WOLFHOUND WEDNESDAY
July 15, 2020
Camp Wolfhound got off to a great start last week. See more pictures below.
UPCOMING EVENTS:

Happy summer!
QUICK LINKS:
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The O'Reilly Minute
Dear Parents,

Thank you for your kind and supportive response to our initial reopening letter. Our Task Force, composed of school staff and parent representatives, along with consultation with medical professionals will continue their careful and diligent planning. We will update you regularly with more information and concrete details.
 

ONLINE OPTION FOR REMOTE LEARNING

We are planning to offer a full time online learning program for those K - 8 students and families who are not ready to send their child(ren) back to school at this point. We had several families indicate on the parent survey that they would consider this option for their child(ren) if offered. In order for us to effectively plan we need to have an approximate headcount of the number of families/children who would participate in this program. If you are currently interested in this option or have urgent concerns regarding your family at this point in your thinking and planning, please contact Mrs. Jill Carfagna at mrs.carfagna@stbrigid-school.org by Monday, July 20th.  

TRANSPORTATION UPDATE

The bus transportation departments from Dublin, Hilliard and Olentangy schools have all indicated that they are able to serve our families for the upcoming school year.
To include our students, they ask that all new and returning families register now for busing if you plan to use their services at any point throughout the year. If you are a family new to the area and do not know your exact address, please call your district transportation office so that they can factor your family into a route. As a reminder, these bus registration forms should be completed by today, July 15th.  
 
If you are still in the process of making transportation final decisions regarding your fall school plans, please complete the form anyway. We would much rather you not use your spot on the bus than wait and run the risk of not having transportation when you need it. 
 
In my conversations with all of the transportation departments they will require masks on students while riding the bus. Additionally students will be seated one child to a seat, with the exception of family groupings who will be asked to sit together.  
 
The links to complete the registration form for each district are here below:
 
 
 
 
 
Please send any questions regarding transportation to Megan Wachalec at mrs.wachalec@stbrigid-school.org

USCCB REQUEST

Please join the USCCB in asking Congress to include additional relief for Catholic schools in the next emergency relief package. 

Public schools are asking for $300 billion dollars, and it is important to make sure that Catholic school families also receive emergency relief. Please take a moment to contact our Members of Congress to ask for emergency aid to Catholic schools and hard-hit families in the next COVID-19 relief package. We are asking Congress for direct funding to families for education expenses, including Catholic school tuition.

Please click here to read more and to send a letter to our members of Congress.


Thank you for your continued support and prayers for the Task Force as well as our school and parish community.

May Saint Brigid continue to bless you and your families,


Kathy O'Reilly


P.S.  If you have a summer submission for the Wolfhound Wednesday please email Chris Mazon at  mr.mazon@stbrigid-school.org .
Task Force Reopening Information
Update: This is the original message sent out on Monday, July 13th. For latest information on busing please see The O'Reilly Minute above.

Saint Brigid of Kildare School will be celebrating our 25th anniversary this coming school year with our school theme “Our 25th Year: With God We Can!” This theme was selected before we knew what this coming school year would bring for our community, but how appropriate for us to be reminded daily that with God we can work together to navigate these challenging times and make appropriate decisions for our children and their education.

Our reopening task force would like to send you the long awaited update on our decisions and plans. The plans being shared today are very broad; you will be receiving detailed information as we progress. As you read through this document we are sure it will raise many questions in your mind. If you would, please hold on to your questions until more detailed information and plans are shared in the coming weeks. Please also keep in mind that this situation is fluid as new research and information about the virus become available.

PARENT SURVEY

We want to thank everyone for your participation in our parent reopening survey. We had 303 responses that we have been using to help formulate our thinking and planning. Your feedback has been most helpful.

FULL IN PERSON LEARNING

As we celebrate 25 years of Catholic education, we are pleased to announce that Saint Brigid of Kildare School will be offering full in person learning 5 days a week, with enhanced safety and health precautions. We have reviewed the most recent guidelines announced by Governor DeWine, the guidelines from the Ohio Department of Health, the American Association of Pediatrics, and the Diocese of Columbus. We have also conducted an assessment of our physical space and school staffing. We are truly blessed at Saint Brigid to have the buildings and resources available to accommodate our large student population while maintaining the ideal social distancing criteria. We know there are plenty of questions, and we are working through all of the pertinent logistical details. We should have a finalized plan soon to send out to our school community.

ONLINE OPTION

We are considering offering a full time online learning program for those K - 8 students and families who are not ready to send their child(ren) back to school at this point. We had several families indicate on the parent survey that they would consider this option for their child(ren) if offered. If you are currently interested in this option or have urgent concerns regarding your family at this point in your thinking and planning, please contact Mrs. Jill Carfagna at mrs.carfagna@stbrigid-school.org by Monday, July 20th.  

