Updated August Re-Opening Plan
Jul 03, 2020
Principal Update (August 18, 2021)
Guidance K-12 Exposure and Quarantine (January 15, 2021)
Classroom Based Exposure (January 5, 2021)
Summit County Public Health Quarantine Options (December 11, 2020)
Akron Children's Hospital Letter Regarding Covid-19 Surge Impact on Children (December 8, 2020)
Public Health Recommendations for Parents, Students and School Staff (December 7, 2020)
Ohio Department of Health Quarantine Guidance (December 4, 2020)
Principal's Letter Regarding Orientation and First Day of School (August 14, 2020)
Principal's Letter Responding to SCPH Recommendations (August 10, 2020)
Reopening Plan 2020 (August 3, 2020)
Reset and Restart: An Overview 2020-2021 (July 27, 2020)
Dear Terrier Families,
Thank you for your continued support and patience as our Task Force finalizes our school plans for the upcoming school year. As we approach the start of the 2020-2021 year, I know many of our students and their families have a number of concerns. The Task Force team and I understand that; we have concerns as well. As such, the health, well-being, and safety of all of our students, staff members and their families has been the highest priority when developing our Reopening Plan. The detailed plan is set to be released next week, but the link below provides an overview of the plan our Task Force has developed. Again, this is an overview of the plan that is being reevaluated daily. I understand that this overview may not answer all of your specific questions. Answers to those questions will hopefully be provided in the more detailed plan released next week. Link: Overview Plan
July 20 Updated Re-Opening Plans
Dear St. Sebastian Parish School Families, (July 3, 2020)
I hope that you are all enjoying your summer! I wanted to update you on plans for the 2020-2021 school year. In coordination with the Diocese and Ohio’s K-12 Schools Guidance, at this point, it is our intention to open and teach our students safely in person, five days per week , starting August 26. St. Sebastian is returning to school Catholic, Ready, and Prepared with a cohesive plan for both in-person and remote learning. Our preparedness is going to require a few shifts, both physically, with new techniques for screening and protection, and academically, with integrating the technology and methods to deliver student-focused
instruction and assessment at the level that parents demand. I am also excited to announce that St. Sebastian will be the first school in the diocese to implement Friendzy, a biblically based program to address the social and emotional needs of our students. This program teaches life skills to our students with the emphasis on building strong healthy friendships. Throughout the year, students will continue to have opportunities for school prayer and activities for faith development. The spiritual engagement the students will experience encompasses not only knowledge but also understanding and applications for living a Christian life.
There remain a number of other factors involving aftercare, field trips, transportation, food service, extra-curricular activities and state and legal requirements that we have been working on during the COVID-19 closure. I want to assure you that the faculty and I are involved in meetings with the Catholic Diocese of
Cleveland’s Office of Catechetical Formation and Education, health experts and administrators from across the diocese in creating our plan. The State of Ohio just released additional guidance/requirements yesterday that our own Task Force of teachers and members of HASA and SAC will be considering as we work to create a plan that works for our school, keeping our students, teachers and staff, parents and caregivers safe as we reopen in August. I invite anyone who is willing to help or provide feedback as plans change with our Task Force to reach out to me.
● We will assess for symptoms prior to entering the school building each morning and throughout the day.
● We will rely on state and local health department guidelines/requirements for implementing strict cleaning and disinfecting protocols, handwashing and social distancing, etc. Hand sanitizers will be available throughout the school.
● Due to the classroom storage upgrades, we were able to completely remove all nonessential storage items to maximize our classroom footprint, which will enable us to socially distance the students in the classrooms.
● We plan to offer simultaneous instruction for students, for those who cannot attend school in person and/or remote instruction should another wave create conditions of renewed quarantine.
● If we have to close due to COVID-19, we will utilize distance learning for our students via Google Classroom and/or Seesaw, taught by our staff as we did this past year.
● We are assessing how to have our school Mass while following state guidelines/requirements.
● Transportation may be an issue pending the requirements from the state on social distancing on a school bus. We may need to alter our transportation policy.
● Father Valencheck recently wrote about facial coverings in his Angelus Letter as it concerns Mass and the school too has received a lot of feedback regarding student and staff facial coverings. We will work with local health officials regarding facial coverings.
As you are aware, information seems to constantly change and a lot can change between now and the start of school in August. We will share a more formalized plan with you during the first week of August. We will provide more specifics on academics, social distancing plans and will share details of our daily cleaning and
disinfecting protocols and personal protective equipment (PPE) with you in that communication.
Yours in Christ,
Principal Anthony Rohr
