BK Alive - September 4, 2020 Edition

September 4, 2020

BK Alive

Weekly News and Information for BK Families

THIS NEWSLETTER CONTAINS A LOT OF INFORMATION, AND THE LENGTH OF THE NEWSLETTER CAUSES IT TO BE TRUNCATED.

LOOK FOR THE BLUE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE EMAIL THAT SAYS "VIEW ENTIRE MESSAGE" TO EXPAND THE EMAIL, OR CLICK HERE TO SEE ARCHIVED COMMUNICATIONS FROM BK.

Upcoming

Next week at a Glance:

Monday, 9/7 - Labor Day, No School

Tuesday, 9/8 - A Day, 8:15 Start

Wednesday, 9/9 - B Day, 9:15 Start

Thursday, 9/10 - A Day, 8:15 Start

Friday, 9/11 - B Day, 9:15 Start

Monday, September 7th - Labor Day, NO SCHOOL

Thursday, September 10th - Freshmen Football vs. Emmet (home), JV Football @ Emmett (away), 6:00 PM Kickoff

Friday, September 11th - Varsity Football vs. Emmett (home, 7:00 PM Kickoff

Saturday, September 12th - Cross Country vs. Eagle and Emmett (home), 9:00 AM Start.

Thursday, September 17th - All School Mass (students will participate online in their classrooms, Campus Ministers will bring the Eucharist to them.)

Bishop Kelly Master Calendar

A Message from Rich and Mike

Dear Bishop Kelly Parents,

As we finish our third week of school, we want to express our appreciation for your support and understanding as we navigate the COVID-19 waters and “just keep swimming”. Our third week has gone well and we are excited to welcome everyone back after the Labor Day holiday as we move from alternating schedules to having all students who wish to be here five days per week for in-person learning.

We are continuing in this BK Alive our feature called “The Week in Review/The Week Ahead”. It is imperative that all of our communication with you, our BK community, is transparent, honest, two-way and frequent. We want to share with you what is going well, what needs attention and what adjustments we are making for the coming week based on what we have learned. We also want to remove any possibility of ambiguity and make sure it is clear to you what the week ahead looks like.

We continue to be grateful to all of you for your partnership in the learning experience of your sons and daughters.

God Bless,

Rich Raimondi

President

Mike Caldwell

Principal

What went well:

Wearing of masks (and correctly) was exemplary by everyone.
Seating and spacing in classrooms is working well
Our teachers (new, reassigned and returning) have really stepped up to the challenges of teaching during a pandemic. Thank you!
Our parent volunteers’ service in classrooms as proctors and at the Mini Knights Academy.
Disinfecting classroom desks, tables, etc.,
Sports practices continue - over 500 students participating, safety protocols followed well. Contact tracing and quick reaction for quarantine with positive Covid-19 case from last week. We will hopefully begin competition this coming week.
Lunch in “friend groups” and in prescribed areas is helping with social distancing and minimizing possible close contact exposure
Teachers taking their classes outside for socially distanced “mask breaks” and to get to know students and for them to get to know each other, especially freshman and transfer students
All students who were on quarantine have returned to school and both students who had COVID-19 have recovered and are back.
Staggering release times from classes during the 10 minute passing period continues to help relieve crowding in the hallways. In addition, having no lockers assigned assures the smooth flow of students to their destination.
Enrollment continues to be very strong. 872 currently students enrolled (budget goal was 864) and we have 8 students on a waitlist and 12 in the application process.

What needs improvement:

Can’t lose focus on the need for social distancing outside during lunch periods when masks are off. We continue to educate and reinforce students staying in their “bubbles” during lunch, providing separate areas for fr/soph and jr/sr, and minimizing group to group interactions.
Mixed classes in World Language, Science, Math and Elective courses are challenging as teachers often have to teach half the students online and half in class. This will get measurably better with most all students back on campus daily beginning September 8th.
Integration of students on hybrid instructional plan on days when class is in session at BK.
Lunch service continues to improve but our numbers are down as fewer students than planned are buying lunch. We will be moving to full lunch service the week of September 8th in a distributed model to keep social distancing and avoid large gatherings.

