Dear Charlotte Catholic Students, Parents, Faculty and Staff,
Thank you for your cooperation and flexibility as we successfully return to school amid the changing landscape of the pandemic. Charlotte Catholic remains committed to safely providing in-person teaching-and-learning this year, and we continue to follow the guidelines established in our Faithfully Forward Return to School plan.
As you may recall, CCHS shifted to virtual learning five times (fully remote and/or hybrid) last year with little disruption to our school. As expected, this year, we have experienced some Covid-19 cases in our school: Currently, we have six reported positive cases, with appropriate quarantines and no school spread or clusters (defined as five or more connected cases in a classroom). Since school began August 18, we have recorded a total of seven positive cases with more than 1,288 students, faculty and staff back in our school building.
We hope health experts are correct in their assessment that community spread may begin to decline later this month. However, in preparation for winter when conditions are particularly favorable for various illnesses, CCHS will use metrics similar to those from last year to help determine if and when it is appropriate to shift to hybrid or remote learning. This approach will help schools and families plan ahead and prepare for changes in instruction and activities as we continue to navigate the pandemic together.
We are confident in the metrics developed by our Catholic Schools Office (see below), which reflect CDC guidelines and best practices employed around the country, and our success last year is a powerful endorsement of our approach. We also know more now about the coronavirus, which allows us to more precisely tailor our responses to an uptick in cases. Additionally, we are better able to account for physical and environmental differences unique to our school. Our metrics include such factors as the percentage of positive cases in our school population, the impact of contact-tracing quarantines, and the evidence or lack of evidence of virus spread.
Decisions to shift our model of instruction will be made through careful consideration of these factors and in collaboration with the Catholic Schools Office, and local health officials. Any shift in instruction will be sustained for 5-14 days to allow for proper quarantine and consistency of instruction. All seven classes will continue to meet daily if we shift to Model B or Model C. Please see the metrics for shift in instructional models below.
We will keep you informed and will notify families as far in advance as possible when changes are expected. Thank you again for your support of CCHS.
Prayerfully yours,
