The following Announcement was send to School Families in August via Option C E-mail Alert
Prayer of Pope Francis during the Coronavirus
Lord, may you bless the world, especially our children, give health to our bodies and comfort our hearts. You ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak, and we are fearful. But you, Lord, will not leave us at the mercy of the storm. Tell us again: “Do not be afraid” (Mt 28:5). And we, together with Peter, “cast all our anxieties onto you, for you care about us” (1 Pet 5:7). Amen.
Dear SBS Families,
The following is the opening plan for the upcoming St. Bernadette School year. It has been developed using the available information to us from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the CDC, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the American Pediatric Association. This is a fluid plan as things are changing on a daily basis. I would like to thank the following committee members who worked with me to develop the plan: Mrs. Kaky Mullen, chair, Mrs. Kara Albanese, Mrs. Maureen Booth, Mrs. Nancy Casey, school nurse, Mrs. Kat Crowner, Mrs. Joanne Gallagher, Mr. Dean Kenefick, Mr. Tom McFadden, Ms. Shea Miles, and Mrs. Maria Piel for their service, expertise and dedication. We ask that you read the entire document carefully. If there are changes or adjustments before the opening of school, you will be sent an updated document with changes and/or additions highlighted.
Please know that we are sensitive to the concerns that you and all parents are experiencing at this time. Please contact us with any questions. We are working tirelessly to ensure all of our children are safe. For those of you who know me, you have heard me say that this partnership between home and school is a sacred trust. Now more than ever when so much is at stake with our precious children, each of us must commit to that sacred trust, by being socially responsible not just for our own family, but for our larger Bernie’s family. Your social distancing and mask decisions affect your child and all of the children, families, faculty and staff that your child comes in contact with each day. As members of this community of faith, we put our trust in our loving God and one another to make choices that promote the health and safety of our children and teachers in our nurturing, Christ-centered learning environment. I believe through God’s grace and working together, we will get through this challenge.
Sincerely,
Joanne Montie
“We are one body, one body in Christ, and we do not stand alone.”
Allergies
In order to ensure the safety of all students, some of our classrooms will be peanut and/or tree nut free. The rising first grade will continue to be tree nut and peanut free. The rising fifth grade will also continue to be tree nut and peanut free, this includes nutella and granola bars. Please look at the link below for alternative choices. If your child has a food allergy, contact Mrs. Booth in the school office (mbooth@stbl.org) prior to August 27th to ensure that classrooms are prepared. Thank you for making our learning environment safe. Again, please refer to the snack safety guide for allergy-free snack choices:
https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/2438/documents/2020/7/Safe%20Snack%20List-2.pdf
The arrival time for students has been extended to allow for social distancing and an orderly, respectful process. Students may arrive between 7:40 am and 8:10 am. Students walking to school must enter the building wearing a mask. They will be greeted by a teacher at the Turner Avenue doors. Hand sanitizer will be dispensed to each student as they enter the building. Students will go directly to their classroom. As is usual for St. Bernadette bus students, they will also enter, wearing masks, and be greeted at the Turner Avenue doors and sent to their classroom.
Parents of students being driven to school are to follow the usual procedure traveling down Harper Avenue, however, once at the first driveway of the school parking lot you will turn right into the parking lot past the gym doors where faculty will direct you where to stop. If a child needs assistance getting out of the car, parents wearing masks are to assist him/her with backpacks.... as staff are not permitted to reach into cars. A staff member will greet your child, dispense hand sanitizer and direct him/her to the classroom. For the safety of our precious children, no car may get out of line and go around another car to exit the parking lot. Also, no child may exit a car from the car line on Harper Avenue to walk to the school to avoid entering the school lot. Any student walking may only enter the school through the Turner Avenue entrance. I have extended the arrival time to allow for a staggered, SAFE drop off of the children. Cars will exit via the Bond Avenue driveway.
Dismissal will be staggered starting at 2:40 pm for Kindergarten. Parents/Caregivers in cars are asked to be in place by 2:40 pm and no car may enter the lot after 2:40 pm. For the safety of our children, you must strictly adhere to this. Parents of Kindergarten car riders are expected to gather their child at the parking lot doors. Parents of Kindergarten walkers are to meet their children at the Bond Avenue doors. Once Kindergarten students leave the building, dismissal will continue. Students in grades 1 through 8 will leave the building, socially distancing starting at 2:45 pm. This process could take up to fifteen minutes. Parents of car riders are expected to gather their child(ren) at the parking lot doors. Parents of walkers are to meet their children at the Bond Avenue doors (as usual). ALL PARENTS OF WALKERS AND CAR RIDERS MUST WEAR A MASK WHILE ON THE SCHOOL GROUNDS.