COVID-19 Status

As mentioned in our Just in Time communication on Wednesday, we are committed to being transparent and timely with our community on COVID-19 issues as they arise, and improve on our first two weeks of reporting. We will send a Just in Time mid-week with our status and will include any new information in each Friday’s edition of BK Alive if and when we have new positive cases. In addition to these emails, any new information will be posted on bk.org in the Just In Time Blog.
On bk.org, we will do our best to post a daily update on the number of cases and people in self-isolation under "COVID-19 Daily Updates."
The update for today, September 4th, is:
2 known positive cases of BK students since the start of school on August 17th. Both have recovered and are back. No known faculty/staff positive cases.
The 36 students in self-isolation at home have returned to school. One student is currently in isolation due to being identified as a close contact of a COVID-19 test positive person.

As mentioned in Wednesday’s Just in Time communication, we have made the decision to bring all students back on campus daily starting next Tuesday, 9/8, and move away from the alternating hybrid schedule that we’ve been using. All those who wish to come back full-time on September 8th are welcomed back. Those who are concerned about returning to every day in person school can stay on alternating blocks or completely online while we remain in Category 3 or at least through next week. We believe this best meets the four goals we set for the 2020-21 school year:

Make the learning experience exceptional for all BK students and faculty & staff
Build a plan that provides flexibility, adaptability and whenever possible, options for our students, faculty/staff and our school.
Keep our students, faculty/staff and community safe and healthy
Engage our parents and community as partners to the overall learning experience of our students

This solution for next week allows parental choice and gives you options, while allowing us to strengthen the educational experience for students and faculty. We are also actively working on lunch for up to 800 students on campus and believe we have a solid plan - sequencing lunch release times, having kids stay in their group of less than 10, provide full lunch service with stations distributed around campus, and spreading students out to prescribed areas on campus for lunch to minimize social interaction while unmasked.

Action Item: If your child is planning to Opt-in to the Online Learning Option any day next week or all week, please complete this short form so our teachers will be better prepared to accommodate your student’s needs.

Opt-In for Online Learning- Tuesday Sept 8-11

We are optimistic we will begin our fall sports competitions this week after cancelling this week’s competitions due to our risk assessment. We have scheduled Freshman and Varsity Football games at home against Emmett Thursday and Friday, and JV away on Thursday vs. Emmett. Cross Country also starts their season this coming week on Saturday at 9:00 AM here ar BK.

Finally, here is the schedule for next week:

Parent Volunteers - Week 4

We need parent volunteers again next week for classroom proctors/supervision as four of our teachers will be teaching remotely. If you are interested in volunteering, please check out THIS SIGNUP GENIUS and add your name.

Here are the descriptions of what we need:

Classroom Proctor- As a classroom proctor you will help manage

classrooms whose teachers are teaching remotely due to being in the "Higher Risk" category for COVID-19. There will be two, four hour blocks available per class per day.

Mini Knight Academy- The Mini Knight Academy is something new we are providing for our employees with school aged children, who have to start school online, but have no place to go during the day due to both parents working. We need WEEK 4 volunteers who can make sure our children are staying on task, are able to help with small computer needs (like logging in), answer questions, etc. The age of the students range from 2nd grade to 8th grade. I would like to have at least two volunteers helping at all times. Mini Knight volunteers will need to commit to a four hour block from either 7:30am-11:30am or 11:30am-3:30pm on the same day(s) through September 4th. I promise, all of our kids are very well behaved!

Lunch in the BK Cafe

Beginning September 8th, we will have complete food service!

In the kitchen/cafeteria we will be serving hot meal options. (i.e. pizza, chicken strips, pasta dishes, etc.) In the JKAF Commons inside the Father Wilson Science and Technology Wing we will be serving salads, sandwiches, and refrigerated grab and go items. In all locations we will maintain appropriate social distancing, traffic flow, and touchless payment to mitigate risk.

Students do NOT need to order their lunch online anymore.

Procedural Expectations for Students During Lunch Period

Students are allowed to eat in the following locations:
Anywhere outside on the BK Campus other than the parking lots, in cars, etc. (Students are not to be in their vehicles during lunch) Freshmen and Sophomores are eating on one side of campus, Juniors and Seniors on the other.
In the Cafeteria, Common Spaces, In Hallways
In any “open door classroom” (approx ½ our classrooms during any given lunch).
Food should be either brought from home, purchased in the BK Cafeteria, or brought to school from parents/relatives. Students/parents should not have food delivered from restaurants or third party services such as Door Dash, Uber Eats, etc.
Students should be kind, inviting and welcoming to other students that may not have a group to eat with. Students that consider themselves as leaders will seek out those students to make them feel welcome. (Please remind your kids to be active includers!)
In order to minimize mixing of students, students must keep their lunch group size to a maximum limit of 10 students. The friends your student eats lunch with are considered close contacts. If one student in a lunch group is infected with Covid-19, the lunch group will be quarantined for 14 days.
Students and/or groups of students should remain in one general location throughout the lunch period. Groups of students cannot congregate with other groups or wander around campus during the lunch period.
Students should put on masks when not eating/ drinking.
Individual students and student groups are responsible for picking up their trash after lunch. All members of a group will be held accountable for leaving litter behind after lunch.

