Camp Wolfhound continues this week! See more pictures below.
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Dear Parents,
We have much to celebrate this week! Our initial groups of First Communicants were able to celebrate Mass together this past week-end! Please continue to keep our First Communicants in your prayers, as each week we have new groups experiencing the joy of receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.
Camp Wolfhound continues to be a fun experience for our students and teachers as they begin to safely reunite after many months of remote learning. Please see pictures in the story below!
I will continue to send out weekly Task Force updates. All documents and information related to the reopening can be found on the top of our website’s opening page.
Reopening Safely Plan
This page will be updated regularly.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers for the Task Force as well as our school and parish community.
May Saint Brigid continue to bless you and your families,
Kathy O'Reilly
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Task Force Reopening Update
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Our Task Force continues to meet regularly to design and firm up our “Reopening Safely Plan.” Most importantly, in order for our school to reopen safely, each and everyone one of us needs to be committed to the health and safety of our own family and in turn to the health and safety of the community as a whole. It is critical for us to understand how important our personal decisions affect the health and well-being of others. All of us must follow the guidelines and practices that are established by our school and parish to protect each other. Caring for each other is one of the fundamental tenets of our faith. We have made the commitment to open our parish school for the good of our students’ spiritual, educational, social and emotional well-being. As we continue to move forward with restructuring our school routines, structures, and learning opportunities to maximize a healthy learning experience for all of our students, I would like to share a few more details with you this week.
Going forward you will be able to access chronological updates of our “Reopening Safely Plan” progress on our school website. It can be found on the top of the main school page or at the following link.
Reopening Safely Plan
CLASSROOM REORGANIZATION
In order to assure proper physical distancing our classrooms will now operate as “pods”. Each grade level 1 - 7 will have 3 pods. Kindergarten will be divided into 4 pods, and 8th grade will operate as 2 pods. Preschool will operate in pods that conform to the required ratio of 1: 9 as dictated by the state licensing board. In order to accommodate for these additional classes, we will be utilizing the school, Hendricks Hall, Enke Hall and leased modular units for the preschool. These units will be located on our campus. In utilizing this design, we will also be conscious in the structuring of our routines to minimize the number of staff working with each pod. Strict seating charts, attendance records and schedules will be kept in order to facilitate contact tracing if it becomes necessary. Student pod groups will not be mixing during the day. Please see attached maps for visuals of the reorganization.
ONLINE LEARNING
Our Task Force has been diligently working to develop a program which would meet the online learning needs of the students, families, and staff. We will have a program outline to share with you in next week’s update. July 30th will be the deadline for decision making. If you have already reached out to Mrs. Carfagna regarding online learning, you will need to reach out again with a final decision.
HEALTH PROMOTION
Our Task Force has been formulating guidance based on the latest health research available. We are recommending that parents begin working with their children now to prepare them for return to school. This includes talking about and practicing hand hygiene, physical distancing and face coverings. Please find attached an infographic to assist your efforts in preparing your children. These practices are integral to the health and safety of our school community.
CALENDAR INFORMATION
The week of August 31st will be a staggered start week for our students. The week will be organized as follows:
Monday, August 31
- Kindergarten WOW Day - A detailed letter will be available soon for kindergarten parents.
- Special Circumstances Day - Students in grades 1-8; will consist of two sessions (morning and afternoon) of approximately two - three hours each. Students/Parents will receive an email invitation to attend one of the sessions on this day. These sessions will allow students who need extra time for transitioning back to school to experience this return in a small group. We will include students on a specialized learning plan and those with previously known physical or emotional needs. If there is a special circumstance, such as heightened anxiety during the pandemic, please reach out to Jill Carfagna (mrs.carfagna@stbrigid-school.org) in order for your child’s needs to be considered for this day.
- No bus transportation or lunch available.
Tuesday and Wednesday, September 1-2
- All students with the last name beginning with A - K will attend school.
- Bus transportation and lunch will be available.
- Students will receive an orientation to new procedures and also participate in assessments to determine readiness for the 2020-21 school year.
Thursday and Friday, September 3-4
- All students with the last name beginning with L - Z will attend school.
- Bus transportation and lunch will be available.
