A Message from Mrs. Laidlaw Otto
Dear SJE Families,
This week marks the end of new instruction for our students. Our teachers will be focusing on year end wrap up – assessments and social communication with students next week. Most of our students will even receive a request for a virtual meeting with their homeroom teacher for fall.
Even as we are closing down this unusual chapter here at SJE, our teachers are working to prepare to return to school in August. There is so much information circulating regarding our return to traditional education. At this point all that information is simply conjecture – a combination of guesses and preliminary planning on the part of state and federal government officials, peppered with whatever spin the media adds in when reporting to us. It’s easy to fall prey to the stress of worrying about what will come.
I wish that I could provide you with concrete plans, including visual images, schedules and lists of new social distancing protocols for our students. That’s just not the case right now. What I do want you to know is that our staff is planning, training, and working together to ensure that we will offer your children the safe, inviting environment that brought you to SJE in the first place. Our plans include community building, work on school culture, prayer and faith opportunities, both in our building and virtually. Please be assured that we have scheduled our book and supply drop off and picture day for Monday, August 31st, and our parent night for Thursday, September 3rd, and fully anticipate a return to traditional learning in August.
The last couple of months have been full of challenges, anxiety, and fear. Our community has faced all these struggles without the ability to receive the Eucharist. As we celebrate Pentecost this weekend, our parishes are beginning to reopen, allowing us to finally reconnect. We have every reason to be filled with faith, and hopeful for our return to school in August.
I know you join me in praying, “Come Holy Spirit, and fill the hearts of the Faithful”.
Mary Laidlaw Otto