Touchless Lunch Payment

In order to protect our Cafeteria Staff we will not be accepting payment of any kind in the cafeteria or JKAF Commons. Parents, please make sure that you have money in your students' lunch accounts.

You can add money to your students' lunch accounts two ways:

1) Bring Cash or Checks to the Business Office at Bishop Kelly.

2) Online via the My Payments Plus system.

Click here for an instructional video on how to begin using My Payments Plus.

Freshmen and New Student Parents - in order to set up your My Payments Plus Account, you will need your student's Student ID Number. Your student should know their number, or you can look up their number in Infinite Campus.

You can see the weekly lunch menu, access your My Payments Plus account, and apply for free and reduced lunches on the BK Cafe Page on our website.

Back to School Night - Recorded

Back to School Night was Wednesday night and the “State of the School” from Mike and Rich was recorded. Please watch it if you wish to learn about our current school status, enrollment and financial health, our 2020-23 strategic plan, BK2020 Vision, 2020-21 school theme, the BK Foundation’s Winner’s Choice and some tips for parents on Infinite Campus and staying in touch. The broadcast is available on our BK YouTube Channel

Back to School Night Recording on YouTube

You're also invited to view pre-recorded course introductions from your child’s teachers. We strongly suggest you do so if you have not yet had a chance. These videos and each course syllabus are outstanding and are available on our Just In Time Blog for viewing, or through the link below.

Back to School Night- Faculty Introduction Videos and Course Syllabi

PSAT/NMSQT for Sophomores and Juniors Rescheduled

The PSAT/NMSQT scheduled for October 14th had been rescheduled. The test for all Sophomores and Juniors will be held here at Bishop Kelly on January 26th.

SAT Opportunity For Seniors

For Seniors who had hoped to take the SAT over the summer but were unable to, there will be an opportunity to take the SAT here at Bishop Kelly on October 14th. It will be administered during school and any student taking it will have an excused absence.

The cost for the test is $70 (SAT with Essay)
This is only available for Seniors. All Juniors will take the SAT in March.
The deadline to sign up for the test is September 14th. Click on the link below to sign up. There is a limited number of tests available so sign up soon.

For more information, contact Mrs. Colleran at jcolleran@bk.org

We Need Your Pictures!

The yearbook staff is working on pages for the yearbook, and we need your photos!

Please send in any photos that you have of your student participating or completing his/her Senior Service Project, Senior Float, Quarantine Pets, Purchases and/or Activities, and any pictures from summer trips and/or activities. Be sure to label them or put in the email body some sort of explanation. Photos can be shared with us on our Instagram page at @bkyrbook or via email to knightpix@bk.org

Legion of Mary Rosaries

This week the local Legion of Mary donated 900 Rosaries to Bishop Kelly students! THANK YOU to these volunteers, and the lead on the project, Eva Pera, for this incredible gift to our school!

Rosaries will be distributed to the students in the next few days.

If you're interested in learning more about praying the rosary, or including this form of prayer in your own faith journey, THIS ONLINE RESOURCE from Dynamic Catholic is a great place to start.

Notes from the Nurse

Dear parents,

Welcome back to school! We are all committed to working together to provide a safe and nurturing environment for your student(s). In order to provide accurate care, it is important that the Nursing staff be made aware of any health condition that will have an effect on your student’s ability to function at school. If you have not already contacted your school nurse with this information, please do so. There

are a variety of care plans and forms available to keep everyone informed and on track. Food and other types of allergies are especially important to have on file, as well as any other condition such as diabetes, asthma, etc.

Thank you

MaryLou Cunningham, RN, BSN, NBCSN, MHS

Coordinator, Saint Alphonsus School Health Program

Online Ordering from the BK Spirit Store!

In order to maintain safe distancing AND be available for all your Spirit Wear needs, the Bishop Kelly Spirit Store will be offering online ordering for Fall Semester. A selection of items will be available each month, and you can order via email!

