Msgr. Hendricks tries out our new desktop COVID shields.
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Late breaking news: Dublin City Schools announced last evening that they would be returning to school in August 100% virtually. At this time we have decided to stay our course and wait for further advisements from the Diocese and the Health Department. We are confident in our careful and methodical planning for the safety of our children and staff. We will continue to monitor the situation to adjust and make good decisions on behalf of our community.
Dear Parents,
Monsignor Hendricks is our guest author this week for the O’Reilly Minute. Monsignor asked to share his reflection on the gospel from the daily Mass last week.
In the gospel passage for daily Mass on July 23rd, Jesus speaking to his disciples says, “But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.” (Mt. 13:17).
What Jesus is saying to his disciples then and to us now is that the Truth is here before your eyes and can be heard in your ears, if you would only see and hear it. The truth is in the person of Jesus Christ, and even in the midst of this pandemic virus it has not left us.
As we begin to reassemble for St. Brigid School in August this gospel passage should remain before us. With the anxiety and violence and polarization in our society, with the rudeness of our actions and our quick response to point out blame, with our frustrations with others and our institutions the gospel offers a solution and a remedy. We only have to pause to consider that we are Catholic and Christian and there is a purpose and a value to what we do each day. We are asked to bring the Truth, the joy and the salvation given to us by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Each day will bring with it new challenges, and new opportunities, we must embrace the challenges and look for the opportunities to live differently and to be changed by the virus that haunts us but should not destroy us. How do we go on? We embrace the Sacraments, we say our prayers, we follow the golden rule of the gospel, do unto others…., we find the Truth that will lead us home to heaven.
I am quite aware that this is a challenging time. I am also quite aware that we must ease into each day full of hope and confidence in the One who brings us the Truth and Peace.
We all need to pray for one another and encourage one another and most of all to spread that Truth of Jesus to one another. Our faith, our school, our future is based around what we hear and see in the gospel. Blessed are your eyes and ears!
Monsignor Hendricks
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During March and April we distributed additional chromebooks to students in grades K - 4. We are needing to collect these chromebooks at this time to properly prepare them for permanent distribution for the 2020-21 school year.
ALL 2019-20 STUDENTS K - 4 who borrowed a school chromebook in the Spring, please plan on returning them on
AUGUST 4th from 10:00 am - Noon OR AUGUST 5th from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. The drop off will take place at the GYM entrance. Please make sure that the chromebook is labeled with the student name , 2019-2020 grade and homeroom teacher name.
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Registration Form for Home Learning
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Please read the task force reopening update below about the at home learning plan for the 2020-2021 school year. If you wish to enroll your child into the at home learning program, complete survey below and complete the survey by August 4th.
Once all registration is completed, a Guidebook for HOME Learners will be available before school starts.
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Task Force Reopening Update
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Below is information from the July 28th email update. All previous school updates can be found on the St. Brigid School Page.
Click Here
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At a time when so many aspects of life are in flux, what parents, students and teachers may crave most is consistency, familiarity, and connection. We know many parents are struggling with the choice of whether to send children to school. It is a difficult decision for many, since there are health, education, and childcare implications. We are in the midst of a historic pandemic, and we all need to make the best of a very difficult situation. We are also in a time of great innovation. However, innovation takes time, iterations, and “do overs”. We have made many decisions regarding how to safely distance and bring students physically back to school. (Please know that we still have many more decisions and routines to design and prepare.)
We would now like to share our preliminary draft plan for those students who are not able to return physically to our school at this time. This model will also be our basic framework if the entire school needs to pivot to HOME learning.
HOME LEARNING
- Students will be offered a blend of Synchronous (real time) and Asynchronous (recorded) sessions.
- HOME students will be assigned to a Pod along with their grade level classmates.
- HOME Students will receive a weekly schedule of required live sessions.
- Some classes especially in grades K-2 may not be conducive to a live session.
- HOME students will follow the weekly posted Pacing Guide for all inschool and HOME students.
- Special area teachers will also present Live lessons and recorded lessons which may be varied in length and not necessarily last a class period.
- HOME students will be attending weekly school Mass at the designated time.
- Live sessions will also be recorded and posted for later viewing by all students (HOME and School). This will allow for review for all students.
- All students (in-person classroom and HOME) will be using either Digital Academy Live OR Google Classroom with Google Meets/ Zoom. Final decision on the platform is pending, but will be standardized for all students.
- Privacy policy sign off will be included in the 2020-21 handbook. Adjustments may need to be made to Live offerings based on the final policy guidance received from the Diocese.
- Disclaimer: Live sessions may at times have a short delay due to circumstances at school that may cause delay (Fire drills, previous class running a little late, technology glitch, etc.). Announced schedule changes may take place if there are special events/circumstances.
