Hundreds of public schoolteachers are among the Southern Californians who lost their homes to raging wildfires in the last week. Some are scrambling to find places to live, even as they hope to return soon to their classrooms to restore some normality for their students — and for themselves.

In the Pasadena Unified School District, which includes the communities where the Eaton fire has killed at least 16 people and destroyed thousands of structures, about 300 employees lost their homes,…