February 17, 2022

Dear SCS School Community, 

Because the LDH has changed the Covid Quarantine Guidelines, St. Catherine of Siena will follow the below requirements for Covid positive students/teachers and school/home exposure for students/teachers. These guidelines are very similar to pre-covid sick policies.

​If a student/teacher tests positive for Covid-19:

• That student/teacher will be required to have a 5 day quarantine or isolation period and return on Day 6 wearing a mask for an additional 5 days through Day 10.
  • ​Day 0: Symptom onset or positive test
  • Day 1-5: Quarantine or Isolation
  • Day 6: Return to school, symptom free, with mask through Day 10
  • If a student/teacher is unable to mask upon return to school, they will do a full 10 day quarantine or isolation period with return to school on Day 11.

​**In the event of a positive Covid-19 case, there will be an email sent to that specific homeroom from administration informing you of this positive case.

If a student/teacher is directly exposed at home or at school:

• If a student/teacher has any symptoms of illness, please stay at home until that person is symptom and fever free for 24 hours just as you would have done before Covid-19. 
• If a student/teacher does not have symptoms then they are able to return to school regardless of vaccination status. 

**As always we ask that you monitor your symptoms closely and use your best judgment when deciding whether to return to school or to stay home. 
​
Thank you for your continued support as we navigate these uncertain times. ​
Please email Maria Ward at mward@scsgators.org or the nurse at nurse@scsgators.org if you have any questions or concerns.

January 4, 2022

Dear SCS School Community,

We hope you have enjoyed your Christmas holiday with family and friends. We are praying you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year as we begin 2022! As we are all aware, Louisiana and the nation is experiencing a rise of Covid-19 cases. We encourage you to reach out to your local physician or pediatrician for the most up to date information regarding Covid-19 and for more information regarding the vaccine for yourself and children ages 5+. Be sure to take advantage of this time to get yourself and your family members up to date on all vaccinations--flu, COVID-19 or any previously missed immunizations.

Our nurse, Christine Jenevein, is out on maternity leave. If you have any questions regarding Covid-19 and returning to school due to exposure or a positive test result please call the school office and we will connect you to the substitute nurse or email nurse@scsgators.org.

In order to keep all our students, faculty, staff and community safe, we would ask for your full cooperation in following all guidelines surrounding Covid-19. The biggest request that we ask is to please not send your child to school if your child has any sick symptoms or if any member of the household is waiting a Covid test. If you or your child are experiencing symptoms please stay home and get tested. Let’s work together to stop the spread!  

As we all know, Governor Edwards had a press conference on Thursday, December 30th addressing the current rising Covid cases in Louisiana. Below are some things that we wanted to highlight and will put in place starting Monday, January 3rd at SCS. 

• As a school, we will highly encourage the below:

  • Frequent hand washing, healthy habits and daily cleaning of surfaces in classrooms

  • Masking for all students, faculty, staff and visitors regardless of vaccine status. This is a recommendation NOT a requirement. 

  • Social distancing in the classroom and around campus as best as possible 

• At this time after school activities, sports, plays, recess and Mass will continue as usual with no changes. However, please make note of the below:

  • Because there is an increased risk of post-quarantine transmission associated with options to shorten quarantine, individuals who had close contact with infection may not participate in any activities with a higher risk of spreading the virus 


  • (i.e., extra-curricular or co-curricular activities, including sports teams, PE class, music instruction, field trips, etc.) or take part in any activity that cannot maintain a 6-foot physical distancing until 10 days from contact. After 10 days, students and staff members in quarantine may resume all activities provided by the school. 

• Lunch times will remain the same. However, only one grade level will eat in the cafeteria at a time. We encourage you to ask your child’s teacher for that schedule if you wish to eat with your child in the cafeteria. 

Please open and read the attached pdf for the new quarantine and isolation guidelines. With the guidance of the CDC guidelines and Ochsner Healthy Schools, St. Catherine of Siena will take each Covid-19 scenario on a case by case situation.  

Below are three points of clarification to those guidelines:

• If a child is unable to mask properly, then that child should remain in isolation (when positive) or quarantine (when exposed) for a total of 10 days.  For those who can mask properly, the days are reduced to 5 days at home followed by 5 days in school with a mask (assuming they remain asymptomatic).

• Fully vaccinated for a child includes any one ages 5 and over who has received 2 doses of the mRNA COVID vaccine, with the last dose at least 2 weeks ago. 

