LA Catholic schools to close for two weeks over coronavirus concerns
The superintendent of Los Angeles’ Catholic schools announced Friday that Catholic schools in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties will close and move to “remote learning” effective Tuesday, March 17 through at least March 31 to limit the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus).
In a letter sent March 13 to parents of the nearly 75,000 children enrolled in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Senior Director and Superintendent Paul Escala said the decision to close the schools was made as “an important contribution to the effort to slow the spread of the virus,” while noting that there were no known confirmed cases of COVID-19 among staff or students in any schools in the Archdiocese as the time of the announcement.
“Our highest priority during this period is to ensure our schools are prepared to maintain learning during the closure,” said Escala, who noted that the Department of Catholic Schools (DCS) would be working with principals to “to provide resources for online and distance learning” for students during the closure and would “continue to provide support to schools during the closure period, on-site and remotely.”