Arson Suspected in Fire at Elementary School

Investigators concluded Monday that arsonists probably started a fire that damaged five classrooms at Northrup Elementary School in Alhambra Sunday night. No one was injured. The blaze caused more than $250,000 damage in a recently remodeled wing. It comes at a particularly bad time for the financially strapped Alhambra City and High School districts. Before the fire, the school board had been scheduled to vote on an estimated $900,000 in midyear budget cuts tonight.

Before year’s end, the district must slash an additional $1.6 million, and cuts could include teacher pay raises and clerical positions, Supt. Bruce Peppin said.

“We didn’t need this right now,” Peppin said of the fire, which will cost $25,000 for the insurance deductible. About 180 students will be relocated in the school’s cafeteria, library, auditorium, a spare classroom and the district’s foreign-student orientation center.