St. Mary's School
PARENT/GUARDIAN COMMUNICATION
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Dear Parents/Guardians,
As a reminder, St. Mary's School will be closed through Friday, March 27 due to the recent COVID-19 outbreak. Last week, the faculty finalized a continuity plan for remote learning, and we will begin implementing that plan with students and families this Monday, March 16. The faculty have been working hard to ensure everything is up and running on Monday morning. As we implement a remote learning model, your feedback is welcome and appreciated. Please feel free to be in touch with your child’s teacher via email to share what is working well and what needs to be tweaked. As a faculty, we will be continually assessing the effectiveness of the plan, as well as participating in continued professional development this week with regard to remote learning.
With the extended closure, I know you have many questions regarding the status of a variety of things, including upcoming events, field trips, lunch orders, reregistration forms, before/after school care prepay calendars, report cards, etc. As the week progresses, I will be sharing more information with you as decisions are made. For this communication, I have included information regarding the three most pressing issues:
Remote Learning Launch
Report Cards
Annual Auction
Please be on the lookout for further communications this week. Thank you again for your support as we enter uncharted waters. As a Catholic community of learners living the way of Christ, our strong faith will get us through these challenging times as we navigate new ways of helping our school stay safe and succeed.
Sincerely,
Mr. Christopher Beza
Principal
Remote Learning Launch - Mon, Mar 16
PreKA & PreKB: Teachers will provide a menu of suggested websites, apps, and activities students can use at home. These will be posted on the teachers' websites. And of course, curling up and reading a few books together each day is always a great idea!
Kindergarten through Grade 5: Remote learning work will be posted on each grade level teacher's website no earlier than 7:00 am and no later than 8:00 am on the day for which it is assigned.
Grades 6-8: Remote learning work will be posted on the teachers' websites no earlier than 7:00 am and no later than 8:00 am on the day for which it is assigned. Students will need to check all three of their main teachers' pages (Mr. Pierce, Mr. Flint, Mrs. Harkins). Spanish work will be posted to the website of your child's homeroom teacher. Teachers will follow the regular schedule, so if a class is normally not in session on a particular day (e.g. Spanish classes are not held on Tuesdays and Thursdays), then work will not be posted for that class.
For kindergarten through grade 8, remote learning work will be a mix between online programs and pen & paper work. Many of our online programs (RAZ Kids, iXL, ReadingWorks, MathShelf, xtramath) have online tracking components so teachers will receive real-time updates when students have completed work. With regard to pen & paper work, please help your child to organize and store this completed work so it may be turned in to the teacher upon return to school.
Direct links to each teacher's remote learning page can be accessed by clicking here.
Report Cards
With the extended closure and an earliest return date of Monday, March 30, we will be distributing report cards via email this week rather than waiting until we return to school. Report cards will be submitted electronically via email to parents through a no-reply email account (reportcard@stmaryschoolmelrose.org). This process will be completed by Friday, March 20. If you have any questions or comments after you receive your child's report card, please email your child's teacher directly.
Annual Auction
In response to the COVID-19 situation, the state’s guidance of limiting large group gatherings, and with the health of the St. Mary’s School community foremost in our minds, we have decided to cancel this year’s Auction and Dinner Dance on March 28.
We are in the process of planning a virtual event that will include online bidding for the donated items, class baskets and art work. Refunds for auction tickets and sponsorships are available, with un-refunded proceeds going directly to the school. Stay tuned for more details on the online auction in the coming days.
We appreciate your understanding and patience and want to thank the PTO and Auction Committee for their efforts.
Contact Us
Email: mr.beza@stmaryschoolmelrose.org
Website: stmaryschoolmelrose.org
Location: 4 Myrtle Street, Melrose, MA, USA
Phone: (781)665-5037
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stmaryschoolmelrose/