Dear St. Giles Families,

We are off to a great start and love having everyone back in the buildings.  We know that the weather isn’t cooperating with the extreme heat tomorrow, but we are committed to continuing in person for the rest of the week.  However, if you choose to keep your child home from school tomorrow, we understand and it will be an excused absence.  Please notify the office via email or phone call.   

How are we combating the heat?  Multiple ways!  

• Due to the temperatures, we will remain in PE uniforms through Friday.

• Water, water, water! As always, our Lions should bring their own water bottles to be used throughout the day. We will be allowing students to refill their bottles frequently at our bottle fillers. These first few days of school – while routines are still in progress – it can be easy to forget things as students run out the door. Please help your child remember their water bottle tomorrow – it will be essential!

• Each of our classrooms has an air conditioner unit–while it may not make it as cold as we might like at home, it does break up the humidity and takes the edge off.
• We keep them running each night and through the weekend to continue to keep the classrooms as cool as possible.  

• We do have multiple areas with central air conditioning that teachers can use for student learning/student breaks during the day:
• McDonough Hall and Conference Room
• Church (as suggested by Fr. Carl)
• MAC Lab and Library in our specials wing

• McDonough Hall may be used for PE so that our Lions have space to move but are out of the heat/sun and in the AC.

• We will continue to have recess as our students definitely benefit from a break from the classroom and fresh air if we can provide it. Recess may be in McDonough Hall, under the shade of the canopy in the courtyard, or on the playground/parking lot. We will encourage students to keep their activity to a minimum during recess; we will refrain from using the basketball hoops and soccer goals this week to prevent overexertion. We may use the courtyard for recess to allow for more shade. 

To help keep us cool, the PTO will be providing freeze pops for everyone tomorrow. We thank PTO for what will certainly be a welcomed treat for all. 

As of now, Friday’s temperatures are much cooler. We are optimistic this remains the case. We will implement the above actions tomorrow and will make a determination on Friday morning as to whether or not we can return to our normal routines.

Thank you for all you've done to get the year started off well. We are so proud of our Lions!



Meg