Dear SCS School Families,
It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the summer already! Thank you for your warm welcome and I am excited to be here. In the midst of so much uncertainty over the last several months, I hope that you and your family are doing well. I look forward to meeting and working with each of you. I realize there are many questions as to how school will resume in August and below is the information we have thus far.
Changes to the school day will be made in order to comply with the state requirements during the Covid-19 pandemic. Please know that these changes are made to ensure the safest possible environment for students, faculty and staff. The administrative team has been working on the school reopening plan for August. Although we cannot predict exactly what the future will look like, we’d like to share with you some of the plans we have in place for safely reopening our school. These plans were developed following the most recent CDC Guidance for Reopening Schools, guidance from the Louisiana Department of Education, guidance from the "Safe to Return School Team" through Ochsner Healthcare System, and guidance from the faculty, staff and Archdiocesan Office of Catholic Schools.
This is our tentative plan which will be updated and adapted as things continue to evolve. We will keep you informed as further plans develop. If you have any questions, please reach out to us!
We will begin classes in-person in August with the following safety precautions being implemented:
May God keep us all safe and healthy during the remainder of the summer and this coming school year!
Sincerely,
Maria Ward, Principal
Alex Scamardo, Upper Elementary School Assistant Principal
Amanda Gelpi, Lower Elementary School Assistant Principal
Hi SCS Families,
Thank you for the positive responses and feedback to our return to school letter. There have been several questions regarding the possibility of online learning. Should we need to close school or quarantine during the upcoming school year, we do have a plan for student online learning established. We will discuss this plan and expectations with our faculty and staff upon their return in August. Online learning has become a reality in our educational framework and we will be prepared. Many lessons were learned during the end of last school year and changes will be made accordingly to provide students with a meaningful online learning experience. Thank you so much for your cooperation and support. I am looking forward to meeting all of you.
Sincerely,
Maria Ward, M.Ed.
Principal
St. Catherine of Siena School
Hi St. Catherine of Siena Families,
We hope you are having a relaxing summer and enjoying time with your family. We wanted to give you an update since our last letter regarding the plan for reopening school in August. Keeping our students, faculty, staff, and families safe is our number one priority. Therefore, the following are the updates of which you need to be aware:
Parent Health Care Meeting: Please remember that on August 6th at 6 pm the Safe to Return School Team through Ochsner Healthcare System will be presenting to SCS parents in the church to educate everyone on ways to protect our children. We would ask that only one parent per family attend to comply with the COVID restrictions. If unable to attend this presentation will be live-streamed.
Before and After School Care: Sadly, we will not be able to offer before and after school care due to the current health restrictions. As soon as we are clear to return to business as usual, we will immediately open the before and after school care programs. While we discussed options among our administration and those from other schools in the area, before and after school care with our size school and the staff necessary to run these programs, is not feasible. During the school day, all students are kept in a static group which eliminates cross-contact allowing for less possibility of infection. During before/after school care, we cannot provide the same static groupings. Please know this is not ideal for any of us and we realize this may cause extra hardship for some families and we will do our best to open these programs as soon as possible.
In an attempt to make things easier for all, we will not have 2:30 dismissals on Wednesdays until further notice. Wednesday will be a regular dismissal time of 3:30.
School Start Date: School will start on Wednesday, August 12, 2020. Thank you for your feedback on the parent survey regarding school start dates. Based on that information, approximately 80% of the 804 respondents would like to proceed as planned to start school on Wednesday, August 12, 2020.
Staggered Start Days: In order to help students, faculty, staff, and parents adjust to the new drop-off and dismissal procedures, we will have staggered start days for the first three days of school for grades one through seventh. Early childhood start procedures will remain the same, as they already have staggered start days. The schedule will be alphabetical as follows:
Wednesday, August 12th - Students with last names A - F
Thursday, August 13th - Students with last names G - O
Friday, August 14th - Students with last names P - Z
Monday, August 17th - All students return to school
Mask Requirements: Please obtain a washable/reusable cloth face covering for your child. You may get any color or type of washable/reusable cloth face covering. No extreme designs. We do recommend purchasing a neck gaiter. The school has ordered and will provide one neck gaiter to each student as soon as they arrive. The Co-Op will also be selling a more traditional SCS mask. Both options will be available for purchase at the Blue and Gold Shop.
Chromebooks: We have purchased Chromebooks for grades one through four. So in the event, we are mandated to quarantine at home at some point this school year, online platforms will be more accessible. Chromebooks will remain in the classroom unless the school is mandated to close.
School Nurse: We are in the process of finalizing our contract with a school nurse. We are very excited about this opportunity. Once our school nurse is finalized we will send a welcome letter with more details and an introduction.
Meet the Teacher Day: Meet the Teacher Day will be on August 10, 2020. We are thrilled this event is happening, as we feel it is an essential activity for our students to meet their teachers which we hope will then make the start of school transition easier. See attached for more details.
Orientation Nights: We are planning to host orientation nights as per the school calendar; however, because of current health restrictions we will have to modify the evening. Please look for information regarding Orientations nights to come.
Cafeteria Procedures: Due to health restrictions, students will eat lunch in the classrooms. Pigeon Catering will provide limited selections for lunch options for purchase daily just as they have in the past. The food will be delivered to the classrooms each day. Payment options will remain the same.
P.E. Uniforms: 1st- 4th-grade girls are allowed (not mandatory) to remove jumpers or skirts on PE days. To do so the only shorts allowed are the St. Catherine PE shorts that can be purchased through the eshop on the school website. 5th-7th grade boys and girls are required to dress out on PE days. This consists of both the St. Catherine PE shirt and PE shorts. Which can be purchased through the eshop on the school website. Middle school students will be given designated areas to change that allows social distancing to occur.
The above information is the most up to date that we have and we will continue to provide more information as the school start date approaches. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ms. Ward, at mward@scsgators.org.
We can't wait to see all of our students back on campus!
In partnership and prayer,
Maria Ward, M.Ed. Principal,
Amanda Gelpi, Lower School Assistant Principal,
Alex Scamardo, Upper School Assistant Principal
Sincerely,
Maria Ward, M.Ed.
Principal