March 12, 2020
Dear St. Rose School Families and Faculty,
The Newtown Public Schools will close tomorrow, March 13th, to conduct a professional development day with teachers/staff to continue preparations for possible closure. As I mentioned in an earlier email this week, our decisions are based on the actions of Newtown because we follow this school schedule and busing. As a result, St. Rose School will be closed tomorrow so that our teachers/faculty can also prepare for this possibility. We will take this opportunity to give the school a deep disinfectant/cleaning as well.
At 2:10 this afternoon all students will meet with their homeroom teachers who will explain the plans for online learning. At this point, some of your children have already brought materials home and this afternoon they will be bringing additional books/supplies home in the event that schools will be closed. This has not yet been determined but it is important that everyone is prepared.
You will receive specific directions from your children's teachers if we move to an online learning format. In this scenario it will be important that every student keeps a log of how much time they spend on each subject and that a parent signs this log daily. This is unchartered territory for us so we appreciate your patience and cooperation as we put an optimal plan in place that ensures both safety and continued learning under unusual circumstances. We are all in this together and teachers will be available to assist in the transition to online learning if the need arises.
In the event that Newtown schools have to close for a period of time the district
will apply for a waiver from the State of Connecticut to support distance learning that may be counted as regular school days. We will keep you informed about whether this is granted. Depending on the length of the closure and the outcome of a State waiver, Newtown may be required to add days to the calendar year through June 30
th
as is the normal process when emergency closings are necessary.
Click here to read the letter from Dr. Rodrigue.
Please be assured that at this time, to our most recent knowledge, there are no cases of the Coronavirus in our school. Thank you for adhering to the directions of vigorous hand washing, keeping students and adults away from school if there are questionable symptoms and limiting crowd exposure. These are all critical measures during this uncertain time.
As we all know, new information is coming out rapidly and we are following it closely. We have dedicated a page on our website to this topic and vow to keep you informed about all imminent news via these emails.
If you have any health concerns please contact your physicians or refer to the CDC guidelines.
Let us continue to pray for healing of those who are sick, protection for everyone and guidance for the medical professionals who are working diligently to get this under control. May God bless us all with peace and comfort as we work through this together.
Thank You and God Bless,
