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

In last week’s Staying Connected, I announced our intention to return to a full five-day, on-campus school week for the 2021-2022 school year. As we move toward this full reintegration for the fall, there are steps that need to be taken now to get us to that point. 

Many of us have developed daily routines, habits, and expectations that will need modification as we consider returning to a full school day, five days a week. For both students and educators, it is important that we begin to increase our fitness and stamina to be ready for a full week of academics and co-curriculars on campus. 

In preparation, upon our return from Easter break, we will be closely monitoring virus levels in our region and in our own Jesuit community, and the Jesuit Safe Return Task Force will also be implementing the following:

• Having students screen on Monday, April 12, and on Thursday, April 15 when we return from Easter break in light of the higher risk following a holiday.
• Placing a strong emphasis on “sticking with it” to maintain good virus mitigation efforts. We understand the fatigue and as more regional activities and businesses open and with many adults being vaccinated it is easy to become more relaxed. But we must remain vigilant. Over the last few weeks, we have found an uptick in cases of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals in our community that have required small groups of quarantining students, faculty, and staff. This has shown to be quite impactful on our co-curricular programming, with entire teams or programs needing to be shut down.   
• Working toward a possible reduction to a single weekly screening requirement for students when virus levels allow. It is our hope that we will soon be able to reduce screening frequency. Once we navigate the post-holiday increased risk and we feel the situation in our community has improved, we will communicate a plan for single weekly screenings by class year. Note that some screening requirements will be different for certain co-curricular programs and details will be communicated directly to the students and their families from those program leaders and coaches.
• Encouraging a movement toward more participation in, and emphasis on, in-person learning. Now that the majority of students are learning in-person on campus, I have asked our teachers to begin to emphasize in-person instruction as the primary mode of teaching. This shift will manifest in different ways across the curriculum, but we feel it is time for all students to work towards attending school on campus. This transition will still respect the needs of those students who must learn from home due to their particular family or medical circumstances. We feel our campus is a safe environment for in-person instruction and we want to see increased participation in this option at all grade levels.

We will continue to share information next week and weekly as we move through the final months of this year.

Wishing all of our families a blessed Easter and a safe break.

Michael Wood

Principal