HOME TEACHING COORDINATORS
- HOME Teaching Coordinators will be assisting in facilitating HOME Learning. We are pleased to announce that Bridget DeSocio (K-4) and Nathan Graham (5-8) will be our coordinators this coming year. The role of these teachers will be to assist the student, the family, and the teacher in navigating the HOME learning environment. They will help with troubleshooting, communication, scheduling, etc.
- Work with the students, parents and teachers to enhance the teaching-learning process.
- Assist with addressing attendance concerns.
- Training for using our digital platform, technology devices, on-line etiquette, etc.
- Design, in consultation with Pod teachers, the Live classroom schedule for HOME learners.
- Provide real-time technology and instructional support for students during the school day.
- Help students locate materials.
- Assist teachers/students with technology glitches.
- Facilitate obtaining materials needed from school.
- Library books
- Textbooks
- Misc. materials
- Chromebooks
- Other duties as assigned and as needed
- Assist with assessments, including Terra Nova and STAR, as needed.
- Assist with providing social-emotional support
- Examples: establishing connections with counselors, book clubs, discussion groups, feedback sessions, etc.
- Code of Conduct for HOME students
- HOME students will be expected to fully follow the code of conduct and technology handbook.
- HOME students will be kind, respectful, and ready to learn.
- HOME students will complete all work as assigned and in a timely manner.
- HOME students should dress school appropriately, be on time for classes and establish a school appropriate routine (sleep, prayer, meals, exercise, breaks, etc.).
- HOME learners are commiting to our HOME learning program. If individual family circumstances change at the end of first quarter (November 2) or after Christmas break (January 4), the school will work with your family to determine when a transition back to in-person classroom learning is appropriate.
- During the school year, should parents decide to move their children from in-person classroom learning to HOME learning they must wait until a specified entry point (listed above). This does not apply to students who are kept at home for illness or a two-week quarantine.
- Full tuition will be charged for HOME Learning. HOME students will have access to all school technology, resources, teachers and staff. Our goal is to include our HOME students as a total part of our school educational and faith community.
VIDEO HEALTH MESSAGE FROM MRS. IANNARINO
Mrs. Iaannarino has created a video to address our health promotion plan. Please click on the link to view the video.
POD MAP UPDATE
Please find attached an updated map showing the location of our Pods. It has been updated to reflect the grade levels and teacher names.
COVID QUESTIONS
A common question has been whether a whole pod will need to quarantine if a student in the pod comes to school with COVID or if a member of the student’s family has COVID or been exposed to COVID. The answer is: The decision to quarantine will actually be made by the Franklin County Public Health Department. They will inquire about our situation and procedures and make a decision. The fact that we are keeping our students in pods, wearing masks, keeping seating charts, and building schedules to keep interactions to a minimum should greatly decrease the chances of an entire pod needing to quarantine at home.
Another question from our families is in regard to travel and school attendance. If you or your family are traveling before school resumes or during the school year to a“COVID Hot Spot” please contact the ODH Hotline prior to travel for guidance. For more information, click here:
Questions about COVID-19?
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 continue to develop. 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 while providing academic excellence and social and emotional support.
Please continue to pray for our school community and for each other.
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Matthew Kelly - Rescheduled Virtual Meet Up November 5
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Dynamic Catholic has canceled the December 2nd presentation by Matthew Kelly due to COVID-19. An email was sent earlier this week to those who registered and purchased tickets for the event.
The event is now going virtual on November 5, 2020 at 8:00 PM EST. If you have purchased tickets, please click on the link in the box below and fill out the form to get access to the virtual event.
If you have any questions, please contact the Dynamic Catholic team at 859-980-7900 or you can email the team at
info@dynamiccatholic.com.
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The window to purchase school supplies through EduKit has passed. Parents can find the school supply list on the St. Brigid school webpage under the Reopening Safely Tab. The link to the supply list is also included below.
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Camp Wolfhound is under way! Check out the link below for more photos of the various camps being held at St. Brigid.
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Pre-Registration for Fall Sports
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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.
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This past weekend our St. Brigid Family began celebrating First Communion during our weekend masses. We will be celebrating First Communions through September 20, 2020. You can share in this joyous occasion by watching the livestream Mass through our YouTube channel and Facebook page. Please pray for these children as they come to receive Jesus.
See the link below to take you to the Youtube channel.
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Protecting God's Children Zoom Session
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The Diocese of Columbus will be offering a Protecting God's Children (PGC) training session via Zoom on
Tuesday, August 11th and on
Wednesday, August 19th. 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.
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Volunteers Needed: New Family Welcome Committee
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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.
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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.
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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
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Support SPiCE: 20-21 Volunteers Needed
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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.
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www.stbrigidofkildare.com
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