The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services has approved the reopening Monday of four Long Beach private schools for in-person classes.

Saint Maria Goretti Catholic School will welcome back about forty K-2 grade students Monday after receiving a waiver from the county to reopen.

Saint Maria Goretti is the first Catholic school in LA County to reopen since the March coronavirus shutdown.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini School in South Los Angeles celebrated the culmination of a $1.5 million campus renovation with a socially distanced ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 30, complete with a blessing and dedication by regional Auxiliary Bishop Edward Clark.

A group of public, private, and faith-based school officials, as well as physicians and parents, are arguing for a return to in-person learning in Los Angeles schools after seven months of only virtual instruction.

Many parents say their kids’ Catholic education is worth sacrificing for, especially in a global pandemic.

For local Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, getting through the school year has been an “extraordinarily disorienting” experience, acknowledges Department of Catholic School Superintendent Paul Escala.

Since the traditional in-classroom structure was suspended in mid-March in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the pivot to “distance learning” has become the mantra for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Department of Catholic Schools.

“Scholas Occurrentes,” a global education project promoting a “culture of encounter” among high school students launched by Pope Francis, has been wanting to expand its reach into the United States. On the morning of Friday, Dec. 13, it was the Holy Father himself who announced from Rome that Los Angeles would be the place to start that process.