- Students will receive an orientation to new procedures and also participate in assessments to determine readiness for the 2020-21 school year.
Monday, September 7
Tuesday, September 8
- All students will be in attendance going forward
- Bus transportation and lunch will be available.
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
This year students will not have community supplies in the classroom. Our supply lists have been designed with this in mind. Students will also have a way to organize their own supplies in the pod. If you are interested in ordering supplies, please order supplies by
July 27th at the following link.
EduKit School Supply List
TECHNOLOGY
Our Task Force has recommended the purchase of additional technology to allow all students in grades K - 8 to have their own, school-issued device to use for the year. This device will be available for all three tiers: GO-BLEND-HOME. Parent and student training will be available.
PE UNIFORMS
Our Task Force has recommended a modification to the school dress code for the 2020-2021 school year. In order to comply with our safety routines, students will no longer be able to change for Physical Education class. Only on the days they have PE, students in grades K-8 will be allowed to wear plain black wind pants and jackets. The PE uniform will consist of the following:
Pants
- Black wind pants. SOLID BLACK only. (no sports team/organization/club logo) A small manufacturers logo such as the Nike swoosh will be allowed. No side stripes on pants.
- K - 8 pants must be ankle length.
- Grades 6 - 8 may also wear PE uniform shorts if desired under the wind pants. The shorts may be worn during PE class time only.
Shirts
- Grades K - 5 may wear their uniform polo shirt or uniform blouse.
- Grades 6 - 8 must wear their PE uniform shirt.
- K - 5 are invited to purchase a PE uniform shirt if they desire.
Jacket
- K-8 must wear a SOLID BLACK wind suit jacket (full-zip or ¼ zip).
- No sports team/organization/club logo. A small manufacturer's logo such as the Nike swoosh will be allowed. No side stripes on sleeves.
SchoolBelles
- PE uniform shirts are currently in stock to purchase if needed.
- Black wind suits will be available, we are not requiring a school logo.
Please note
- Wind suits must be simple, loose fitting. Pants and jackets made of nylon are desired. Please no terry cloth, fleece, or knit fabric.
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 continue to develop. 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 while providing academic excellence and social and emotional support.
Please continue to pray for our school community and for each other.
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Good News! Saint Brigid of Kildare is offering the EduKit program for our families to order school supplies for the 2020/2021 school year. EduKit has put together specific grade level kits approved by your student’s teacher. This year is unique due to many new restrictions to keep our students healthy. Your student will not be able to share any supplies this year. Each student will have their own supplies. Some supplies can be reused next year (headphones, calculators, etc.). Order by
July 27, 2020 and your kit will be shipped directly to Saint Brigid of Kildare and delivered to your student’s classroom.
There will not be any extra kits for purchase this year. See link below for the ordering page.
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This past weekend our St. Brigid Family began celebrating First Communion during our weekend masses. We will be celebrating First Communions through September 20, 2020. You can share in this joyous occasion by watching the livestream Mass through our YouTube channel and Facebook page. Please pray for these children as they come to receive Jesus.
See the link below to take you to the Youtube channel.
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On Tuesday, small groups of our future first grade students met on Brigid's Green with their kindergarten friends and teachers. They began their adventure with a prayer and then listened to the story Duck On a Bike. The friends learned how to make their bicycle sound like a motorbike using a playing card and decorated their bikes with streamers, pinwheels, beads and straws.
Everyone had a great time playing with friends, riding in a bike parade, eating a popsicle, and biking into first grade!
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Camp Wolfhound is under way! Check out the link below for more photos of the various camps being held at St. Brigid.
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Pre-Registration for Fall Sports
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We know that this year is unique, and so we are trying to be as prepared as possible for the upcoming fall season. Right now, St. Brigid is waiting on confirmation from the Diocese that there will be fall activities for Volleyball, Cross-Country, and Football. St. Brigid Athletic Association is currently waiting for those confirmations before we ask people to register and pay - we hope to have a decision yet here in the next few weeks before the traditional August 1 start date.
In the meantime, we would like to start to plan out the amount of participants, and try to get some communication with each sports commissioner, coaches, and families. It's important to know how many kids would be planning on participating so that we can also make sure that we have the proper coaches and ability to support those teams.
