Q: What are the expectations for tomorrow’s and Thursday’s visits to BK by students during their designated times? How long should we plan for them to be here? Are they expected to be here at the start time of their session?
A: We are estimating that students will need anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes to get needed items out of their lockers, visit their seven classrooms and teachers (if needed). This may be longer if the students need to finish an exam, etc. They can arrive anytime during their designated time, but suggest they get to BK 30 minutes before their session ends. They should not plan to “hang around” school and visit with friends. Social distancing continues to be one of the most important things we can do to stop the spread of the virus - both here at BK and during their spring break. This guest opinion in the Idaho Statesman today says it well:
Here’s why the coronavirus is about all of us — even the young and healthy
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Q: My son//daughter is immunocompromised. I am not comfortable with them coming to school. Can they get what they need before spring break for virtual learning in some other way? Can I as their parent come pick things up for them?
A: Our first priority as cited above is the health and well being of our students. They do not need to come in. We suggest emailing their teachers to see what they might need and then talking with your son or daughter as to what they need from their lockers. Then you can either do a “drive-by” and we can bring the items to you or you can come to the front office and our team will help get the items for you. English classes are distributing some novels, so at the very least, parents might want to come by to pick those up.
Q; What are the dates and times again for my son/daughter to come to BK tomorrow (March 18th) and Thursday (March 19th)?
Wednesday, March 18
- 8:00 am - 10:00 am: Last names A-E
- 10:00 am - Noon: Last names F-L
Thursday, March 19
- 8:00 am - 10:00 am: Last names M-R, and ALL Bus Riders (Busses will provide pickup and drop off for this window of time)
- 10:00 am - Noon: Last names S-Z
The bus schedule for Nampa, Eagle, and Meridian busses for Thursday morning are:
- Nampa pickup: 7:00 am Depart from BK: 11:00 am
- Eagle pickup 7:00 am Depart from BK: 11:00 am
- Meridian pickup : 7:00 am Depart from BK: 11:00 am
Q: My son/daughter cannot make the time slot for their session based on last name. Can they come in at another time?
A: Yes, they can. The staggered plan is just to spread out the number of students on campus. A few exceptions are fine - but please do your best to stick to the designated time. You do not need to let us know if they come in at an alternate time.
However, other than these designated times over the next two days, students are not allowed here at Bishop Kelly until school reopens.
Some students may even need more than the two hours that is allotted if they are making up exams, etc. For this scenario, students can extend their time into the other time slots as needed, but only if absolutely necessary.
Q; With spring sports suspended until April 5th, may my son/daughter come to BK and use BK’s facilities to stay in shape and train?
A: No, they cannot use any BK facilities (Ysursa Field track, LaMott Performance Training Center, CapEd Hitting Facilities, baseball, softball or lacrosse fields) to practice or train while school is closed. This is the same for all IHSAA schools. While in our heart of hearts we would love to accommodate this, we need to be consistent with our message and expectations.
Q: Are the Main Office and Business Office closed? Are teachers and counselors available? What if I need to ask a question about something or drop off or pick something up?
A; Our offices will be open through this Friday, March 20th, from 8:00 am - 3:00 pm. All of our faculty and staff are working this week through Friday, most of them here at Bishop Kelly - and practicing good social distancing. You may call or email anyone on our BK team and should expect, as always, a prompt response.
The BK offices will be closed for the week of spring break (March 23rd - 27th), and reopen again on March 30th at 7:30 am. Office hours after spring break will be determined by whether school is open or if we move to virtual learning. We will communicate to you over the break what the plan is for the week of March 30th but we speculate we will still be closed and moving to virtual learning on March 30th.
Q: What happened to the planned virtual all school assembly this afternoon at 2:00 pm? My son/daughter said it never happened.
A; We were excited to have a virtual all school assembly as we believe it helps meet our goal during this uncertain period of maintaining a strong sense of community. However, a conferencing solution within Schoology, our Learning Management System, experienced nationwide outage problems just as we were starting the virtual assembly. We had no problems using Schoology throughout the morning for training and internal meetings. We will reschedule for sometime over the next two days when Schoology is hopefully up and running - or find an alternate solution.
Q: What if I don’t have the tools, equipment or WIFI infrastructure at home to have my son/daughter be successful with virtual learning?
A: We are committed to providing a great education for all students via virtual learning. To do that all students and families must have the necessary tools at home to be successful in a virtual learning environment. We would ask that you click on
this link
to take a survey as to your technology needs. We have laptops we can provide as loaners and will seek to provide solutions for Wifi connectivity and other equipment to students and families that need them.
Q: My son/daughter may need support in a virtual learning environment. What should I do?
A: Counselors, student support, and IT will be available by email, phone or video conferencing as needed to support student learning.
Q: What about work that was due this week before the school closure?
A: Students are expected to continue to work on any and all assignments, papers, quizzes, tests, etc. that were in motion prior to this week. If the students have questions about any of this, they can anticipate seeing communication from their teachers or can proactively reach out to their teachers this week. Unless told otherwise by their teacher, all work assigned prior to this week should be completed by this Friday, March 20th.
We are grateful that our BK community is pulling together through this unprecedented time. We appreciate the resilience, patience, and partnership as we work to safeguard the health of our students, faculty/staff and our community and the well-being of those with whom we interact. Please join us in achieving these goals with your actions, attitude, and spirit. And please share your ideas with us on how we can accomplish these as a community.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions by replying to this email with your questions or calling the BK front office at (208) 375-6010.
In closing, as we celebrate the feast of St. Patrick, a man who went back to Ireland, the place of his seven year imprisonment, to serve those same people so faithfully, may we lean into and face the challenges we have now as a community, nation and world! And take comfort that, as St. Patrick knew well, God is with us during these most trying times! In the end we will be a stronger school and community having gone through these trials.
God bless,
