Dear Parents, Students, Faculty, Staff, and Friends:

As we enter the final quarter of this unprecedented school year, we are shifting our focus now to the planning of our end-of-year events and the return of more activities, reflecting our county’s move into the red tier. We do this as we continue to provide in-person instruction for all students in the safest manner possible.  

Jesuit’s Safe Return Task Force continues to work tirelessly in planning for the remainder of this school year to encourage all students on campus for class, co-curriculars and end-of-year activities. Additionally, we have mapped out the framework for the 2021-2022 academic year; below is a description of our approach to this planning. 

As our environment becomes less restrictive,  with more businesses reopening, and many in our community now able to receive vaccines, I am sure our families are thinking about what school will look like when they return in the fall. There are still countless details to work through, and hopefully we will all gain more clarity on the state of the pandemic, both locally and nationally, to aid us in this work. We do, however, want to share the current assumptions on which we are basing our plan for our return in Fall 2021. As always, our planning is rooted in advancing our Jesuit, Catholic mission that seeks to develop young men to be competent, conscientious, and compassionate.

Our goal is to share these beginning assumptions, adding details to this plan in the coming weeks and months. This is similar to our communication with our Safe Return Plan, but now with a goal towards being “all in” with full reintegration for the 2021-22 school year.

Practical Assumptions

• Full in-person learning and instruction five days a week with a traditional bell schedule 
• A 7-period schedule with a maximum of one flex period
• Maintaining virus mitigation as recommended by public health experts
• Full access to religious and co-curricular programing, with modifications as needed
• No dual-delivery or hybrid teaching. The primary mode of instruction will be in-person

Increased Student Support

We are acutely aware that students and families will emerge from this pandemic experience with a variety of new or intensified needs—academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. We know we cannot simply turn on the switch and assume that everything and everyone will reintegrate seamlessly. I am pleased to share that next year Jesuit will be able to offer the following resources:

• Additional support in our Wellness Program, to include an increase in Wellness staffing.  That increase in staffing will give us the opportunity to bring in Marriage and Family Therapist graduate student interns from University of San Francisco’s Masters Program in Counseling Psychology, who will be supervised by Jesuit’s Wellness counselor.
• Increased staffing in the Academic Support Center to assist students with Academic Support Plans and to work with the teachers on the implementation of learning interventions.
• Flexibility in  Academic Departments to adjust the pace of classes to ensure that foundational material is mastered throughout the curriculum.
• Built-in time in the bell schedule for community building, tutoring, club meetings, study hall, and teacher office hours. 

The faculty and staff at Jesuit take seriously “Cura Personalis,” the call to care for and educate the whole person. We are more than just a school, we are a community of people who care for one another in a shared mission to form young men to become the person God calls them to be. As we focus on our plans for next year, this enduring mission and dedication to the students will guide our way. 

Jesuit will begin transitioning to full in-person instruction following the Easter break—more details will be shared in next week’s Staying Connected. We also invite our Class of 2021 seniors to bookmark the Graduation webpage and our incoming Class of 2025 to visit their Welcome page to stay updated on class-specific information, dates and details.  

AMDG

Michael Wood

Principal