Miracle Mile : School Marks 60th Year
Actors Sharon Gless and Michael Murphy and Father Earl Walker, pastor of the local parish, joined 250 other alumni for a reunion Sunday marking the 60th year of operation of Cathedral Chapel School, which once charged $2 a month for tuition.
The cost of a parochial school education has gone up to $1,200 a year, but Eilaina Estra-Melendez, the principal, said the school, at Cochran Avenue and 8th Street, is not suffering from a lack of students.
It now has a student body of 300 and a faculty of 13, teaching kindergarten through eighth grade. Another change since the first class was graduated in 1931 is that none of the teachers are members of religious orders.
The school was founded in 1930 by the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. One of the original staff, Sister Mary Victoria, attended the reunion.
The school was later run by the Sisters of St. Louis. Melendez, who was named principal in 1987, was the first lay person to hold that position.
The school is affiliated with Cathedral Chapel parish on nearby Detroit Street. In addition to Cathedral Chapel’s Father Walker, other graduates include singer Natalie Cole.
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