SAS Parent Newsletter
January 10, 2020
Message from the Principal
Good Afternoon Families,
First off, I hope all families had a Merry Christmas and I would like to wish everyone a happy new year! With 2020 in our rear view mirror, I do believe it is appropriate to state that 2020 has been a difficult and tough year for all of us. As I struggle to articulate my thoughts on 2020, my hope is that 2021 will bring brighter days for everyone.
I would like thank everyone that reached out in concern for my family as we have dealt with COVID. Without getting into specific details, my daughter had symptoms until December 31 and she is doing much better. She was in the small percentage of those with symptoms lasting longer than expected. As stated in my previous letter to families, we were directed to quarantine for 24 days because we could not isolate my daughter. Unfortunately, on day 23 of our 24 day quarantine, my wife tested positive for COVID. As a result my quarantine timeline was reset by the board of health and my return to school has been postponed till after January 22. Throughout this process, my wife and I were taking COVID test roughly every 4 days and it was on the 5th test that my wife tested positive. In hindsight we are grateful because had we assumed this was over we would have infected our families that we were planning to meet in the coming days. Since my wife's diagnosis, she did develop symptoms and has since recovered. After 8 tests, I continue to remain negative and will be taking an antibody test to determine if I already had COVID or have been extremely fortunate. Needless to say, my wife and I continue to be thankful because there are many families whose experience with COVID has been much worse. I will continue to keep families updated with my timeline for return.
Similar to my family's experience with COVID being that one person is infected and transmits it to another family member during quarantine, St. Anthony has had its first positive case with a student. This student is in middle school and tested positive toward the end of their quarantine after being exposed to a positive household family member. This student was not in school for two weeks prior to testing positive, therefore no one from our school has been impacted by this result. Similar to my experience this student was tested right before their quarantine was set to end when the positive result occurred. I do apologize because I just learned of this case and feel that it is important to be transparent with families, regardless whether other students are impacted. I will notify the health board to make sure our numbers are correct on their school dashboards. I do believe even with this one positive case, we have done a great job at preventing the spread of COVID within the school. This is a testament to our mitigation strategies and parents taking precautions.
With that being said, I encourage and recommend families to keep their child/children home if they are experiencing any symptoms. While we have done a fantastic job this year, I do have concerns with two strains that are gaining more attention. Based on the data available, one strain is out of the UK (B117) and the other is out of South Africa. While these strains are not indicating an increase in severity, they are 40-80% more transmissible than the current strands in the United States. Due to the ease of transmission, you will notice many countries around the world rushing vaccinations to prevent massive waves overwhelming hospital systems. While there is no need to panic, this is something I do encourage families to keep an eye on because it is merely a matter of time before the United States is impacted in some capacity.
My final message to families is that we learned that St. Bridget's will be closing their doors at the end of the school year. As another Catholic school, this news is always saddening because we understand how our schools become tight knit communities for our children. With this news, we can expect more families inquiring about registration for the upcoming school year. While we always give our families the first opportunity to reserve roster spots in classrooms, it is imperative that families get their re-registration packets in as soon as possible so we can properly track our enrollment for the upcoming school year and make any necessary adjustments. Also, please do not hesitate to share the good news with any families that may be interested in St. Anthony as registration period opens on Monday.
I hope that everyone has a great day back in the building tomorrow and we get a victory tonight with the Browns!
God Bless,
Mr. Klimkewicz
New Speech and Language Pathologist
Dollar Dress Down and PTU General Meeting
Please mark your calendars:
Tuesday, January 12 - Dollar Dress Down Day
Thursday, January 14 - PTU General Meeting @ 7:00PM (Link to follow in the coming days)