Dear parents,
Thank you for your continued support as we navigate a less than typical school year. We continue to work hard to ensure that students and staff stay healthy. Your cooperation with keeping your children at home when they are sick and regularly communicating with the office is truly appreciated. I know we are all eager to get back to normal, but health and safety remain a top priority for all of us; and therefore we have to endure some of these less than ideal circumstances.
I've had parents reach out from all ends of the spectrum on beliefs regarding COVID - I truly appreciate your input, but with many of our protocols we are not allowed to make changes, and I know many of you find comfort in knowing that we will remain diligent in the highest level of safety possible.
- The plan, Living our Mission in Today's Reality, from the Diocese of Grand Rapids remains in place. I continue to meet weekly with Superintendent, Dave Faber and the other principals in the Diocese. Our protocols are on the agenda weekly.
- The Kent County Health Department Toolkit is updated weekly. This is our guidebook for navigating exposure and potential COVID cases. I'm so thankful for the immediate support, even on a Sunday afternoon when we have questions about next steps for contact tracing.
- Contact tracing is so important, which is why we continue to work daily to maintain 6' of social distancing between students. When there is a positive case, anyone who was within 6' of the person who tested positive for COVID for 15 cumulative minutes will need to quarantine for 14 days from the last exposure. Our goal is to keep positive cases at a minimum and exposure as low as possible so that we can continue to attend school in-person.
If you have questions about the procedures related to illness, please review the
Toolkit or reach out to the office. We are here to support you!
I also want to update you our plan for Parent-Teacher conferences. As a staff we know the importance of being able to spend time with you discussing the progress of each of your children. We are changing the dates of conferences to allow time to meet with families either in-person or virtually. Conferences will now be held on the evening of November 5th in person, the morning of November 6th virtually or the afternoon of November 6th in person. With this change, we are making a slight change to our school calendar. Students will have a virtual day of learning on Friday, November 6th to allow teachers time to meet with parents for conferences. A sign up will be sent home next week, allowing for 15 minute time slots to meet with your child's homeroom teacher. For in-person conferences, classrooms will be set up to allow for social distancing. We hope that you understand the need for this change in our schedules. More details will be included in the sign up next week.
Additional notes from Mrs. Pudelko:
-
HEALTH DEPARTMENT TOOLKIT: The Health Department continues to update the School Toolkit. All parents are encouraged to review these updates here (as of 10/2/20).
-
Halloween Parties: Classes will have Halloween parties this year, but they will look slightly different than in past. Parties will be for students only. Please watch your email for details from Home and School Room Parents.
-
LMCU is offering 25 $1000 Teacher Grants across Michigan and Florida. You can nominate a St. Anthony teacher who embodies the definition of 'resilience'!! Please see this link for more information: LMCU Teacher Grant