If you could register each of your children that plan to participate in a fall sport, please let us know by completing this registration. After we get the approval from the Diocese that there will be a fall season, we will ask that you complete the official registration with player/parent consent and with registration fees.
It would really help us out with planning if you could do this ASAP!
Please note - Golf and Tennis are club sports, and have been already given approval for their participation, so no need to pre-register if you are doing one of those activities.
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Volunteers Needed: New Family Welcome Committee
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Are you available to help welcome our new school families into the community? Please complete the Google Survey below if you are interested in being a mentor for the 2020-2021 school year.
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Protecting God's Children Zoom Session
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The Diocese of Columbus will be offering a Protecting God's Children (PGC) training session via Zoom on Thursday, July 23th at 6:00 pm. Please visit
www.virtus.org for registration and instructions.
Click on First-Time Registrant, View list of sessions, Columbus, OH - Diocese to see the current offerings. This Zoom session is listed at St. Matthew's in Gahanna and is open to St. Brigid parishioners.
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Please join the USCCB in asking Congress to include additional relief for Catholic schools in the next emergency relief package.
Public schools are asking for $300 billion dollars, and it is important to make sure that Catholic school families also receive emergency relief. Please take a moment to contact our Members of Congress to ask for emergency aid to Catholic schools and hard-hit families in the next COVID-19 relief package. We are asking Congress for direct funding to families for education expenses, including Catholic school tuition.
Please click below to read more and to send a letter to our members of Congress.
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Alumni on 4th Quarter Honor Roll
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Congratulations to our many alumni at Bishop Watterson and St. Charles High Schools who are on the honor roll for the 4th quarter.
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Below are links to opportunities available for summer work from many Saint Brigid of Kildare teachers. The grades listed are for the student's
current grade level.
These links are also listed on the
e-learning webpage and will remain there throughout the summer.
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Saint Brigid of Kildare School
will be prepared to educate your children for the 2020-21 school year. Given that families may need flexibility during this uncertain time we are offering assistance with deferring payments until September 1st (if needed). If you find that your family needs to withdraw, please contact the school office so that we can understand your concerns. If finances are an issue, we may have additional resources available. We want to work with you to continue offering the gift of Catholic education to your child(ren). If you absolutely are not able to make tuition payments we would like to extend a more flexible COVID withdrawal policy
We offer our school families the following options:
If Saint Brigid School is restricted from offering a typical school schedule on campus full-day, families may withdraw without penalty any time prior to August 15th and will be refunded any tuition paid less the $150 tuition deposit (paid by new families). Families who withdraw after school starts will forfeit 1/10th of annual school tuition for every month the student is enrolled.
If Saint Brigid School is able to offer a typical school schedule on campus, families may withdraw without penalty any time prior to August 1 and will be refunded any tuition paid less the $150 tuition deposit (paid by new families). Families who withdraw after August 1 will forfeit 1/10th of annual school tuition for every month the student is enrolled.
We are also able to offer flexibility at this time with several different tuition payment plan options. If it is helpful for your family’s financial planning, you may choose to delay your first payment until September. You may choose the following:
- Full payment in September
- Semi-annual payments in September and February
- Quarterly payments in September, December, March and June
- 10 monthly payments starting in September
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Support SPiCE: 20-21 Volunteers Needed
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The SPiCE program at St. Brigid of Kildare thrives because of the time and talent of people like you -- without your support, these programs wouldn't be possible.
From volunteering to help with an event, chair a committee, or donate financially, any bit of help you can give to support our SPiCE program is deeply appreciated. Click the link below to learn about the many ways you can support SPiCE at St. Brigid of Kildare.
Open positions for the 20-21 school year include:
- Corks for a Cause Wine Tasting & Silent Auction Volunteer (March 6, 2021)
- SPiCE Board Secretary
- SPiCE Board Fundraising Event Committee
- SPiCE Board Communications Committee - Parent Liason
- SPiCE Board Communications Committee - Publicity
- SPiCE Volunteer at Large
- SPiCE Committee - General
Use the link below to view all volunteer opportunities and sign up. Please contact Karri Brady if you have any questions at
sbokspice@gmail.com or 614-596-1725.
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www.stbrigidofkildare.com
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