ST. LAURENCE CATHOLIC SCHOOL
Coronavirus - Update 3.15.20
GREETINGS!
Dear Saint Laurence School Community,
This special correspondence is to keep you up to date on any pertinent information regarding how SLCS is preparing and responding to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. We will update our SLCS community as necessary, so please read carefully and refer to our website HERE and social media posts as well for the latest information. You should already be aware that at this time we are currently closed and will remain closed until Monday, March 23rd. As we have communicated in the past, Archdiocesan schools are not under the same jurisdiction as the local public schools. While we take their decision to close into consideration, it does not dictate our plans, so please keep that in mind when making plans to avoid any confusion. We continue to follow the advice of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), local health officials and our Archdiocese. Fortunately, at this time, we are not aware of any cases of coronavirus affecting our community and we want to do our very best to keep it that way.
In order to maintain a healthy environment for our students, we are asking that all families report via this link HERE any travel plans that took place over the break last week or that you have upcoming through March 31st, 2020 that involve international travel, flight or cruise, especially those involving countries identified by the CDC as at a level 2 or higher risk of exposure to the coronavirus (COVID-19) HERE . We are also asking that students and any family member that has traveled recently internationally or has been exposed to anyone with the coronavirus (COVID-19) quarantine for the recommended 14 days and NOT come to school. Your child will be excused and we will work with you privately to ensure that your child receives remote instruction and support. If this is the case, we ask that you please email me directly at sbarto@stlaurence.org.
God bless all of you,
Suzanne Barto
Principal
At this time our staff is hard at work making plans to continue instruction for our students remotely so they do not lose any valuable information and fall behind. This is a challenging task, but we are committed to continuing our mission as educators. In order to facilitate this “distance learning”, we are asking for your help. This will be a team effort and involve a significant commitment on your part. While we do not plan on every lesson involving technology, it will be imperative that our students and/or parents have access to a device with internet capabilities and a printer. If neither of those are available to your child, we need to know immediately so that we can equip him/her for success. If you have any questions pertaining to technology that pertains to school or need help navigating a new resource, please email techhelp@stlaurence.org. Grade levels and teachers will have different expectations and we will make those public to you once everything has been finalized by the teachers. We are very aware that flexibility will be key for everyone and we do not want students sitting in front of a computer or using a device for an extended period of time, whether that is for academics or entertainment. We plan to use platforms that are already familiar to the students as much as possible in order to deliver instruction. This is important in our effort to eliminate any stress or frustration that could be caused by having to learn a new program or format along with the content of the lesson.
As a partner in the education of my child, I will…
- Provide a device (desktop, IPad, Chromebook, etc.) that has internet capabilities to my child (age-appropriate supervision is expected)
Allow access to a printer when necessary
Provide a quiet learning space and dedicated time for each child to commit to lessons
Support my child at home as a “tutor” or “facilitator” with lessons as is necessary (not doing but helping)
Communicate or allow my child to communicate with the teacher on a regular basis to “check-in” or ask questions, etc. (attendance will be taken by responses from students or lack of responses)
Understand that grades will be determined by participation, a variety of assessments and the amount of work “turned in”. Some of this will be subjective and the teacher has the final say.
Subject to change as new information becomes available
School is closed to students until Monday, March 23rd (limited office hours the week of March 16th-20th for parents to come to the office if necessary)
All activities during the week of March 16th-20th are cancelled at this time, including any student or parent meetings
1st-4th grade Music Program is postponed at this time-New date TBD
Students should still plan to memorize and recite individual Oratoricals-submission TBD
Heritage Mass and Event has been cancelled for students. At this time, parents who are participating have been encouraged to submit online information and videos about the different countries for students to “browse” as a virtual tour-dates TBA (please submit to Adriana Gutierrez at agutierrez@stlaurence.org)
Sporting events and practices are cancelled at this time through March. Athletic Directors will contact coaches to email any updates or changes to this schedule
The SLCS Family Retreat is cancelled at this time and will resume next year
We want to support you at home as much as possible as these are emotional times. Our counselors and teachers will be hosting office hours if you feel the need for you or your child to reach out. We plan on continuing with our Social Emotional Learning Program remotely so we will be posting things for you to consider doing at home. Please do not have your child “work” all day or sit on the computer or TV. A healthy variety is important. We will do our best to provide lessons that can happen outside or away from technology. We will also be checking in with you periodically to see how things are going. This is unprecedented and new to all of us so we will need to adjust accordingly (families and staff). We will be updating this section regularly and adding resources that we hope you will find helpful.
- How to Handwash Catholic Style! J (Diocese of Dallas) - HERE
- MyCatholicDoctor National Coronavirus (COVID-19) Telehealth Response Program - HERE
Resources published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
St. Laurence Catholic School
Email: agutierrez@stlaurence.org
Location: 2631 Austin Parkway, Sugar Land, TX, United States
Phone: 281-980-0500
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stlaurencecs/
Twitter: @StLaurenceCS