Dear Families:
Yesterday, we welcomed back our third graders! It is so nice to have them back in the building. The excitement will be growing each week as we are able to bring back more classes. By the end of January, our PreK – 5th will all be in the building. Then it is on to plans for the return of our middle schoolers.
Currently, our plans for middle school include bringing back the eighth graders first (as the leaders of our school) during Catholic Schools Week, starting February 1st. They will attend school full-time, in–person. Half of the gym will be set up following all safety procedures (distancing, ventilation etc.) as their classroom. The following week, (February 8th) the sixth and seventh graders will return in a hybrid model with sixth graders attending school in-person on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesdays will be reserved for sanitation of desks and classrooms. Thursdays and Fridays, seventh grade will be in person. The days that the students are not here in-person will be remote learning days. The sixth and seventh grades will be in cohorts in the sixth and eighth grade classrooms. We wish we could bring all of our middle schoolers back full-time to in-person learning, but we simply do not have the rooms available following the Covid regulations.
As more students return to the building, we need to double-down on our health and safety procedures. All students, staff and ANYONE entering the building, even to drop of a lunch or snack in the main entrance, must wear a mask. Please, do not come near the building, if you are not wearing a mask. Also, distancing is crucial and we all need to remind our students and each other to maintain a six-foot distance, whenever possible. We have yellow marks on the sidewalk in front of the school for parents to stand as students are dismissed. Please do whatever you can to distance and leave as soon as possible once your child is dismissed. We will have more and more students exiting each day and we would like to maintain our current dismissal times without having to stagger them. If everyone abides by the guidelines, we should be able to get everyone safely out of the building each day.
As we make final plans to roll out our School Admin online registration and re-enrollment program, please make sure that if you are a parishioner and are requesting in-parish tuition for the 2021-22 school year, that a Stewardship Giving card is on file with the parish. The program will automatically charge students at the out-of-parish rate if the card is not on file. If you do not have a current card on file you can go to stanneseattle.org and scroll down to the “recurring gifts” button and follow the prompts. Thank you for your attention to this. It will simplify the entire process for parishioners.
Finally, just a reminder that next Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. With school not in session, we encourage families to spend the day honoring Dr. King by participating in acts of service. Think of it as a day “on” rather than a day off. Here is a list of 12 resources if you need any ideas: MLK resources.
Have a great week!
Mary