Bus riders will socially distance and be dismissed as usual.
PreK 3 and 4 school hours are from 9:00 am to 2:30 pm. In order to socially distance we will begin our PreK arrival at 8:40 am and it will run through 9:10 am.
Cars will enter our parking lot from the Harper Avenue driveway and follow staff’s directions. You will be directed to drive towards the Bond Avenue door entrance where our faculty and staff will be waiting to greet your child. Please turn off your car and assist your child out of the car to a waiting teacher. All children and parents/caregivers are to wear masks at arrival time.
Dismissal will begin at 2:15 pm in order to socially distance and have all children out of the school lot by 2:35 pm. Timing is important to note as we will begin dismissal of our K-8 students at 2:40pm. The traffic pattern in the parking lot will be different than at arrival.
At dismissal, parents or caregivers will pull into the school parking lot off of Bond Avenue and drive toward the Harper Avenue school lot doors as directed by a staff member. This is the lane closest to the school. Children will exit the doorway one at a time. Caregivers are to wear masks and walk to meet the children then return to cars. Caregivers exit out the Harper Avenue exit of the parking lot. There will be staff directing traffic to ensure the safety of our children and families.
If a caregiver is late picking up a child (after 2:35 pm), report to the office on Turner Avenue to pick up your child.
Dismissal for ½ day PreK 3 and PreK 4 students is at 11:30am. Students will be dismissed one by one through the Turner Avenue doors. We ask parents/caregivers to be wearing masks while waiting for their child. A teacher will walk your child outside to you.
Students will be encouraged to use the bathroom at regularly scheduled intervals. Social distancing and effective handwashing will be modeled and closely monitored. Whenever students re-enter a classroom from the bathroom, from recess… they will be expected to use hand sanitizer. Bathrooms will be cleaned after each cohort’s scheduled use. Students will be able to use the bathrooms at any time if an emergency arises.
All students should have a beach towel in their backpack everyday which may be used when outside or periodically through the day to assist with social distancing. These towels should be washed daily and placed back in your child’s backpack.
Birthdays
Children are not permitted to attend the Back to School nights. All adults attending must wear a mask.
PreK 3: Monday, August 31st 6pm-7pm in O’Brien Hall (located beneath the church on Harper Avenue).
PreK 4: Monday, August 31st, 7pm-8pm in O’Brien Hall
Kindergarten: One parent per child may attend, Wednesday, August 26th; 7pm in O’Brien Hall
Grades 1 and 2: One parent per child may attend, Tuesday, September 8th; 7pm O’Brien Hall
Grades 3 and 4: One parent per child may attend, Wednesday, September 9th; 7pm O’Brien Hall
Grades 5 and 6: One parent per child may attend, Thursday, September 10th; 7pm O’Brien Hall
Grades 7 and 8: One parent per child may attend, Tuesday, September 15th; 7pm O’Brien Hall
Once again, Mrs. Kathy Mascitelli, will be the director of our CARES program. CARES will be held in the school building this year. The gym and several outdoor areas will be set aside for the children. A student attending morning CARES is to be escorted by his/her parent to the front doors on Turner Avenue. Parent and child must be wearing a mask. A staff member will greet your child at the door, dispense hand sanitizer and direct him/her to the gym to sit with his/her cohort. Students are to have a beach towel readily accessible in his/her backpack. CARES staff will escort your child to the classrooms at 8 am and/or the PreK classroom at 9 am.
Students will be grouped by cohort in the morning and afternoon.
All morning and afternoon snacks must be provided by each child’s home and sent with the child at the time of arrival. This is a guideline of the Archdiocese; we will be providing water bottles at a minimal cost to parents. Mrs. Mascitelli has many engaging activities planned for the children. Additionally, extra staff will be on hand to assist with social distancing.
We will have a cleaning person throughout the entire day in the school. All high touch surfaces will be disinfected regularly, including door handles, light switches, playground equipment, student desks and bathrooms. Health experts stress that keeping hands washed, social distancing and clean classrooms are essential. Time for hand washing and or sanitizing will be built into the school day. Purell hand sanitizing stations have been purchased and will be installed throughout the school and gym. UV hand sterilizers for toys in PreK and Kindergarten have also been ordered. Additionally, electrostatic sprayers have been ordered for each floor. Desks will be cleaned before and after the students each lunch. Additionally, a new professional cleaning company has been hired to clean and disinfect the school every evening. We are taking all necessary precautions for the health and safety of our children.
