Classroom learning for Los Angeles County students won’t begin until November, according to media reports, due to COVID-19 concerns as well as opposition on the part of the United Teachers Los Angeles and Los Angeles Unified School District.

But, the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which encompasses 265 Catholic schools, was applying for waivers as recently as last week. 

“Many of our schools in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties have already opened with waivers in their respective counties," said Paul Escala, superintendent of Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

As previously reported in the Southern California Record, state and county public health officials are offering waivers for elementary schools that meet certain criteria. The exemptions are not automatic partly because only 30 schools are granted approvals on a weekly basis.

Criteria for waivers include a higher number of students enrolled in the free meal program, compliance with coronavirus reopening best practices, adequate PPE, and the ability to mitigate outbreaks, according to the Los County public health website.

“As it is still early and we are hoping not to compromise the application process, we will not be disclosing the names of the schools or the details of the waiver applications,” Escala told the American Catholic Tribune.

In September, Courthouse News reported that there are no formal plans to end remote classroom learning for most children but that students with special needs, disabilities, and who speak English as a second language would be allowed on-site for learning at their schools in small groups.

The problem is the high number of coronavirus cases. Los Angeles County remains ranked at Tier 1 (purple), which indicates widespread community spread of COVID-19 under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

The California Department of Public Health website reports 864,455 cases and 16,899 fatalities statewide as of Oct. 18.

According to the Blueprint, in order for brick-and-mortar schooling to resume countywide in public and private schools, Los Angeles County must be able to maintain case counts that adhere to Tier Red for 14 days.

Regarding Mass, the archdiocese is not hosting indoor services unless live-streamed for parishioners to attend remotely.

"At various churches around the archdiocese, they are doing Masses outside because we are allowed to have Masses outside, but the number of people permitted to attend is only those people that are involved in the Mass," said Ann Sanders, liaison for the health care ministry from the Office of Life, Justice, and Peace for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

However, Sanders added that even hosting Mass outside is restricted.

"You've got limited ability because of space constraints," she said. "When we're inside the cathedral, we have a lot of people there but in these times of the coronavirus where we are meeting out on the courtyard at one of the churches, you can have people there but there's a limit because there's no courtyard that's going to be able to house as many as inside the cathedral."