A look down the main hallway of the Pinevale Learning Center and Alternative School showing the destruction from the fire Tuesday night. Paul Leavy/The Valdosta Daily Times

VALDOSTA — Pinevale Learning Center was the apparent target of at least one arsonist Tuesday night. The 170-plus students temporarily displaced because of the fire returned to classes this morning.

Around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday, Valdosta Police Commander Brian Childress noted emergency first responders received word of an alarm sounding at Pinevale Learning Center, 930 Old Lake Park Road. The Valdosta City School System’s recently installed campus-based security system had seemingly detected a possible intruder in one of its halls.

Valdosta Police Department officers and Valdosta Fire Department and Lowndes County Fire/Rescue firefighters arrived to find a portion of the campus engulfed in flames. Childress estimated that about 100 emergency first responders worked to secure the scene well into the Wednesday morning hours, with a few still at the scene into the afternoon.

Having discovered a broken window at the scene, Childress said that the Valdosta Police Department conducted a criminal investigation that resulted in an unidentified male being taken into custody. At press time, he had been charged with making false statements to and obstruction of an officer.

“At this time, we are looking into the possibility of charging him with arson,” he said Wednesday.

A second individual is believed to be involved in the crime, Childress continued. His identity known by the Valdosta Police Department, he remained at large Wednesday afternoon. All names are being withheld until arrests have been made and formal charges have been filed, Childress said.

Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John W. Oxendine, Valdosta Police Chief Frank Simons and Valdosta Fire Chief J.D. Rice announced the fire at Pinevale Learning Center had officially been ruled a case of arson, according to a joint press release issued Wednesday afternoon. Oxendine estimated the loss to be more than $1 million.

Formerly Lomax-Pinevale Elementary School, the section of Pinevale Learning Center’s campus that was damaged by the fire housed the Performance Learning Center, a non-traditional high school for students suffering from stifled academic success in the traditional learning environment. Described as a business-like learning environment for academic innovation, it opened with the start of the 2005-06 school year to students behind in credits, at risk of dropping out of school, reading at a sixth-grade or higher level, absent an inordinate amount of days, not meeting grade level competencies and/or in need of flexible academic programming in order to overcome personal obstacles. It was not a place for students with behavior problems.

Superintendent Sam Allen was quoted as saying during an orientation session for the Performance Learning Center, “We are very excited about this new initiative. It’s an exciting time in the Valdosta City School System. This is an ideal opportunity for students who want an education but for some reason cannot achieve in the regular learning environment.” Tuesday night, he watched it burn.

Funded, at least in part, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Performance Learning Center allows students to undertake and complete assignments via an interactive, online and project-based version of the curriculum aligned with the Georgia Quality Core Curriculum. With assistance from a learning facilitator, students work at their own pace using NovaNET, a comprehensive electronic learning system requiring an 80 percent mastery rate in order to advance to the next level.

Allen said Wednesday that he expects all of the Performance Learning Center computer equipment to be a total loss. He also went so far as to say that the Valdosta City School System would never again occupy that particular section of Pinevale Learning Center’s campus.

“It’s funny,” he said. “Fourteen years ago, we had an alternative school on this same campus. It, too, burned.”

Wednesday morning, a team of individuals from the Lowndes County School System arrived at the Pinevale Learning Center campus with trucks and supplies, ready to assist the Valdosta City School System. They worked throughout the day to ready a different section of the campus for students who were scheduled to return to class this morning.

Electricity was still active in the rest of the Pinevale Learning Center campus facilities, even though they were not being used at the time. Desks and tables and chairs were moved into once vacant classrooms, and laptops were delivered for student use until permanent computers could be purchased once again. At press time, Allen said his team was working to install a wireless connection.

“We had school systems from all around the area calling to offer us their support,” he continued. “We have really had an outpouring of community support. That’s something we really appreciate.”

The Pinevale Learning Center also houses a night program for high school students unable to attend classes during the day, a night program for those students who attend classes during the day but for one reason or another need to recover lost credits, alternative schools for students adjudicated, as well as GED and dual enrollment programs for Valdosta Technical College. The final class was dismissed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, a little more than an hour before the call went out to the emergency responders.

While the Performance Learning Center was the only section that burned, Pinevale Learning Center Director Ronnie Dunn said the remaining sections that were previously occupied are unusable due to a total loss of power. He said their circuit breakers were unfortunately located in the damaged area.

“At this point, we are focused on getting students back to class and back to the business of learning,” he said. “We had one student who was supposed to take her final test for graduation (Wednesday). We expect everything will be back to normal (today).”