Dear St. Francis of Assisi Parents and Guardians,
We are off to a great start! The laughter, smiles, and learning bring us all great joy in our classrooms and on the playground. Students have returned ready to learn and excited to be back in school! As we continue to evaluate our new practices and procedures, there are some housekeeping notes I would like to share.
Zoom Instruction
Zoom instruction is for students. We have been surprised to see several parents on our Zooms who have shared their thoughts and feelings with students on the screen. Please reserve your feedback for administration and tech support. We are happy to help troubleshoot any problems that occur. We shared that the first few weeks might present some growing pains but we have faith that together we can work through all of them.
Please reference our posted aide schedules for all grade levels. Students are to attend instruction with their teacher and then are able to ask questions with the aide for each grade level on a separate support Zoom. Links to the Zooms with aides are posted by the homeroom teacher.
Students are to wear school uniform shirts and should be sitting at a workstation. No backgrounds should be used for the Zoom as it makes it difficult to see the student and share work. Students should refrain from putting on makeup, eating on screen, spinning in their chair, playing other electronic games, disguising themselves by covering their heads, and doing anything that distracts them from learning. We want our students engaged throughout the day so they do not need to spend time on homework afterschool.
Emails to Teachers
If you send an email to a teacher during the day, you will most likely not receive a response during the day as they are teaching and engaged with the care of their students. Over the past few days, our teachers have been overwhelmed with the volume of emails, over 80-90 a day, and may not be able to respond to all within a timely manner. Direct all tech support questions to our IT staff, classwork questions directed to the classroom aide from the student, and administrative questions to Mrs. McCallick or myself. Your partnership with the faculty is very much appreciated as we all navigate through new waters.
Tech Support
We have tech support available 5 days a week through techsupport@sfayl.org. Our IT staff are monitoring this support ticket system and respond swiftly to resolve issues as soon as possible. Please do not email the teacher with IT issues as they will be unable to address them with you nor will they be able to resolve the majority of issues without reaching out to IT for help as well.
Backpacks
For this year, please feel free to use a rolling backpack at all grade levels. We are working together with faculty to reduce the weight of what is sent back and forth from school. Please give us a week to work through this dilemma.
Carline
Thank you for working together with us as we are trying to improve our drop-off and pickup process. We appreciate your early arrival beginning at 7:35. We have reduced our drop-off time and were able to get all students on campus by 8:03 am. No student will be tardy during these first few weeks unless they arrive after 8:10 am.
We are trying to streamline our pickup line. We reduced the time of this line from 42 minutes the first day to 26 minutes today! Thank you for your patience as we fine tune what works to safely get your students in your car.
Walking through classrooms this week has reinvigorated the spirit of St. Francis. Seeing teachers bring learning back on campus and provide excellent learning for those who are remote, is the heart of what we do well here at our school. Next week, we hope to have our junior high students back on campus on September 22. We continue to pray for the numbers to remain low in our county.
Mark your calendars for virtual back to school nights next Tuesday through Thursday. Details will be sent out by Friday in a separate email.
Be safe and be hopeful,
Jeannette Lambert
Principal
