Alemany High’s Move Is Up to City Commission

The move by quake-damaged Bishop Alemany High School to the campus now being used by a seminary will be permanent, if the Los Angeles City Planning Commission approves, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese announced Monday.

The 1,600 Alemany students were told before Easter that, as of September, the school is transferring operations to the grounds now occupied by Our Lady Queen of Angels High School Seminary, another archdiocesan institution. The original announcement did not reveal, however, whether the move would be temporary or permanent.

An archdiocesan spokesman, Father Gregory Coiro, this week confirmed that the move will be permanent if city approval is secured.

The 1994 Northridge earthquake heavily damaged the co-ed high school on Rinaldi Street, forcing students to move across the street into temporary classrooms at the seminary.

Several months later, Catholic officials announced that the seminary, which has about 150 high school age students, would close at the end of June, 1995, in order to pursue different strategies for recruiting future priests.

The future use of the main seminary building, built in 1954, was not immediately determined, but archdiocesan officials eventually decided to give Alemany all of the seminary rather than rebuild the original Alemany school complex.

“Sports facilities for football and track will remain at Alemany’s former site,” Coiro said. He added that plans now call for renovation of the seminary campus, including improved parking.