FAITH FORMATION

The primary purpose for our school is the transmission of Roman Catholic values. Whether at school or following the online option, students will “attend” our live streamed Mass on Thursday mornings. Religion classes will continue to be of prime importance, coupled with opportunities for prayer and guided Christian meditation, which will focus this coming year on intercessory prayer. Sacramental preparation will continue.

HEALTH MEASURES FOR STUDENTS AND STAFF
Keeping our students and staff healthy will be of utmost importance this school year. Performing a quick health check of your children before school each day will be the first step. At school we will encourage frequent hand washing, hand sanitizing, physical distancing, and facial coverings depending upon the developmental age and school situations throughout the day. All of these measures layered upon one another will help keep everyone safe! More details soon.

DIGITAL ACADEMY

We will be implementing a new student information system and learning management tool called Digital Academy to replace Schoolspeak. Digital Academy consolidates all important academic and grading information into one platform including a “Live Classroom” feature. Whether students are learning remotely or in person, our teachers will be able to offer a rigorous streamlined learning environment. This will address the parent feedback from the survey asking for a more standardized approach for all grade levels.

CONTINGENCY PLANNING (GO - BLEND - HOME)

While we anticipate full in person learning at school this fall (GO), we are actively planning for blended (BLEND) and full remote learning (HOME) contingencies. Our goal is to be able to implement any of the three tiered approaches if needed due to a local COVID-19 outbreak and/or mandates from the State of Ohio.

Please Note: We have renamed our three school tiers as a response to Governor DeWine’s new county alert system in which he uses YELLOW, ORANGE, RED, and PURPLE. Since the governor’s four-tier color system does not align well with our three-tier color system and offers a chance for confusion, we will now use our three-tier system of GO - BLEND - HOME.

TRANSPORTATION (See latest information on busing in the O'Reilly Minute)

We have been in contact with Dublin City Schools and they are ready to transport our students. They are asking for you to register BEFORE July 15th if you are interested in bus service this year. Please complete the online registration form no later than July 15th so the Dublin transportation department can plan accordingly. If you have any questions please contact Thomas Anderson, Dublin Routing Specialist at anderson_thomas@dublinschools.net or 614-764-5926

Address verification

Bus registration


SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Teachers are currently working on school and home supplies to support our GO, BLEND, and HOME instructional plans for the coming year. We will publish the lists hopefully by the beginning of August (or sooner). Our Home and School is still hoping to offer some type of school supply sale. We will update you as soon as possible. Students will not be able to use shared supplies in our classroom settings and we will be designing some ways for students to store their materials at school.


PRESCHOOL

We will be offering a full return of our preschool classes with perhaps some slight variations in schedule. Our preschool will be operating according to the guidelines for preschool and day care settings which include groupings limited to 9 students. Preschool families will receive separate communications at a later date with detailed information regarding return to preschool.

AFTER SCHOOL CHILD CARE

We are hoping to offer a full return to our after school care. After school care will be operating under the same guidelines as day care settings, which include groupings limited to just 9 students. We do need to add a disclaimer to this statement: We currently need to hire additional staff for this program, so this decision is not yet firm. Please help us network and have qualified candidates you may know contact Karol Halm at mrs.halm@stbrigid-school.org. (Qualified candidates must have a high school diploma, must be able to work 2:00 - 6:00 pm M-F, must be able to obtain a BCI/FBI background check, and must attend a Protecting God’s Children session.)

UPDATED K-8 CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

Our calendar has been updated to allow additional time to prepare our facility and allow our teachers time for professional development to work with Digital Academy, to design and learn new routines for safety protocols, and to plan GO, BLEND, and HOME models of instruction. We also plan to initially implement a staggered start for our students to allow time to welcome our students back to school in small groups and acclimate them to our new routines and classroom spaces. We also want to allow plenty of time for baseline assessments of each student in order to properly begin instruction for the new year. We are also planning to offer training for parents on the Digital Academy system.

Staggered Orientation Week: August 31 - September 4

Students will come to school in small groups, on one assigned day, based on the alphabet; schedules will be announced soon. Students will learn and practice new school routines and safety protocols. Kindergarten students will have a different orientation schedule to be announced soon.

September 7: Labor Day

Tuesday, September 8: All students back full time

November 25 - 27: Thanksgiving Break

December 21 - January 1: Christmas Break

April 1 - April 9: Easter Break

Last Day of School to be announced

Our revised full calendar will be published soon.


Thank you for your confidence in our task force as we plan our 25th year of learning at Saint Brigid of Kildare School. We will continue to communicate regularly and in more detail as our plans become more fully developed. Msgr. Hendricks and the school staff are committed to hold true to the mission of the Church to fully support families in caring for their children and in educating them in the Catholic faith, providing academic excellence and social and emotional support.

