+
M
Dear SCCS Families,
As we round out another week, we wanted to send you a few more updates from our committees about the start of the school year. Thank you for your attentiveness to all of these details. We hope that our work and communications convey our great love for our students and families, faculty and staff! It has been our goal from the beginning, in line with the desires our families have communicated to us, to safely reopen the school building for face-to-face teaching and learning. We are hopeful that by putting these varying mitigation strategies in place we will be able to maximize the health and safety of one and all in order to continue with in-person instruction as much as possible while we also provide high-quality Distance Learning for those SCCS families who have this need. And of course, as we’ve communicated, flexibility will be the name of the game as we learn more and adapt through the first days and weeks of the school year.
Thank you for your support! We can only be successful in keeping our community safe and healthy if we ALL follow the safety protocols that are in place while we are at school and by practicing care and vigilance from home. As we enter into these final weeks of summer, thank you for taking the time to help reinforce the concepts and practices of good hygiene, physical distancing and wearing of facial coverings. Such practice and attentiveness will help with a smoother transition into the school year.
Certainly, there are unknowns before us, but there are also great adventures for each of us right around the corner! “It is good, Lord, to be here!” (Mt. 17:4)
May God bless you as Our Lady, cause of our joy, keeps you!
In Christ,
Sister Maria Ivana, O.P.
SCCS’s School Building Reopening Committee
SCCS’s Academic Committee
School Calendar
The 2020-2021 school year calendar has been updated. The four student contact days originally planned for the end of August, prior to the changed start date of September 8th, have been moved to the end of the school year. Therefore, our adjusted last day of school will be Friday, June 4th. Click here to view our revised one-page calendar.
School Transportation
SCCS is working hard to advocate for transportation for our students. To date, SCCS is still awaiting District 834’s written agreement regarding student transportation for the 2020-2021 school year. Thus far, it has been verbally communicated to SCCS that the District will provide transportation for our families on days in which public and charter schools are in session, providing in-person instruction in their buildings.
SCCS will communicate to parents any updates regarding this matter as they are received.
SCCS Learning Models for the 2020-2021 School Year
Upon receiving several questions from SCCS families, we would like to offer several points of clarification regarding our Learning Model options. Please review the following details carefully.
Families will recall that our options are as follows:
- In-person Learning, Mondays through Fridays, full school days
- Distance Learning, Mondays through Fridays, full school days
- In-person Learning, Mondays through Thursdays, full school days; and Distance Learning for Fridays (This option will only be available to families if the District DOES provide transportation Mondays through Thursdays, but DOES NOT provide busing for students on Fridays. As mentioned above, we continue to await official communication from the District.)
SCCS families will be allowed to change the Learning Model selected for individual children after the first few weeks of school, after which time, we will request commitment to a Learning Model through the mid and/or end point of each semester grading period. This commitment is being requested in order to aid teachers in their planning of instruction.
Movement to In -person Learning to Distance Learning for shorter periods of time due to absences related to COVID-19, and/or other illnesses, will be allowed. A communication protocol with the school office and classroom teachers will be provided.
What will Distance Learning “look like” for students who are sick, or whose circumstances otherwise deem Distance Learning necessary?
-
Classroom teachers will be video recording their in-person instruction, Monday through Friday, which will be posted within 24 hours for students to access from home (this format includes instruction given on Fridays); NOTE: The time-lapse in posting of videos is due to challenges with band-width in our school building. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
- Student materials needed for respective recordings, will be provided to students either via hard-copy in advance or through Google Classroom;
-
Student assignments will be turned into Google Classroom within 24 hours of the due dates given to students who are receiving in-person instruction. For students needing Distance Learning on Fridays, (should this option continue to be offered because of a lack of busing from the District), Friday’s assignments will be due by 11:59pm on Sunday in order for the students to be prepared for instruction given on Monday. However, we would kindly request and greatly appreciate students turning in Friday’s school work prior to 11:59pm on Sunday in order to give teachers more time to ensure that lessons given on Mondays align with students’ grasping of previously learned concepts as a whole.
Guidance on Lab-Confirmed Cases of COVID-19
Next week, the Archdiocese, in consultation with MDH and MDE, will be providing guidance for Catholic school leaders to assist schools in the decision-making process when being informed of a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 in students or staff. Included in this guidance will be supplementary guidelines for adults and students returning to school after an illness.
We will be sharing a summary of this guidance with our school families.
Face Coverings at St. Croix Catholic School
As a follow-up to previous communications and questions related to the facial covering requirement, we are including the following points of clarification.
First, we understand that the wearing of facial coverings for K-8 students throughout a school day will be an adjustment for our children, as well as our faculty/staff. Families can be assured that faculty and staff will be very attentive to the needs of our students, and each child individually, as all of us make this transition.
As we prepare for the start of the school year, parents may find the this website from MDH helpful, which includes a few short videos about the wearing of masks. As parents may know, masks are available in a variety of forms, many of which are particularly child and sensory friendly.
In light of Minnesota Executive Order 20-81, a mask or face covering must be worn throughout Minnesota in all indoor spaces, including school buildings.This applies to all K-8 students, staff and visitors of St. Croix Catholic School. In addition, K-8 students must wear a face covering on school buses. As previously communicated, preschool students will not be required to wear face coverings.
St. Croix Catholic School recommends that any questions or concerns regarding use of a face shield instead of a face covering, or an overall exemption to the face covering requirement, be addressed with the child’s health care provider. A doctor’s note must be given to St. Croix Catholic School’s office prior to a student wearing a face shield or being exempt from wearing a face covering.
For further details regarding exceptions, please continue reading the excerpt below which is taken directly from MN Executive Order 20-8:
All students, staff, and other people present in school buildings and district offices or riding on school transportation vehicles are required to wear a face covering.
A face shield (a clear plastic barrier that covers the face) allows visibility of facial expressions and lip movements for speech perception and may be used as an alternative to a face covering in the following situations:
- Among students in Kindergarten through grade 8, when wearing a face covering is problematic.
- By teachers (all grades), when wearing a face covering may impede the educational process.
- For staff, students, or visitors who cannot tolerate a face covering due to a developmental, medical, or behavioral health condition.
- For staff providing direct support student services, when a face covering impedes the service being provided.
Staff, students, and other people present in the school building or in district offices may temporarily remove their face covering or face shield in the following situations:
- Face coverings may be temporarily removed when engaging in indoor physical activity (e.g., during recess, after school sports, or when exercising in a gym) where the level of exertion makes wearing a face covering difficult, and during classes or activities held outdoors. People participating in these activities should maintain 6 feet of distance while doing so to the extent feasible.
- While teachers and students may temporarily remove their face coverings when public speaking (for example, in a debate or speech team competition or in an assembly), lecturing, or engaging in classroom instruction, face coverings should only be removed in such situations when 12 feet of distance from others can be consistently maintained.
If a face covering would impede these activities but 12 feet of social distancing cannot be consistently maintained (for example, due to classroom size), a face shield should be considered as an alternative.
In summary, all Kindergarten through 8th Grade students are expected to wear a face covering at SCCS, as articulated in the details above. The use of a face shield, or an overall exemption to the face covering requirement, must be documented by a doctor’s note, which must be turned into St. Croix Catholic School’s office.
Please use this Google Form to ask any questions you may have regarding this update.
Thank you, St. Croix Catholic! We look forward to seeing parents and students very soon during Welcome Week! Don’t forget to sign-up!
Just to make you smile, a little peek into a few more preparations and “trainings”- what are Fr. Izen and Fr. Barnes up to?!