• Those who have tested positive for COVID in the previous 90 days are no longer considered exempt from quarantine. In order not to quarantine, the child must have tested positive in the last 30 days. 

Thank you for your continued support while we navigate these challenging and uncertain times. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. See you all in 2022! 

Maria Ward

August 4, 2021

Hello SCS Community,

I hope you had a fun, restful summer. We are looking forward to welcoming your children back to campus soon. In preparation, we wanted to send out an overview of St. Catherine of Siena's Back to School Covid-19 protocols and procedures. At this point, there will not be an Archdiocesan-wide policy; however, each school site will develop and submit its own policy. This is a fluid situation where policies and protocols can change regularly. We will continue to monitor the data and work closely with local health officials and the Louisiana Department of Health and Department of Education to make any necessary adjustments as the situation evolves. Below are St. Catherine of Siena’s Current Covid-19 Policy highlights and changes.

Mask Wearing: Mask-wearing policies are as follows:

• Regardless of vaccination status, all individuals 5 years and older must wear a mask while indoors until the governor mandate expires. Individuals under the age of 5 are not mandated to wear a mask at this time.
• Anyone ages 5 and older will be asked to wear a mask while entering and exiting the building during periods of high congregation, i.e. morning arrival and afternoon dismissal.
• As per the governor’s mandate, we will not be requiring masks outside. All outside visitors will be required to wear a mask when on campus for lunch, holiday parties, classroom crafts, etc.

Please see the attached letter regarding Covid-19 from Dr. Houston, the Superintendent of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. [Letter was emailed to school parents]

Covid-19 Exposure/Vaccines: We strongly encourage families to talk to their physician/pediatrician about getting the vaccine for students and parents who are eligible.

If any person (student/faculty member) is directly exposed to a Covid-19 positive person, but they have been vaccinated, they will not need to be quarantined. If unvaccinated, there will be a 10-day quarantine from the first day of symptoms.

When a student is either suspected or confirmed of having Covid-19, parents must immediately inform our school nurse, who will be responsible for all case management and contact tracing.

Once notified, the school nurse will ensure the proper steps are taken to have your child return to school as soon as possible.

Quarantine:

If students are in direct contact with a positive Covid-19 case (Direct contact is less than 6 feet for more than 15 minutes, regardless of vaccination status or masks) then as a general rule the class will quarantine. However, all scenarios will be handled on a case by case basis.

Virtual Learning: We will provide virtual learning for the following:

• Classes in Kindergarten through seventh grade who may need to quarantine.
• Individual students due to Covid-19 quarantine or Covid-19 illness in grades fourth through seventh.

Temperature Checks: We will no longer be required to take temperature checks at the beginning of each school day. It is important that all students and staff properly monitor their own symptoms and conduct screenings prior to attending school or work for the safety of themselves and others.

Regularly scheduled events and Academic normalities such as, middle school class switching, multi-grade-levels recess play, eating in the cafeteria, etc. will return to pre-Covid-19 practices and procedures. Please see the school calendar for dates of events/activities. At this time, the Father-Daughter Dance scheduled for August 20th will be rescheduled when the mask mandate is lifted.

Daily Cleaning: We will continue efforts toward daily cleaning and disinfecting. Please continue to encourage and practice good hand-washing multiple times a day. There will be hand sanitizer stations next to all water fountains.

Just as last year, we encourage students to bring individual water bottles to use throughout the day.

Arrival/Dismissal: We will continue to establish controlled routines for entrance, exit, and class exchanges to maximize distancing to the greatest extent possible during student transitional routines during the school day.

Please see the below for the full arrival and dismissal procedures.

https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/17098/documents/2021/6/Arrival_Dismissal%202021-2022.pdf

It is our priority to provide a safe educational environment. Our full-time school nurse will continue to be here to help and support our students, faculty and staff. As we stated, we will continue to monitor the situation and make changes accordingly when necessary. Changes will be made based on information from LDOE, LDOH, Archdiocese of New Orleans, and the Governor's office.

We are looking forward to a great school year. We wish that things could be completely normal. We understand that you might be disappointed with some of these protocols. However, we ask for your cooperation and support. If you are disappointed, we encourage you not to share your frustrations in front of your students, but to discuss it privately. We want the students to have a positive year and you play an important part in setting a positive tone. Thank you for your patience and support as we enter the 2021-2022 school year.

Sincerely,

Maria Ward
Principal
St. Catherine of Siena School