Please note, the actual BK Spirit Store will NOT be open during the lunch hour for additional items, and the Front Office staff will not have access to the store.

We're all getting really good at shopping online, right?

#256

BK Unisex Hooded Sweatshirt Drk. Gray

$36.00

#255

BK Unisex Hooded Sweatshirt Lt. Gray

$45.00

#146

Ladies Short Sleeved BK Strong T-Shirt

$15.00

#147

Mens Short Sleeved BK Strong T-Shirt

$15.00

(Not pictured, Same Design)

#141

Unisex Long Sleeved T-Shirt

$20

Bishop Kelly Masks - One Size Fits All

$8.00

How to Order

*Order deadline: EVERY MONDAY

*Order Pickup: EVERY FOLLOWING THURSDAY ONLY,

7:45 AM-8:15 AM OR 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Email bkspiritstore@gmail.com and must include:

Your Name
Contact Phone Number
Item # listed above
Size of Item (S, M, L, XL, 2XL)
Price

Method of Payment at Pickup: Exact Cash, Check to BKPA, Venmo @BKParentsAssociation, or Credit Card

Choice of Thursday ONLY Pickup Slot: AM or PM (see time period above) *BK Spirit Store volunteers are unavailable for other pickup days or times, and the front office staff does not have access to the store.

Thursday ONLY Pickup table outside in front of St. Teresa of Jesus Chapel. Please park, and walk up to pick up your order. Please do not park or leave your car unattended in the pickup lane.

THANK YOU for your cooperation as BK Spirit Store volunteers try to keep BK Spirit Store items available for our community.

Looking for a Host Family for a BK Sophomore

We are looking for a host family for a returning BK International Student from China. He is a sophomore, and he has not left Boise since last fall. He is a good student, and likes swimming, playing basketball, and golf.

Host families receive $700 per month, possibly more upon discussion. For questions and detailed information contact Ying Donegan at (208) 853-8542 or ying@7eie.com.

Supporting Bishop Kelly Students Through the Kelly Pride Fund

The Kelly Pride Fund provides an opportunity for our BK community- parents, alumni, grandparents, alumni parents, faculty/staff, and friends- to make a gift directly to the school to support our greatest investment- our students!

Gifts to the Kelly Pride Fund directly impact our students in two distinct ways:

Boosts specific programs and areas of the school that speak to your and your student's heart
Closes the "gap" between tuition and the full cost to educate every BK student, thus keeping tuition more affordable for all.

If you wish to support an activity, sport, club, tuition assistance, or highest student needs, visit bk.org/donate to make your impact today! Thanks and Go Knights! Questions? Contact the BK Development office at 208.947.1325 or email Tommy Steiner at tsteiner@bk.org

2020 Winner's Choice Update

The 44th annual Bishop Kelly's Winner's Choice Auction is going virtual!

Mark your calendar for October 30, 2020, for the opening of our online auction.

Check out all the silent and live items and bid, bid, bid!

Then join us on November 7, 2020, for a virtual event and car drawing that will leave you cheering!

One lucky person will win a new automobile from the Auto Ranch Group!

For those of you who may be new to the school, the Bishop Kelly Foundation was established over 44 years ago to provide financial assistance, support and scholarships to Bishop Kelly High School. The Winner’s Choice Dinner and Auction is its main fundraiser. Proceeds from this event represent approximately 40% of the Foundation’s annual contribution to the school. Last year’s event netted over $500,000 all of which went directly to school operations and need-based scholarships. For the 2020-2021 school year, the Bishop Kelly Foundation provided $598,000 in scholarship assistance and a $644,000 operations grant. This subsidy is what helps keep tuition lower than any other Catholic high school in the Pacific Northwest and benefits each and every family.

For more information on how you can get involved in this year's auction, please check out the BK Foundation website at:

https://www.bishopkellyfoundation.org/winners-choice-auction/

Mark Your Calendar

LADIES-Registration is now open for the 2020 Idaho Catholic Women's Conference. Our theme is Brave, and our keynote speakers are Sister Miriam James Heidland and Heather Khym, two of the co-hosts of the Abiding Together Podcast; and Father Justin Brady of the Diocese of Boise. This will be a virtual conference and will include a virtual Mass, adoration, cameos from Catholic personalities, live chat and Q&A, virtual marketplace, and nine days of live, pre-conference online sessions in the Serenity Lounge. The date is Saturday, September 19th . For more details and to register go to: www.IdahoCatholicWomen.com or call 208-484-0898.