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Sacramento's only Jewish day school is cleaning up after a weekend arson fire destroyed two classrooms and damaged three other rooms, including the library.

Although fire officials believe the Shalom School fire was purposefully set, they won't paint the act as anti-Semitic unless new information surfaces.

"We're not ruling that out, but there is nothing to indicate it is a hate crime," Larry Alver, a battalion chief with the American River Fire Protection District, said Monday.

Shoshana Sofer, the school's director, agrees with the fire department's preliminary assessment.

The arsonist left no statements or graffiti indicating anti-Semitism, but investigators won't completely dismiss any motive until they eventually speak with a suspect.

Instead, they are pursuing the possibility that the fire was set to cover up a burglary. They are trying to determine whether anything was stolen.

The fire began about 4:15 a.m. Saturday in the second-grade classroom and spread to a kindergarten classroom. Firefighters had the blaze under control within a half hour.

But by then, the two classrooms were destroyed, and a preschool classroom, the teachers' lounge and the school library suffered smoke damage. All five rooms, which were in the same wing of the building, are closed off for now.

The arsonist used either a match or a lighter, Alver said, and someone apparently saw a juvenile running from the area.

Shalom School hasn't faced such vandalism in the past.

"This is the first and the worst," Sofer said.

In addition to dealing with the charred kindergarten and second-grade classrooms, school leaders are working on the emotional damage to the 300 students and their teachers.

"The kids feel violated. Kids feel their own things burned. This is like their home," Sofer said. "We have a lot of upset teachers…Many of the teachers are disturbed by what happened."

Everything inside the two classrooms, including prayer books, tefillin, children's artwork and teachers' materials, was destroyed.

Lizzy, the second grade's pet lizard, died in the fire.

Other pets survived, though. Fluffy, the second-grade's hamster, was home with a student's family over the weekend. And the kindergarteners' fish managed to survive.

Despite the fire, school opened Monday morning.

A Jewish Family Service psychologist came in to talk with teachers and children on Monday. And a few parents who are psychologists volunteered their time to talk with children on Monday and Tuesday.

Children have been relocated to the nearby Jewish federation's board room, or they've doubled up in other classrooms.

"We're a little squished," Sofer said.

The nondenominational school, which opened in 1978, teaches preschool through eighth grade. It sits on the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region's campus, which is just northeast of the Sacramento city border.

Fire damage is estimated at $250,000 for now. School officials aren't sure yet whether they will need to raze the entire wing. The school might need to rent portable classrooms.

Shalom School has insurance, Sofer said, but officials aren't sure yet how much it will cover. As a result, they have set up a rebuilding fund.

The Sacramento area has been dealing with a string of arson fires at schools in the past few years.

In 1996, for example, 31 fires were reported in Sacramento schools. Alver estimated that more than half were arson fires.