Dear St. Giles Families,
 
Thank you all for your engagement, recommendations, suggestions, ideas and offers of assistance as we plan for our reopening of school.
 
I have been receiving an overwhelming number of emails a week recently regarding this important topic. As you can imagine, my primary focus at this time needs to be on making sure that we are properly set up to implement the Archdiocese's plan for getting the school open safely, hiring qualified and engaging teachers, as well as ensuring that we have a robust remote teaching plan in place. While I wish I had the time to discuss each individual's point of view with them, unfortunately, there are not enough hours in the day. We have put together FAQs in an attempt to address the multitude of questions that we have received.  
 
Going forward, we will also have a team of people helping me respond to emails. If you have a specific educational issue relating to your child that you need to discuss with me, I will do my best to address those issues personally and confidentially. For more general issues, the team will respond. We are following the guidelines prescribed by the Archdiocese and implementing their plan. While other school systems may be approaching things differently, the Archdiocese created their plan for in-person learning in collaboration with health officials and with our specific school system in mind. St. Giles School does not have the flexibility to create and implement our own plan.
 
We need to spend our time ensuring that we have made the changes necessary to safely open the school for those students who choose to return and provide a remote option for those who choose to stay home. Based on our survey, which was intended to gauge interest and numbers, not a commitment, roughly 40 families across grade levels have expressed an interest in remote learning. While we are still finalizing the details of our remote learning, an outline of our remote learning process can be found below. Additional details will be shared this week in a special enews. 

I would like to thank Kathy Lofgren, Michele Bibbey, as well as Dennis and Jesus, for all the time and effort that has gone into our reopening plans. They have worked tirelessly to make sure we are in line with the Archdiocese’s plan and getting our campus into great shape to welcome everyone back. 

Please watch for special enews announcements this week regarding further details of remote learning, supply drop off, and drop off/pick up procedures. 

Thank you again for your patience and understanding.

Stay well,
Meg 
We all know school will look very different this year – temperature checks, hand sanitizer, and masks – OH MY!  

In an effort to provide a less hectic environment for faculty and staff to execute new protocols and students to learn them, we have decided to stagger which K-8 grades are on campus throughout the first 3 days of school. Preschool will meet all 3 days in order to establish routines and have students who are not daily attendees learn the protocols.

These opening days will enable teachers and Prides to get accustomed to new protocols and routines as they return after such a long absence from school. They will have opportunities to be outside, both during recess and instructional time, which will give students a chance to remove their masks (which can be done when outside and >6 feet apart).

Each day, only ONE grade level per unit will attend school. Each day will be a “Wednesday schedule” with dismissal at 2:00 p.m. Kids Klub will be available before school beginning at 7:00 am and after school from 2:00 – 6:00 pm. Families utilizing Kids Klub on these days must be registered. Please see the information below in enews regarding registration. To prevent gathering outside and to maintain a safe physical distance, students will be allowed to enter the building this year beginning at 7:55 am until 8:15 am. The first class begins at 8:20 am daily.

Wednesday, August 19: Second, Fifth, Eighth grades 
Thursday, August 20: First, Fourth, Seventh grades
Friday, August 21: Kindergarten, Third, Sixth grades

On Monday, August 24th all students will be on campus.

We recognize that this may be an inconvenience for some and we appreciate your understanding as we work to put an emphasis on bringing everyone back to school safely. We know that our community is one of the things that makes St. Giles such a great school and we all need to rely on one another to open safely and get through these trying times!

More information regarding drop-off and pick-up as well as entry locations will be sent ahead of our opening but we wanted to make sure you have these details in order to make any arrangements for these opening days.  
Kids Klub, our before and after care program, is available to all families daily from 7:00 am -7:55 am and 3:10 pm - 6:00 pm. (Wednesdays, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm) Registration is now open and you will find more information in our Kids Klub Handbook.
Haven't ordered your school supplies yet? Please check each grade list before your shop. We know that some supplies, like disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer may be in short supply. Please continue checking and bring them in when you are able.
www.stgilesschool.org