Dear Parents,
Saint Brigid of Kildare School will be celebrating our 25th anniversary this coming school year with our school theme “Our 25th Year: With God We Can!” This theme was selected before we knew what this coming school year would bring for our community, but how appropriate for us to be reminded daily that with God we can work together to navigate these challenging times and make appropriate decisions for our children and their education.
Our reopening task force would like to send you the long awaited update on our decisions and plans. The plans being shared today are very broad; you will be receiving detailed information as we progress. As you read through this document we are sure it will raise many questions in your mind. If you would, please hold on to your questions until more detailed information and plans are shared in the coming weeks. Please also keep in mind that this situation is fluid as new research and information about the virus become available.
PARENT SURVEY
We want to thank everyone for your participation in our parent reopening survey. We had 303 responses that we have been using to help formulate our thinking and planning. Your feedback has been most helpful.
FULL IN PERSON LEARNING
As we celebrate 25 years of Catholic education, we are pleased to announce that Saint Brigid of Kildare School will be offering full in person learning 5 days a week, with enhanced safety and health precautions. We have reviewed the most recent guidelines announced by Governor DeWine, the guidelines from the Ohio Department of Health, the American Association of Pediatrics, and the Diocese of Columbus. We have also conducted an assessment of our physical space and school staffing. We are truly blessed at Saint Brigid to have the buildings and resources available to accommodate our large student population while maintaining the ideal social distancing criteria. We know there are plenty of questions, and we are working through all of the pertinent logistical details. We should have a finalized plan soon to send out to our school community.
ONLINE OPTION
We are considering offering a full time online learning program for those K - 8 students and families who are not ready to send their child(ren) back to school at this point. We had several families indicate on the parent survey that they would consider this option for their child(ren) if offered. If you are currently interested in this option or have urgent concerns regarding your family at this point in your thinking and planning, please contact Mrs. Jill Carfagna at
mrs.carfagna@stbrigid-school.org
FAITH FORMATION
The primary purpose for our school is the transmission of Roman Catholic values. Whether at school or following the online option, students will “attend” our live streamed Mass on Thursday mornings. Religion classes will continue to be of prime importance, coupled with opportunities for prayer and guided Christian meditation, which will focus this coming year on intercessory prayer. Sacramental preparation will continue.
HEALTH MEASURES FOR STUDENTS AND STAFF
Keeping our students and staff healthy will be of utmost importance this school year. Performing a quick health check of your children before school each day will be the first step. At school we will encourage frequent hand washing, hand sanitizing, physical distancing, and facial coverings depending upon the developmental age and school situations throughout the day. All of these measures layered upon one another will help keep everyone safe! More details soon.
DIGITAL ACADEMY
We will be implementing a new student information system and learning management tool called Digital Academy to replace Schoolspeak. Digital Academy consolidates all important academic and grading information into one platform including a “Live Classroom” feature. Whether students are learning remotely or in person, our teachers will be able to offer a rigorous streamlined learning environment. This will address the parent feedback from the survey asking for a more standardized approach for all grade levels.
CONTINGENCY PLANNING (GO - BLEND - HOME)
While we anticipate full in person learning at school this fall (GO), we are actively planning for blended (BLEND) and full remote learning (HOME) contingencies. Our goal is to be able to implement any of the three tiered approaches if needed due to a local COVID-19 outbreak and/or mandates from the State of Ohio.
Please Note: We have renamed our three school tiers as a response to Governor DeWine’s new county alert system in which he uses YELLOW, ORANGE, RED, and PURPLE. Since the governor’s four-tier color system does not align well with our three-tier color system and offers a chance for confusion, we will now use our three-tier system of GO - BLEND - HOME.
TRANSPORTATION
We have been in contact with Dublin City Schools and they are ready to transport our students. They are asking for you to register BEFORE July 15th if you are interested in bus service this year. Please complete the online registration form no later than July 15th so the Dublin transportation department can plan accordingly. If you have any questions please contact Thomas Anderson, Dublin Routing Specialist at
anderson_thomas@dublinschools.net or 614-764-5926
Address verification
Bus registration
We are currently waiting for more information from Olentangy and Hilliard transportation. Please check the Wolfhound Wednesday this week for any updates.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Teachers are currently working on school and home supplies to support our GO, BLEND, and HOME instructional plans for the coming year. We will publish the lists hopefully by the beginning of August (or sooner). Our Home and School is still hoping to offer some type of school supply sale. We will update you as soon as possible. Students will not be able to use shared supplies in our classroom settings and we will be designing some ways for students to store their materials at school.
PRESCHOOL
We will be offering a full return of our preschool classes with perhaps some slight variations in schedule. Our preschool will be operating according to the guidelines for preschool and day care settings which include groupings limited to 9 students. Preschool families will receive separate communications at a later date with detailed information regarding return to preschool.
AFTER SCHOOL CHILD CARE
We are hoping to offer a full return to our after school care. After school care will be operating under the same guidelines as day care settings, which include groupings limited to just 9 students. We do need to add a disclaimer to this statement: We currently need to hire additional staff for this program, so this decision is not yet firm. Please help us network and have qualified candidates you may know contact Karol Halm at
mrs.halm@stbrigid-school.org. (Qualified candidates must have a high school diploma, must be able to work 2:00 - 6:00 pm M-F, must be able to obtain a BCI/FBI background check, and must attend a Protecting God’s Children session.)
UPDATED K-8 CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS
Our calendar has been updated to allow additional time to prepare our facility and allow our teachers time for professional development to work with Digital Academy, to design and learn new routines for safety protocols, and to plan GO, BLEND, and HOME models of instruction. We also plan to initially implement a staggered start for our students to allow time to welcome our students back to school in small groups and acclimate them to our new routines and classroom spaces. We also want to allow plenty of time for baseline assessments of each student in order to properly begin instruction for the new year. We are also planning to offer training for parents on the Digital Academy system.
Staggered Orientation Week: August 31 - September 4
Students will come to school in small groups, on one assigned day, based on the alphabet; schedules will be announced soon. Students will learn and practice new school routines and safety protocols. Kindergarten students will have a different orientation schedule to be announced soon.
September 7: Labor Day
Tuesday, September 8: All students back full time
November 25 - 27: Thanksgiving Break
December 21 - January 1: Christmas Break
April 1 - April 9: Easter Break
Last Day of School to be announced
Our revised full calendar will be published soon.
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 become more fully developed. 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, providing academic excellence and social and emotional support.
Please continue to pray for our school community and for each other.
Kathy O'Reilly
