December 9, 2020
Dear Members of the Sacred Heart School Community,
In Advent, the warmth and emergent joy of the changing season surrounds us. Everywhere, we see and hear the Living Word breaking forth when we are attentive to its mighty call. During this season of preparation, hope, peace, and love, we cherish our togetherness as the Sacred Heart family. It is that Spirit that invites us “to be and act as one body” (Our guiding calls | RSCJ.org) that prompts me to write today.
Once again, COVID is the subject on which I share some important updates and reminders about the weeks and months ahead.
First, as we continue to navigate the changing landscape of the pandemic, our school remains vigilant in health and safety, concomitantly aligning our practices within the changing guidance of civic and medical authorities. The Center for Disease Control, the Louisiana Department of Health and the Louisiana Board of Education made a change in the duration of quarantine for those who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, allowing shorter periods for quarantine.
In consideration of this change in guidance and the efficacy of our on-campus protocols, Sacred Heart will shift to a 10-day period for quarantine for the coming weeks. This changes our current practice, but not drastically, in favor of an incremental move for the weeks ahead. A person must remain asymptomatic throughout the 10 days from the time of potential exposure to return to school. Our school nurse will continue to accompany each family regarding the duration of quarantine as cases are frequently affected by contextual factors. Together, we will continue to make every effort to accommodate the individual needs of our families as we navigate these times.
Second, Sacred Heart has been offering an in-person educational program for the last 15 weeks to students from age one to 12th grade in a unique, positive, and effective collaboration with our parents. I wanted to assure all of you that ASH is fully planning to remain open for in-person and on-campus learning following the Christmas holidays. We look forward to an exciting and robust second semester.
While we anticipate a return to the campus, we are also preparing for any eventuality in the larger civic community or regulatory environment that may cause us to have to pivot to virtual learning. Our Division Heads and Department Heads have been working diligently with all faculty and staff so that our students are fully supported in the continuation of learning should a change be required.
Third, to remain open under these circumstances, we will continue to remain vigilant in terms of mitigation factors. We will “stay the course” on our mitigation efforts: temperature checks, hand washing, masks, cohorts, and physical distancing. While we are all weary of these protocols, we know of their importance in reducing spread and commit to following them daily.
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Fourth, as we anticipate a return to campus after the holidays, we know a deep shared sense of co-responsibility is necessary to accomplish this desired end. Collaboration and personal responsibility is needed among and between us. This way implies 1) trade-offs, 2) negotiation, 3) values exchange, and, yes, 4) innovation as we make our plans for Christmas and the New Year.
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We will have to trade-off some of our traditional ways of celebrating for other ways that are safer for the sake of ourselves, our families, and, this year, for others in our school community.
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This year, we will have to negotiate with our families, friends and neighbors who may subtly pressure (even without knowing it or intending it) us to do unsafe things, if even for good reasons.
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We will have to engage in a values exchange, measuring the value of being in large groups with family and friends (or strangers) with the value of building protective factors around members of our families.
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Lastly, we will have to innovate by creating new ways of doing what we love to do with others—doing things differently, but in celebrative and meaningful ways. As new Orleaneans, we are gifted in this regard, so that is the spirit to engage as we approach the holidays with our families and friends.
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We can deduce with a high degree of certainty that spread will occur if we do the same things in the same ways that we have always done them this year with our families. This line of thought introduces the idea of individual choice in tension with the collective good, a central theme in Catholic social teaching which asks, “To what extent do our choices influence, determine and shape the good of the community?”
Whether we reflect on our choices in this larger context or not, each of us has a role in whether on-campus learning continues after we return in January. That role is enacted through the individual personal choices that we make during the days and weeks ahead. I am asking for your continued thoughtful collaboration in the effort to “stay-the-course” of what we believe is best for children and students; that is, teaching and learning in-person and on campus.
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This year, the season of Advent comes to us with a call; one that lays its claim on our hearts as so many continue to suffer from the adverse impact of the pandemic. Usually, a season eclipsed by the excitement of Christmas preparations, this year the season makes its claim on our attention in personal and meaningful ways. Let us pray for the grace we need during this season: letting its silence draws us closer as “one body” and uniting us with “one heart” in the hope, peace, and love of Christ.
In CJM,
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Sr. Melanie A. Guste, RSCJ
Headmistress
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