In all classrooms student desks will be facing in one direction, and where feasible spaced 6 feet apart. All extra tables and chairs will be removed to maximize distancing of students. Area rugs have been removed and stored. In accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, desks should be placed 3 to 6 feet from the center of each desk to the center of the next desk in their cohorts. The use of cohorts is recommended by the CDC and other health agencies to help control the spread of any viruses and manage any possible outbreaks.
There will be no after school clubs as we start the school year. This will be reevaluated as the school year progresses. This measure is essential as we limit exposure, reduce the number of people in our building and have adequate time for the building to be cleaned at the end of the day.
A cohort is an individual class including the teacher and the students. For example, Mrs. Hyde and her class are one cohort, and Mrs. Gallagher and her class are another.
Creating a cohort is best practice and an effective strategy in preventing the spread of illness. Our school size and the spaciousness of our classrooms allow us to keep the children at a safe distance from one another.
Symptom screening must be done by all parents at home before the school day begins. Parents are required to agree to this daily monitoring by signing a Health Screening Acknowledgement by Friday, August 28th. Additionally, the school reserves the right to conduct random temperature checks of students.
No child or staff member with cold or flu symptoms may come to school. New guidelines stress that a child and/or adult should be fever free without medication for 72 hours before returning to school. Additionally, they should be symptom free including vomiting, diarrhea, cough and cold symptoms for 72 hours. We are each ethically mandated to abide by these guidelines for the health and safety of all our children and teachers. Any child who reports feeling sick will be sent home. Please be sure your emergency contact information is accurate in the TADS enrollment system in case of illness and they are readily available to pick up your child if they do not feel well.
We will be starting the school year with the children eating in their classrooms monitored by their homeroom teacher or another staff member. Once again, Sam’s will be available for purchase on-line. Each ordered lunch will be prepackaged and delivered to your child by a staff member. Through at least September, students will be eating at their desks in their classrooms. Desks will be cleaned BEFORE and AFTER lunch. No outside food delivery services of any kind (Uber Eats…) will be permitted. We will be extremely mindful of hand washing and hand sanitizing. Child friendly posters addressing the spread of germs and hand washing have been purchased.
As is our policy, all lunch and snacks must come in with your child at arrival. Please send your child in with a snack. To start, we will not be selling pretzels or milk. This will be reevaluated as the year progresses.
All students are required to wear masks to and from school and while traveling within the school and classroom. Masks will also be used strategically within the classroom. Your child’s teacher has requested that your child have two additional disposable masks in his/her school bag in case of damage.
Playground/Outside Play
Weather permitting, students will go outside at lunch. Students in the primary grades will also go out with their cohort for morning recess. Early childhood students will have the opportunity to spend time outside several times a day. All students will remain within their cohort and socially distance. We will be utilizing the school and church grounds for these designated areas.
Father Saban and Ms. Murphy have decided at this time, Prep will be held virtually and will not have use of the school building.
Any student or staff member who travels to a location designated as a COVID-19 “Hot Spot,” will need to quarantine for 14 days.
Staff and students shall be sent home if they become ill, particularly if they have COVID-19 symptoms – cough or shortness of breath without any other explanation, fever, vomiting, and/or diarrhea. While waiting to go home, a student will wait in our newly converted conference room/nurses’ station. He/she will be taken care of by the principal or administrative assistant wearing a mask. Any case of COVID-19 shall be reported to the pastor, the Archdiocese and to ALL families. Names will remain confidential. If a student is found to be COVID-19 positive, the classroom cohort may be quarantined according to state guidelines. At that point virtual learning would be put in place. If a parent or family member of a student would test positive, all students in the family would need to be quarantined according to state guidelines and virtual learning would be available to those students.
If a child or staff member is COVID-19 positive, a doctor’s note would be required for reentry to school.
School Wide General Procedures to be Implemented at St. Bernadette School
We will have a student council this year. Speeches for officer positions will be given during school hours via Zoom. Votes will be cast using Google Forms. Class representatives will give in person speeches during homeroom. Again, votes will be cast using Google Forms. Information will be shared with the students the first week of school.
Students will not be sharing materials, so please follow your child’s teacher guidelines for what supplies they need for class. https://st-bernadette.org/classrooms
It is essential that children come to school with their own pencils, pens, art supplies, etc. according to the classroom supply list. Additionally, as stated earlier, all children should have 2 disposable masks in a sealed ziplock bag in their backpacks in case of damage to his/her mask. Every student must send in a large hand sanitizer (containing at least 60% alcohol) to be used by the classroom. Additionally, tissues, paper towels and sanitizing wipes should be sent in by students in every class. As stated earlier, a beach towel must be added to each student’s supply list to be used for social distancing at different times. The towel should be kept in the child’s backpack and washed regularly.
