We have had quite a week! Snowfall, Veteran’s Day celebration, end of quarter busyness, and a switch to distance learning for our middle school students through the Thanksgiving holiday. The decision for the middle schoolers was necessary because of faculty needing to quarantine, but being healthy enough to teach. The teachers are using today to develop a schedule and instruction delivery plan. We will be distance learning for 7 school days, and will return to in-person learning on November 30. The timing is actually a bit of a blessing since we had a positive COVID case and it takes a while for MDH to work through contact tracing. This way, everyone is home in case symptoms develop, and by the time the kids return, more than 14 days will have passed since the last contact. Shout out to Julie Herbst who is serving as our COVID point person and Nurse Hayley Kulstad. They have been doing a great job keeping up with all the protocols and communications.

I want to reiterate that our plan is to stay with in-person learning, and go to distance learning only as a last resort. Up to now the Governor has left it up to districts. Our district is the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and we have chosen to do our best to remain open with mitigation efforts in place, and with the input of MDH. Our School Advisory Council meets tonight and we will be discussing the circumstances that might lead us to consider distance learning.

We celebrated Veterans at our Mass on Wednesday. The tribute was on a smaller scale this year because of our need for social distancing, but it was still very meaningful. Students invited family members who currently serve in the military or have in the past; our cantors sang patriotic songs; and a slideshow with pictures of military men and women in our families who were not able to attend the service was shown. The church and school halls were decorated with children’s art and posters with Veterans’ Day themes. It was a fine tribute to those who have served and fought for our country. What a cool St. Michael tradition, and many thanks to Mr. Bill Olson and Mrs. Roseen for putting it together.

Tomorrow our teachers will be doing some curricular professional development and working on grade reports. Tomorrow night our Golden Gophers head to Iowa City to face the Hawkeyes. Enjoy your snowy weekend, and go Blues, go Gophers!

Mrs. Kerr

We have shared this before, and will keep sending reminders about when to stay home. We follow the decision tree developed by MDH.

Please note:

This decision tree is part of our mitigation efforts. We are trying our best to avoid the spread of COVID-19 at St. Michael. We are trying to stay open for in person learning, 5 days/week, for the full 2020-21 school year. It is a pain in the neck wearing masks, trying to keep the kids at a safe distance from one another, hand washing and sanitizing constantly, maintaining learning cohorts, monitoring symptoms, and rethinking so many of our routines. We are all experiencing fatigue around these efforts. However, it is ALL worth it if we can keep our kids in school where they belong. Please hang in there with us, be vigilant, keep up the mitigation efforts and stay home if necessary. Do it for the kids!

Please let us know if your child(ren) will need Wednesday Early Dismissal Care (12:15 - 2:15) in December by completing this form as soon as possible, and no later than Sunday, November 15, 2020. We are offering this for families who do not have other options available for Wednesday afternoons. If you are able to have your child come home at 12:15, please do so, as the teachers are finding the Wednesday afternoon planning especially necessary this year.

*REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Please complete one form per student. In order to ensure proper staffing and the safety of all students we request no late enrollment.

With the pandemic, rules and restrictions around gatherings and how many people venues can hold, we will be having a Virtual Gala.

We need volunteers to make this event successful. The more volunteers, the lighter the workload and the bigger the success.

Plus this is a great way to connect with our parent community!

For questions please contact, Brandi McColm Director of Advancement mccolm@saintmpl.org

LUNCH AND RECESS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED:

All volunteers must be up to date on Virtus training. See section below for more information. Please visit virtusonline.org to log in or to create an account and complete the required steps to be a volunteer.