The beginning of this school year did not go as planned for families and staff at St. Elizabeth School. They were notified on Aug. 19, eight days before classes were to begin, that the school at 4052 S. Wabash Ave. would be shuttered for this year because of lead paint found in the building while crews were doing summer work. Instead, the principal, Siobhan Cafferty, would move to Holy Angels School, about a mile away. Any teachers or students who wanted to move to Holy Angels also would be welcomed. How did it all go? “It really has been going very smoothly,” Cafferty said, as she prepared to dismiss students on Aug. 27, the fourth day of classes at Holy Angels. That had been scheduled to be the first day at St. Elizabeth. “Almost everybody showed up on Monday, on time and in uniform, and they went to their classes and they went to lunch and they went to recess,” Cafferty said. “The students from St. Elizabeth have been enjoying the facilities and the outdoor spaces here, and the students from Holy Angels have been very welcoming. They also are enjoying many of the resources we brought from St. Elizabeth.” While final numbers are not yet available, more than half the students from St. Elizabeth appear to be attending Holy Angels, and they make up about half the 200-plus students in the combined school, she said. Interim school superintendent Mary Kearney said the archdiocese had no choice but to keep St. Elizabeth’s building closed this year when workers found lead paint only about two weeks before school was to start. “They were painting, and they hadn’t painted in there for years,” Kearney said. “They tested and they found lead paint, and you can’t do any other work in there until it’s cleaned up. There’s no way they could have finished before school started.” Holy Angles School, at 750 E. 40th St., meanwhile, had enough space for all the St. Elizabeth students. It also was left unexpectedly without a principal over the summer when the previous principal accepted a position closer to his home in Indiana, Kearney said. “It just all worked out,” she said. Holy Angels is functioning this year as a single, combined school with students from Holy Family and St. Elizabeth integrated in their classes. Uniforms from either school are acceptable, as is a new uniform of khaki pants and a white or navy blue shirt. The school just ordered navy blue shirts bearing the logos of both schools together, Cafferty said. While this year is off to a good start, the future remains unclear, she said. Even before the discovery of the lead paint forced the closure of the St. Elizabeth building, the two parishes were part of a group of three that is set to begin meeting in October to discuss how to continue to provide Catholic education in their neighborhood. The third, St. Ambrose, is at 1012 E. 47th St. The talks were to be similar to those undertaken by four Northwest Side Catholic parish schools last year. Those four schools have decided to combine into one regional school with two campuses starting in the 2016-2017 school year, Kearney said, and they will continue as planned.