Please continue to pray for our school community and for each other.
Camp Wolfhound Update
Camp Wolfhound is under way! Check out the link below for photos of the various camps being held at St. Brigid.
Pre-Registration for Fall Sports
We know that this year is unique, and so we are trying to be as prepared as possible for the upcoming fall season.  Right now, St. Brigid is waiting on confirmation from the Diocese that there will be fall activities for Volleyball, Cross-Country, and Football.  St. Brigid Athletic Association is currently waiting for those confirmations before we ask people to register and pay - we hope to have a decision yet here in the next few weeks before the traditional August 1 start date.  

In the meantime, we would like to start to plan out the amount of participants, and try to get some communication with each sports commissioner, coaches, and families. It's important to know how many kids would be planning on participating so that we can also make sure that we have the proper coaches and ability to support those teams.

If you could register each of your children that plan to participate in a fall sport, please let us know by completing this registration. After we get the approval from the Diocese that there will be a fall season, we will ask that you complete the official registration with player/parent consent and with registration fees.  


It would really help us out with planning if you could do this ASAP!  

Please note - Golf and Tennis are club sports, and have been already given approval for their participation, so no need to pre-register if you are doing one of those activities.
Volunteers Needed: New Family Welcome Committee
kids_welcome.jpg

Are you available to help welcome our new school families into the community? Please complete the Google Survey below if you are interested in being a mentor for the 2020-2021 school year.

If you have any questions, please contact Leah McCoy at leah.mccoy@gmail.com for more information.
Protecting God's Children Zoom Session

The Diocese of Columbus will be offering a Protecting God's Children (PGC) training session via Zoom on Thursday, July 23th at 6:00 pm. Please visit www.virtus.org for registration and instructions.

Click on First-Time Registrant, View list of sessions, Columbus, OH - Diocese to see the current offerings. This Zoom session is listed at St. Matthew's in Gahanna and is open to St. Brigid parishioners.

Full details about the Safe Environment program for volunteering with children and youth in our parish can be found at https://stbrigidofkildare.org/safe-environment/ or contact Stacey Nerone at snerone@stbrigidofkildare.org.
Alumni on 4th Quarter Honor Roll
Congratulations to our many alumni at Bishop Watterson and St. Charles High Schools who are on the honor roll for the 4th quarter.
Summer Work Links
Below are links to opportunities available for summer work from many Saint Brigid of Kildare teachers. The grades listed are for the student's current grade level.

These links are also listed on the e-learning webpage and will remain there throughout the summer.

Refund Policy 20-21
Saint Brigid of Kildare School will be prepared to educate your children for the 2020-21 school year.  Given that families may need flexibility during this uncertain time we are offering assistance with deferring payments until September 1st (if needed).  If you find that your family needs to withdraw, please contact the school office so that we can understand your concerns. If finances are an issue, we may have additional resources available. We want to work with you to continue offering the gift of Catholic education to your child(ren). If you absolutely are not able to make tuition payments we would like to extend a more flexible COVID withdrawal policy
We offer our school families the following options:

If Saint Brigid School is restricted from offering a typical school schedule on campus full-day, families may withdraw without penalty any time prior to August 15th and will be refunded any tuition paid less the $150 tuition deposit (paid by new families). Families who withdraw after school starts will forfeit 1/10th of annual school tuition for every month the student is enrolled.

If Saint Brigid School is able to offer a typical school schedule on campus, families may withdraw without penalty any time prior to August 1 and will be refunded any tuition paid less the $150 tuition deposit (paid by new families). Families who withdraw after August 1 will forfeit 1/10th of annual school tuition for every month the student is enrolled.
We are also able to offer flexibility at this time with several different tuition payment plan options. If it is helpful for your family’s financial planning, you may choose to delay your first payment until September. You may choose the following:
  • Full payment in September
  • Semi-annual payments in September and February
  • Quarterly payments in September, December, March and June
  • 10 monthly payments starting in September
Support SPiCE: 20-21 Volunteers Needed
The SPiCE program at St. Brigid of Kildare thrives because of the time and talent of people like you -- without your support, these programs wouldn't be possible.

From volunteering to help with an event, chair a committee, or donate financially, any bit of help you can give to support our SPiCE program is deeply appreciated. Click the link below to learn about the many ways you can support SPiCE at St. Brigid of Kildare.

Open positions for the 20-21 school year include:
  • Corks for a Cause Wine Tasting & Silent Auction Volunteer (March 6, 2021)
  • SPiCE Board Secretary
  • SPiCE Board Fundraising Event Committee
  • SPiCE Board Communications Committee - Parent Liason
  • SPiCE Board Communications Committee - Publicity
  • SPiCE Volunteer at Large
  • SPiCE Committee - General

Use the link below to view all volunteer opportunities and sign up. Please contact Karri Brady if you have any questions at sbokspice@gmail.com or 614-596-1725.
www.stbrigidofkildare.com