Dear Saint Agnes School Families,
This past May, we articulated the intention of our school to move to Phase 5 (no restrictions) of our re-opening document as it relates to COVID-19. Given the prevalence of Coronavirus variants and requirements from the Archdiocese, we recognize that COVID-19 continues to pose some risk and are therefore amending Phase 5 in several common-sense ways to mitigate the spread of the virus in our school community.
One of the most important things we learned last year is that individuals who exhibit symptoms of illness need to stay home. Therefore, the most important mitigation strategy we will employ this year is:
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Stay Home When Sick: We cannot emphasize enough the importance of monitoring symptoms of illness in our students and employees. All parents are asked to do daily health checks on their children before sending them to school. If they are sick, keep them home; if they are healthy, send them to school. If students become sick while at school, we will be sending them home. Sick students can return to school once their symptoms have significantly improved and they feel well enough to come back. As is stated in our Parent-Student Handbook, students must be fever free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medications of any kind in order to return to school.
Again, we cannot emphasize enough the importance of this vital mitigation strategy. No one will receive a reward from Saint Agnes School for perfect or near-perfect attendance during these times; it is not worth spreading the virus (or other illnesses) at school!
Mitigation Strategies. Other common-sense mitigation strategies at school include the following from last year:
- Emphasizing and ensuring good hand-washing and respiratory etiquette;
- Increasing ventilation in the building (additional work done this summer already);
- Disinfecting and cleaning of surfaces as necessary to mitigate spread of viruses;
- Increasing physical distances where practicable and where it does not interfere with the important work of educating the young.
Face Coverings. As we wrote in the last newsletter, Saint Agnes School will leave face covering decisions to parents and individual faculty/staff members—in other words, we will not require face coverings during the academic day. In addition, we stated that, “we will work to ensure that anyone who chooses to wear (or not to wear) a face covering will not be belittled, ostracized, or otherwise poorly treated—in all cases, the choice will be respected!” However, the Archdiocese reminded us that, according to an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), wearing face coverings is required “while in public transportation hubs and on all public transportation conveyances (airplanes, public buses, etc.), including school buses (both public and private).”
COVID-19 Shots/Vaccinations, Quarantine. COVID-19 shots/vaccinations are not required at Saint Agnes School—they are a matter of prudential judgment, and each family will determine its own approach to health care. Also, Saint Agnes School will no longer require individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine, unless required to do so by public health officials in rare circumstances.
Lab-Confirmed Cases. With regard to lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 among Saint Agnes School students and faculty/staff members, those individuals will not be allowed to return to school or to school-sponsored activities until they are no longer contagious—meaning, they feel better (no cough, shortness of breath, etc.), 10 days have elapsed since they first felt sick or tested positive, they have no fever for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medication. We will only notify impacted families via email of a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 in the event that there is a possibility of exposure within the classroom. All contact tracing will be done by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and not by Saint Agnes School, though we may assist as required.
Education Model. Finally, we will no longer be employing any hybrid or distance-learning modes, unless we must quarantine whole classes/grades due to some type of outbreak of the virus. Instead, students who stay home for health reasons will be given time to make up the work they missed.
Let us please continue to pray as a community for unity, compassion, and protection, asking the Blessed Mother to intercede for us on all fronts. To that end, let us all work to be united in our words and deeds as a Catholic school community. Let us all have compassion on those who are nervous about vulnerable family members getting sick, on those who disagree with us regarding prudential judgments about face coverings etc., and on those who have lost loved ones to this virus. Finally, let us seek God’s protection, for body and soul, from the serious and demonic ways through which this virus attacks our community. Let us continue, as St. Padre Pio so wisely taught us, to “pray, hope, and don’t worry…for worry is useless.”
Commending our entire community to the protection of the Blessed Mother and our Patroness, Saint Agnes!
Kevin Ferdinandt Fr. Mark Moriarty
Headmaster Pastor/Superintendent
