Two More Private Schools Receive Waivers

New Horizon, a private Muslim school, and St. Andrew Catholic School are the latest local schools to receive waivers allowing PreK-2nd grade students to return to in-person learning, according to the city’s website.

City officials recently said the 12 private schools that have received waivers will be allowed to stay open despite a second wave of infections forcing state and county officials to take more drastic steps to control the coronavirus.

New Horizon and St. Andrew are the final two schools in the city waiver pipeline. At Monday’s City Council meeting, Public Health Director Dr. Ying-Ying Goh said no other applications remain to be reviewed.

The Pasadena Unified School District, which has instituted distance learning due to the pandemic, had planned to open schools for in-person education in December. But Health Department officials are now telling educators to be prepared to continue learning via computer.

Local health officials have been visiting area schools to provide hands-on consulting about the waivers.

All the schools have been warned that they could be forced to close again in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak. 

In Pasadena, school waiver application components have been posted online for two months to allow schools to prepare for reopening.

“We expect to maintain an ongoing conversation with schools that have reopened under the waiver process so that we may continue to provide technical assistance and support,” Goh wrote in a letter announcing the waivers.

“As community conditions change and science evolves, we may require you to revise your application and/or reopening plan and update your posted documents,” Goh wrote.