Dear St. Matthew's School and Parish Communities,
We hope this message finds you well as we begin another school year. At the School, we are filled with gratitude watching our children settle into their enriched temporary spaces at the Water Garden and Stoner Avenue. While we cherish this unique chapter, we eagerly anticipate our return to our beloved Bienveneda campus, especially as several families have already moved back to their remediated or newly rented homes in the Palisades—inspiring progress that lights the way forward.
The Church is also filled with excitement for our annual picnic — St. Matthew’s Day — coming this Sunday, September 21, immediately following the 9:15am service held at St. Augustine’s. In addition, plans to begin worship again on Bienveneda are well underway. We hope you'll join us this Sunday for the service, food, and community -- no registration required!
Remediation Progress Update & Current Campus Work
Remediation of our school classrooms is actively underway. Our team of experts is systematically inventorying, photographing, tagging, and processing each item. While most materials will need to be discarded for safety reasons, we are carefully preserving critical, one-of-a-kind, or highly sentimental items (specifically that students do not touch) that can be safely remediated. If any one-of-a-kind item cannot be safely remediated, we will work individually with the owner of that item through a waiver process.
Remediation of the Church Sanctuary is almost complete, with plans for modified Sunday services to resume later this fall. In addition, development of the two Clergy Rectories that were lost in the fire is underway.
The Task Force remains committed to preparing our campus and structures for the safe return of our parishioners, school families, and staff. We will allow re-occupancy only after our highly skilled environmental consultants confirm that fire-related impacts have been sufficiently remediated consistent with industry and government standards. We simply will not take chances when it comes to community health.
Long-Term Safety Commitment
Beyond remediation, our experts are implementing protective measures to maintain and improve campus safety after re-occupancy, ensuring every aspect of our environment meets the highest safety standards.
- Our testing protocol includes comprehensive sampling of air, water, and soil across exterior grounds and building interiors both before and after remediation, with additional remediation performed as needed until areas are cleared for use.
- Regular post-remediation testing protocols are in place for air, water, and soil, starting from now, through Fall 2026 and well beyond our return to campus.
- We will implement appropriate safety and filtering equipment and technology, including HEPA vacuum cleaning, MERV 13 air filters, and local air purification systems and monitors in all interior spaces.
