Ascension Thursday 2020
“Zoom fatigue” – what should be an oxymoron is now a clinically diagnosed condition. We long to see the faces our colleagues and students. We regret the distance.
On the one hand, there is a great deal of collaborative planning going on; on the other, not everybody fits on the Brady Bunch-like screen, so not everybody gets the memo. Our apologies. Know that we are engaged in planning and in contingency planning. We are in regular communication with the State, the Diocese, the Towns, the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, Emergency Management Planners, Public Health officials, etc. Yet, as soon as one initiative comes into focus, another supersedes it, and yesterday’s memo is old news. You learn to roll.
Seniors are, of course, our priority this week, as their classes end, and we prepare for graduation. Last Bell was yesterday. Take a peek:
https://youtu.be/fldlI3E6owc. M
eanwhile, we are wrapping up this year online, preparing summer programs and camps, and planning to repopulate the building with next year’s classes.
We do plan on opening in the fall. We are actively preparing a safe environment. We anticipate interruptions, outbreaks, partial closings, state mandates on building density. We are stockpiling PPEs, electrostatic sprayers, thermometers, sanitizers, etc. The maintenance staff has been increased, retrained, and the entire facility, the buses, fields--all have a new disinfecting routine and schedule.
We are also planning to ensure continuous learning. I am immensely proud of our faculty and students and our capacity in switching to remote learning on March 13th. Now, listening to cautions coming out of the government agencies, we are readying to meet any interruption without disruption. We are investing in both classroom teleconferencing upgrades and professional training for our teachers. Yale will open in the fall with all classes available in person, or online—your choice. Smart. So should a college prep ed be. A day or two closing for decontamination, a general surge in infections, a classroom exposure—we will be equipped to continue the mission.
In Japanese,
kanji,
means both crisis and opportunity. Our Academic Council and our Athletic and Activities directors are asking, “What are our opportunities here?” This isn’t a bump in the road, it is a ramp to the future. We already offer algebra to eighth graders remotely. Students earn college credit online. Those classes in engineering, robotics, coding, bio-med, and entrepreneurial technology now seem prescient. Competitive gaming, film making, video conferencing, globally shared classrooms—are all within easy reach. Keep the classrooms, expand their walls.
You will be hearing the specifics from Mrs DiBuono, Mr Butler, Mr Clough, Mr Nash soon. I just want to let you know that St Joes isn’t suffering mission fatigue. “St Joes
strives
to be the premier Catholic college prep school in Connecticut.” We did yesterday, we will tomorrow. Together, we
ascend.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
For behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Godspeed,
Dr Fitz--
