Hornet Herald
Teaching the Way of Jesus Christ.
Holy Family Catholic School
Email: awalter@hfcsfw.org
Website: hfcsfw.org
Location: 6146 Pershing Avenue, Fort Worth, TX, USA
Phone: (817)737-4201
Art by Samantha Lopez
A Message from the Principal
Dear Holy Family Catholic School Community,
What a great first day of school we had today at HFCS! Our drop-off process was safe, smooth and efficient, and the students were very happy to be reunited with their friends! The faculty, staff and I were thrilled to see all of the children back on campus again.
It was great to see so many distance learners and their families at our Zoom Monday Morning Prayer today! Our theme this year is “Called to be Courageous,” with our Virtue of the Year being Courage, and our Saints of the Year are Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the Holy Family.
Art by Sara Hiett
Holy Family Prayer
Holy Family,
help all families to imitate your example.
Remind us to be patient and understanding
especially when it’s hard.
Show us the way to kindness and forgiveness.
Teach us to lift each other up in good times and bad.
May we have courage and faith as you did.
Help us to love each other no matter what.
And finally inspire us to become joyful disciples, lifelong learners, and compassionate leaders!
We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen
Kaitlyn Szostek
I am looking forward to seeing you next Wednesday, August 26th, at 9:00 at our Coffee and Conversation with the Principal. I will send you a Zoom invitation next week.
Our Zoom Meet the Teacher Night will be Wednesday, September 9, 2020.
We will have three different sessions so parents with multiple children will have time to visit all of their children’s classrooms. Be on the lookout for the teachers’ Zoom invitations. Here is the schedule for the evening:
6:00p – 6:15p: Opening Prayer
6:20p – 6:40p: First Session
6:40p – 7:00p: Second Session
7:00p – 7:20p: Third Session
Thank you all for logging into the FACTS Family Portal to fill out the COVID-19 web form this morning. This form becomes active every Monday morning and cannot be accessed on Sunday night as we want the most current temperature reading.
Here are the access instructions:
At the start of every week of on-campus instruction and before arriving to school all parents/guardians of Holy Family Catholic School students are required to take their student(s) temperature and pre-screen the student(s) and their household for COVID-19 symptoms. Results of this screening must be recorded for each student in the FACTS Family Portal COVID-19 web form by 6:45 a.m. If a form is not completed at this time the parent/guardian will be required to meet with a HFCS staff member upon arriving at school to manually complete the pre-screening questionnaire and have your student(s) temperature taken to ensure they meet the requirements for attending school.
The web form will be accessed through the FACTS Family Portal. Once you have logged in you will select Web Forms in the left hand column and then click on the COVID-19 form. Remember, a form must be completed for each student.
In September, this process will be streamlined as it will be added as an option to the new FACTS Family App that is currently under development.
Thank you again for all your support over the last many months! I am looking forward to a great school year.
Blessings,
Ann Walters
Principal
Up-Coming Events
This Week
August 17 - First Day of School - Noon Dismissal - Wear your red polo shirt with uniform bottom.
August 18 - Second Day of School - Noon Dismissal
August 19 - PreK Enrichment Begins - First Full Day of School
Next Week
August 26 - Coffee and Conversation with Mrs. Walters via Zoom
Future Events
September 7 - No School - Labor Day Holiday
September 9 - Meet the Teacher Night
September 17 - North Texas Giving Day
September 17 - Knight of Columbus Top Golf Tournament
The school calendar can be found in its entirety on the school website at www.hfcsfw.org, click on the About tab, then click on the Calendar tab. Dates are subject to change.
Notes from Nurse Lisa
Please read below the latest changes to the guidelines related to masks on campus from Diocesan Nurse Coordinator, Nancy Eder, RN.. We appreciate your support and understand that the guidelines and criteria may change as more continues to be learned about this virus and school being back in session. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Face masks with one-way valves
Following the advice of CDC face masks with the one-way valve should not be worn by administration, teachers, staff, coaches, and students in our Catholic Schools. This mask does not prevent the person wearing the mask from transmitting COVID-19 to others.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover-guidance.html
Masks with Exhalation Valves or Vents
The purpose of masks is to keep respiratory droplets from reaching others to aid with source control. However, masks with one-way valves or vents allow air to be exhaled through a hole in the material, which can result in expelled respiratory droplets that can reach others. This type of mask does not prevent the person wearing the mask from transmitting COVID-19 to others. Therefore, CDC does not recommend using masks for source control if they have an exhalation valve or vent.
Neck gaiters
There are recent articles claiming neck gaiters are not efficacious and can actually shear larger droplets into smaller, more numerous droplets that could remain airborne longer. A recent study out of Duke University reported the following:
In experiments, bandanas, handkerchiefs, fleece balaclavas (cold-weather gear that covers the entire face except for the eyes) and neck gaiters (tubes of performance fabric typically used for running outdoors), offered very little protection, while N95 respirators, surgical masks and even homemade cloth masks performed better.
The guidance from our medical team of physicians stated that fabric masks, surgical masks, N95 are the masks to wear, do not wear neck gaiters or masks with exhalation/one-way valves.