Roncalli Catholic Schools announced recently that they will be going back to school completely in person on August 27th.
We reached out to the President of the schools, John Stelzer, to explain a few of the aspects of the back to school model, including why they chose a full return. “Theoretically and philosophically for us, what we have looked at are the tremendous benefits that can be realized by students academically, spiritually and emotionally by being in school,” Stelzer explained. “And we’ve combined that with taking the advice of local health experts, as well as directives from the CDC as far as the potential risks for young people.”
The administration at the school sent a packet of information to the parents of the students over the weekend, which included all the information they would need to know about how school was going to run.
One aspect that was touched on was the sanitization of the school. Stelzer explained that each school has a mister that will help speed up that process. Masks will always also be required in the school buildings .
They also have come up with a blended model of learning that can be implemented should the situation require it. The model splits the students into a Group A and a Group B, with Group A going into the school on Mondays and Tuesdays, and learning virtually Thursdays and Fridays, and vice versa for Group B.
As for Wednesdays, they would be set aside for a teacher prep day and student check in day. Stelzer says they were included to allow teachers to “assess where we are at and get ready for another round.”
Stelzer said that if COVID were to infiltrate the school, they would take guidance from local health officials as well as the CDC and treat it just like they would any other communicable virus.
