Dear Sts. Simon & Jude Community,

Here we go with another update on our school activities and the implementation of the Diocese Distance Learning Plan.  We have completed three days now of extensive planning and designing our distance learning lessons and activities.  The teachers participated in a webinar from LMU on "Moving from In-Person to Sustained Learning" and "Online Learning Tools and Resources".  The teachers found the webinar to be very informative and began incorporating the strategies and tools into their instructional plans.  Your students are going to have unique and engaging learning experiences!  While the teachers are excited to begin our journey into distance learning they have all expressed their sadness at not having the opportunities daily to interact with their students in person.  I echo this sentiment as it has given me joy to see the smiling faces, hear their laughter, watch them explore in the classrooms and play at recess.  

Special thanks to the front office staff for efficiently distributing around 100 devices on St. Patrick's Day.  It was windy and a bit chilly for March in Huntington Beach and yet they smiled and spread Irish cheer throughout the day so that our faculty could participate in the webinar.  Thank you to the parents of TYKEs through 3rd grade for making the effort to come and pick-up your child's device and materials so that they may be successful in the coming weeks participating in our distance learning curriculum.  The commitment by the SSJ community to support our faculty and the students is off the charts!

The front office and campus closed at noon today, Wednesday, March 18th.  The main phone line will be monitored from 8-3,  Monday through Friday, and a small administrative team will be on campus to facilitate the distance learning.  Watch for communications from your teacher for daily assignments and make note of your teacher's office hours.  The teachers have dedicated these hours for parent/student communication and many will be using the new Zoom tool allowing live interaction. Please make use of these times to ask questions, acquire clarification, check in, and give feedback. We are all on this journey together so keep the communication flowing!

The cancellation of all parish activities and our masses has been devastating.  To feed our souls Fr. Daniel and his staff have created Franciscan Spiritual Moment videos that can be accessed on the parish YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/StsSimonandJude  Please subscribe to the parish YouTube channel to view the upcoming Franciscan Spiritual Moments.  We are very thankful and blessed to have the Franciscans to walk with us and support us through this journey.

Peace in Christ,
Mrs. Denise Grant