Virtual Learning Option when School Building is Open
We realize that in-person learning has a greater impact on our students. Physical presence in the classroom allows for relationship building through socialization and the sharing of knowledge and ideas. It promotes the development of a child’s spiritual, academic, physical and emotional well being. When this is not possible due to a parent not being comfortable with sending their child to school or because a child needs to quarantine for a limited time, St. Bernadette School students will be able to access their class by means of connecting virtually to the classroom in real time. This “real time” learning will take place with all Religion, ELA and Mathematics classes. Science and Social Studies will be presented using the learning management systems in place at our school. For students in K through 4th grade, Class Dojo is used. The Learning Management System for students in grades 5 through 8 is Google Classroom. Please contact the principal, Mrs. Joanne Montie at jmontie@stbl.org as soon as possible if you would like to discuss this option for your child.
Virtual Learning if there is a Government Mandated School Closure
Students in Grades Kindergarten through 4
Books, Brain Breaks, STREAM ideas, virtual field trips and more… https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vS xo2xfJIn0Kgk8RWDyxQmhd5__0qkv3B-sXuNNz_-jdvuAdGiW4csX8eqLNr36EwabIzTwBJ-425lt/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=6
Students in Grades 5-8
For those of you who are new to Google Classroom or need a refresher, Mrs. Geller has made a instructional video on how to Get Started: Google Classroom Video
Direct Link: https://youtu.be/dsIN56ZZxvU
Books, Brain Breaks, STREAM ideas, virtual field trips and more… https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vS xo2xfJIn0Kgk8RWDyxQmhd5__0qkv3B-sXuNNz_-jdvuAdGiW4csX8eqLNr36EwabIzTwBJ-425lt/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=60000
Water Fountains
Due to health concerns, water fountains will not be used during the pandemic. Two water bottle filling stations will be available, one on the 2nd floor and one on the 3rd floor. A water cooler station will be used for students on the first floor.
Please return this acknowledgement form via email to mbooth@stbl.org by August 26th.
Archdiocese of Philadelphia
St. Bernadette School
Virtual Classroom Video/Audio Recording
Parent/Guardian Acknowledgment Form
Student’s Name: _________________________________________________
Classroom Teacher’s Name: _________________________________________________
School: _________________________________________________
In order to provide continuity of instruction while schools remain closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will use a variety of teaching methods, including virtual classroom activities. Participation in virtual classroom activities should be under the supervision of the parent/guardian, and is subject to school policies and regulations, including, but not limited to: student conduct/behavior and acceptable use of technology. Students should also keep their camera on so the teacher can view them and wear appropriate dress. Since this is the new learning environment, the background should be free of any inappropriate or distracting images or content.
I understand that my child’s classroom teacher may conduct virtual classroom activities. I am aware that video, including audio, will be used for teaching purposes, and at times, teachers may record classroom activities for educational use/purposes. The recordings will only be shared within the school setting for students unable to attend the virtual classroom activity in real-time. The recordings will be stored, accessed, and disposed of in accordance with the guidelines established by the Secretary for Elementary Education for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Before a classroom teacher begins recording a classroom activity, the teacher will let the students know that the class is going to be recorded. If a student does not want to be identifiable in the recording, the student or family should discuss options with the teacher.
If you have questions or need assistance with virtual classroom activities, please contact your child’s classroom teacher or principal.
My signature below indicates my understanding and acknowledgment of the potential for video and audio recording of my child during virtual classroom activities.
Parent/Guardian Signature: ____________________
Parent/Guardian Name (Please print): ____________________
Date: _______________
Health Screening
If your child has any Covid-19 symptoms, that indicates illness which may decrease your child’s ability to learn and also puts them at risk for spreading illness to others. Please check your child for these symptoms each day . If they have any of these symptoms, he/she may not come to school. They must be symptom free for 72 hours to return to school. If they are symptom free, log into Option C https://www.optionc.com/corporate/home and report that he/she is healthy and able to attend school.
| Symptom |
Yes |
No |
| Temperature above 99.6 |
||
| Sore Throat |
||
| Diarrhea |
||
| Vomiting |
||
| Cough |
||
| Sudden loss of taste or smell |
||
| Severe Headache |