Hawk Happenings!
Holy Rosary Bilingual Academy
Happy Wednesday!
While all of this is happening, we are also wrapping up this year. Tomorrow is the official last day for most students, though 8th grade graduated last Thursday and Kindergarten graduated this evening. It has been such an honor to work with the students and the families this year. What a year it has been. We have made changes to the program, we are moving our physical location, and then there is the distance learning due to the COVID-19 virus. Our families have been stretched thin trying to support our children academically, socially, and spiritually. They have struggled financially, as well. The same can be said for the school and our staff. It has been a tough year and, while we hate to say goodbye, we look forward to a fresh new start for next year. Thank you to all of our staff and teachers for their hard work, pivoting on a dime to roll out the distance learning. A special thank you and goodbye to our wonderful teachers who are moving on to other new adventures:
- Ms. Wendy
- Ms. Sonia
- Mrs. Williams
- Mrs. Gruber
- Mrs. Allen
- Mrs. Donoso
- Last, but not least...Mrs. Farias...who is retiring!!
We wish them all the best in the next phase of their journey and pray that God keeps them safe. We also wish safety, blessings, and love on all of our families, whether they are staying with us or saying goodbye to us. I hope that you have a wonderful summer and a great start to the school year next fall. Please make sure to stop by the Tacoma campus either this week or next week. We will be open from 9 am - 3 pm everyday (through June 26th). We need to have you drop off the laptop or Ipad that was checked out to you and many of you have a bag of items to pick up. We will mail report cards out to you once the electronics have been returned and accounts are clear/paid in full. Also, all unclaimed lost and found items will be donated if they are left after June 10th. So, if you are missing something, please stop by and check.
The office will be closed from Monday, June 29th through Friday, July 10th. We will open back up at the Fife location on Monday, July 13th. Once again, we wish you a wonderful and safe summer. Families who are registered for next fall will continue to receive electronic mailings throughout the summer with information about protocols, uniform sales, and teacher updates. If you need anything, just email, call, or stop by and visit us.
Blessings,
Katie Dempsey
Principal
Plans for Next Fall with Spanish
- Ms. Patty and Ms. Raquel will be teaching their own Spanish, since Pre-K 4 is 100% Spanish and Kindergarten will be 50% Spanish and 50% English.
- Ms. Juliet will be teaching 3 classes for Spanish Language Arts. She will teach the Intro to Spanish for new students, as well as 1st grade and 2nd/3rd grade Spanish.
- Mr. Ivan will be teaching the Spanish Language Arts for 4th/5th grade, 6th grade, and 7th/8th grade.
- We are still waiting to hire a 4th/5th grade homeroom teacher.
Reminder of Protocols for the Fall
Here are the highlights:
- All students, staff, and visitors MUST wear face masks/covering. Students may wear a face shield instead of a face mask. There are a few exceptions based on particular conditions/disabilities.
- Limit visitors
- Do a health check of all students and staff every morning. This includes a temperature check and a few questions. Students must meet all requirements, including a temperature of less than 100.4 in order to be allowed in the school building.
- A quarantine of all students/staff who have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or is suspected to have COVID-19. This quarantine may include an entire class, so it is critical that parents not send students to school if they have any of the following symptoms: cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, fever of 100.4°F or higher, a sense of having a fever, sore throat, chills, new loss of taste or smell, muscle or body aches, nausea/vomiting/diarrhea, congestion/running nose (not related to seasonal allergies), unusual fatigue
- Students, staff, and parents will maintain 6 ft social distancing.
- Students will be placed in cohort groups and will not intermingle with other grade levels.
- All meals will be served in the classrooms.
- Recess equipment, desks, bathrooms, door handles, and high traffic areas will be cleaned at least daily. Recess equipment will be wiped down after each class.
- Students will be required to wash hands when they enter the school building, before meals, after recess time, when using the restroom or after sneezes/blowing nose, and before leaving school for the day.
- Music, Band, and PE are considered high risk activities. Therefore, we will not have those specialized classes during the 2020-21 school year.
- Students will be taken from their vehicle at drop off, through the health screening, immediately to their classroom for the day.
- Staggered drop off/pick up times may be needed.
- There will be a limit to the number of students allowed in extended care, due to the need to maintain social distancing.
- Field Trips are cancelled until further notice, as they are high risk activities.
- Large gatherings such as Back to School BBQ will be cancelled until further notice.
Additional things to consider:
- At this time, we are allowed to open, as long as we follow the rules and guidance presented to us.
- If the governor closes schools at any time, we will move to distance learning. It sounds like there is a likelihood of this happening for a couple of weeks at a time in the fall/winter, so we all need to be prepared to move to this if it happens.
- If a class has to go to quarantine, based on close contact with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 individual, that class will move to distance learning for a period of time (typically 10 - 14 days).
- Students, staff, and families need to be very honest if symptoms arise so that we are not needlessly putting those in our community at risk of this virus. We do not want someone sick or for the class/school to have to shut down over active cases. It is better to be safe than sorry!
- Current requirements from the Archdiocese of Seattle are that ALL students must be 100% current on all age-appropriate required vaccinations to attend school in the fall. Please make sure that your child is up to date on ALL necessary vaccines or they will not be allowed at school until that is completed.