Braintree School Committee OKs New Mostly Virtual Catholic School

BRAINTREE, MA — The Braintree School Committee gave the green light for a new Catholic school to open.

The Lumen Verum Academy will have mostly virtual classes based at the Boston Archdiocese headquarters on Brooks Drive, but it will also have some in-person activities throughout the archdiocese, which covers most of eastern Massachusetts.

Under state law, private schools must be approved by the local school committee. School committee Chair Tom Devin said the archdiocese provided the school committee with plenty of details about the school and answered the committee's questions throughout the process.

"We look forward to you being very successful," Devin following the committee's unanimous vote in favor of allowing the school to open.

Lumen Verum Academy will be the 101st school under the archdiocese and the first new one in 50 years. It will open this fall with 25 students in grades 6-8. Thomas Carroll, the superintendent of schools for the archdiocese, told the committee the school well add a new grade every year until it serves grades 6-12 and has 350-400 students.

Lumen Verum Academy currently has seven faculty members, but Carroll said that will grow as the school's student population expands. The archdiocese will also look for faculty office space, as the school expands.

The school will hold virtual classes four days a week and in-person activities two days per week. Those activities will include guest lectures, including one from the ambassador of Hungary, Carroll said.

Carroll said the school will also have longer school days of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will operate for 200 days, instead of the state required 180 days.

Carroll said the purpose of the school is to "reach people we are not reaching now and to reach them with a completely different model."

The school will not only draw students from areas without Catholic schools, but also homeschooled students and some in special education programs who may do better with remote learning, Carroll said.

"I think the future is always in-person education," Carroll said. "I think that's what most people want, but I also think that after playing with technology over the past year, some good, some bad and some in between, that we learned a lot about the advantages of technology.

Tuition for Lumen Verum Academy is $14,750 per year with scholarships available. Students do not need to be Catholic to attend.