Parents, Students, and Friends,

As we spend these last few weeks finishing up the school year in remote learning and celebrating our graduates, we are also working on what lies ahead. Thus, we are focusing a great deal of our attention on how we will safely return to campus in the summer and the fall. This is a significant undertaking that we have been monitoring and studying throughout our COVID-19 journey. Now, we formally begin planning.  

Jesuit High School Sacramento has created a Safe Return Task Force with the purpose of collaborating to reopen the school and its many programs in a safe, coordinated, and informed way. The task force will serve as a liaison to school administration, department representatives, students, parents, faculty, staff, and the broader Jesuit community. These plans to reopen must be inclusive of the many elements of operations that support the daily life of a school. 

Jesuit’s plans for reopening will be based on guidance from state and local officials, health experts, the Diocese of Sacramento, and cooperation with peer schools. The task force will review, apply, and communicate the often-overwhelming amount of information regarding safe practices and virus mitigation. Their work will inform both the initial reopening phases while also monitoring this situation for the entire school year.

The task force chairs are currently completing an initial planning assessment to ascertain our readiness to safely return to school. We are reflecting on six components of planning and identifying areas of strength and areas of need: 

1. Public Health and Safety: cleaning, disinfection, and sanitizing, screening, distancing, foot traffic, protection for at-risk students and staff, protective gear, handwashing protocols, other mitigation processes.
2. Supporting the Whole Person: social/emotional well-being of students; mental health, attendance and participation, equity, and inclusion.
3. Staffing and Personnel Needs: collaboration with employees, at-risk staff, social-emotional mental health, and support.
4. School Structures and Schedules: campus considerations, schedule options, co-curricular, events, Masses.
5. Academics and Instruction: maintaining quality instruction, assessments and grading, academic support, distance-learning options, equity.
6. Operations: communication, transportation, visitor access, school meals, technology, budget.

Thank you to Jon Rotz ’92, task force chair, for leading this critical effort. Jon’s experience as a program director, varsity head coach, and Assistant Director for Admissions, as well as his deep love for Jesuit, make him an ideal candidate to run this task force. Jay Nacionales, Sports Performance Coordinator/Sports Medicine Program Coordinator/Certified Athletic Trainer, will serve as the vice-chair for the task force and will focus primarily on safety practices and training for adults and students that will undoubtedly be a part of the reopening process. 

Jesuit High School Sacramento will be ready to reopen! 

Mary Mother of God—Pray for us.

Rev. John McGarry, S.J. and Dr. Michael Wood, Ed.D.