Submitted by The Reverend Ryan D. Newman, Ed.D., Executive Director, Commission on Schools
Twenty months after the Palisades Fire displaced St. Matthew’s Parish School from its Pacific Palisades campus to temporary sites in Santa Monica, students, faculty, and staff returned home this month to begin the 2026–2027 school year on the school’s 30-acre campus.
For the St. Matthew’s community, the day felt less like a reopening than a long-awaited homecoming.
More than 220 families from across Los Angeles’ Westside arrived on campus Wednesday, September 9, with relief, gratitude, and the complicated tenderness of returning after a fire that significantly damaged the campus and displaced the school community.
Moments before classrooms filled and the familiar rhythm of school resumed, students, families, faculty, staff, and parish leaders gathered in prayer, holding together the weight of the past 20 months and the gratitude of a long-awaited new beginning.
Some families were experiencing St. Matthew’s for the first time, while others were returning to a campus that had shaped their families for generations. Together, the St. Matthew’s community stepped into the next season of the school’s life, firmly grounded in the sacred work of celebrating students, challenging their minds, forming their character, and helping them lead with courage.
“St. Matthew’s is a community of welcoming. That’s one of the many things I love about this place,” said the Rev. Stefanie Wilson, School Chaplain and current parent to two children.
Students and families returned to remediated classrooms, common spaces, and outdoor areas across a restored campus. Dedicated educators and staff spent the weeks before opening day preparing the spaces so students would feel at home as soon as they arrived.
St. Matthew’s Head of School Alley Michaelson, a current parent and member of the Class of 2002, said the school’s return also comes at an important moment in the Palisades community.
“As our Palisades neighborhood rebuilds over the coming years, new families will be looking for a place to ground themselves, a place where their children can flourish,” Michaelson said. “We want to be the light that welcomes them home.”
That sense of welcome has been central to the school’s life during the months away from campus. It is also closely tied to the relationship between St. Matthew’s Parish School and the Parish of St. Matthew, a partnership that has shaped the community for decades.
“St. Matthew’s Parish School is the single largest ministry of this church that has been serving the Pacific Palisades for 85 years,” said the Rev. Canon Melissa McCarthy, priest-in-charge. “An Episcopal education is an incredible gift that you can give your child. They will be well-prepared for wherever life takes them and they will always have a community to call home no matter where they go.”
The school’s time away from campus also deepened its understanding of service. Having experienced the generosity and hospitality of others during a season of displacement, students are returning with a renewed awareness of what it means to serve their neighbors. Rev. Wilson pointed to recent work by St. Matthew’s Middle School students as one sign of that commitment.
“Our 6th and 7th grade students were on Bienveneda Avenue with Resilient Palisades removing non-native species from the hillside to help not only beautify the area, but help make it more fire resistant for the future,” Rev. Wilson said. “And our students are so passionate about this work because they know why it matters.”
For parents and alums, the return to campus held particular meaning. Brooke Kathrein, Parents’ Council President, current parent of three children, and a member of the Class of 1998, said the first day back brought into focus what St. Matthew’s has meant across generations.
“St. Matthew’s gave me the blessing of a happy childhood and it is the foundation that helped shape me into who I am today,” Kathrein said. “It is a magical and nurturing place that prepared me for the world beyond, and I feel so lucky and grateful to be able to give my own children the gift of St. Matthew’s.”
Kathrein said the past 20 months also revealed the strength of the parent community. “What stands out to me is how very resilient and supportive the St. Matthew’s Parent Community is,” she said. “It is truly something special and I’ve never been more proud to be a Falcon parent.”
Founded in 1949, St. Matthew’s Parish School is an Episcopal day school and ministry of the Parish of St. Matthew. For 77 years, the school has served children and families of the parish and wider community through a program grounded in academic excellence, faith, character formation and care for others.
As the Palisades continues to rebuild, St. Matthew’s return to campus offers a visible sign of hope and restoration. With this homecoming, the Palisades campus is once again the heart of St. Matthew’s Parish School, a place where students will continue to learn, grow, and flourish.