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PALISADES, Calif. (KABC) — 221 students returned to St. Matthew’s Parish School nearly 20 months after flames ripped through their community.
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The Palisades Fire destroyed more than a third of the buildings on campus.
Now, students, parents and staff are celebrating a new chapter in the school’s history.
“We are one supportive, welcoming and open community and the strength, the foundation that’s been built here over 77 years is really what guided us through,” said Alley Michaelson, head of school at St. Matthew’s Parish School.
Michaelson says the community rallied around one another throughout the experience.
“We were all in it together. That’s the bottom line. Every single person who is a part of the St. Matthew’s community past, present and future; we’ve all rallied around each other as a community,” Michaelson said.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Palisades, was on hand to welcome students back to their home.
“It has been an extraordinary journey for the families here at St. Matthew’s,” Park said.
Park says St. Matthew’s went through extensive cleanup and rebuilding to ensure the school grounds were ready and safe for students.
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“Being here for these moments is among the most important things that I do,” Park said.
Park also says the community has a long way to go, with many parents still on their rebuilding journeys.
“So many of these parents. They’re still on their rebuilding journeys and this community has stuck together and showed up for each other and taken care of each other in just extraordinary ways,” Park said.
For Michaelson, the return is especially personal as she rebuilds her own childhood home while helping bring children back to St. Matthew’s.
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than St. Matthew’s holding hands with this community and walking along them side by side as I rebuild my own childhood home and bring children back to the place that provided me with the best education possible as a child,” Michaelson said.
St. Matthew’s says that love and sense of community will continue until everyone displaced by the fires comes home.
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