a longtime teacher, said there wasn't much of a chance for reading and math instruction, but "these were great opportunities to talk about climate change, and about how, when these situations happen: How do communities come together? How do we prepare? What is the science behind all of this?"

All the same, the schools should have been closed sooner, said Griego, who knows a teacher and an administrator who lost their homes to the Eaton fire: "But I also understand the circumstances. This is all new, and we're all learning."

Across the school system on Wednesday, student attendance was about 68% and staff attendance about 80%, according to the district tally.

The proximity to fire danger influenced the numbers.

Schools in Southeast L.A. County — far from the fires and high winds — had lower than normal but substantial attendance: Maywood Academy Senior High at 85%; South Gate Middle School at 87%.

The magnet academy at the Sotomayor campus in Glassell Park had 36% attendance. Many families in that area were affected by evacuation warnings and power outages. A magnet program at King Middle School in Los Feliz had 54% attendance. Nearby, Marshall High had fewer than 50% of students in attendance. At Franklin High in Highland Park, the attendance rate was 19%.

For Thursday and Friday, Highland Park parent Ramirez has activities at home planned for her four children — the oldest is 18.

"They have a schedule at home that we're going to follow," Ramirez said. "I left instructions at home."

Ramirez, normally a cafeteria worker at Fletcher Drive Elementary in Glassell Park, went instead to the Sotomayor Learning Academies campus, one of eight food distribution centers that were open Thursday morning. On Friday, that number will expand to 16.

Families that stopped by could pick up a bag with two meals — breakfast and lunch — for every student. The lunch included two ready-to-heat cheeseburger sliders. There was an option that did not require heating up — for those families without power.

Those families included Jackie Salazar, whose son has asthma and who has had to go on medication. Her home was without power for a day.

At this pick-up point, on this first day of distribution, the traffic was light, but about 80% of students are from low-income families who qualify for a free or reduced price lunch.

Maria Cisneros, who has boys ages 5 and 13 in local schools, was appreciative.

Closing the schools "is better because the air is no good." And the food support: "It helps because they eat a lot!"

Hard copies of learning packets are available through regional offices, and the district has asked parents and students to go online, when possible, for academic assignments and enrichment activities.

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