Catholic schools prepare for in-person learning, with flexibility as needs arise

Teacher Rose Coleman of St. Agnes School in St. Paul works with first-grader Luciana Brendale Aug. 5 during Summer Boost Week, a program designed for younger students to help them transition back to in-person learning. St. Agnes and other Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are preparing to open their doors this fall and will work to protect students, staff and parents from COVID-19. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Brandi Brandstrom of St. Timothy in Maple Lake knows what she wants for her children this fall, even during the novel coronavirus pandemic: in-person learning at St. Timothy’s School.

Perhaps more emphatically, so does her eighth-grade son, Isaac, who last year left St. Timothy’s to attend nearby Buffalo Community Middle School in Buffalo because of its strong soccer program, his mother said. This year, he’s returning to St. Timothy because of in-person learning.

Gov. Tim Walz announced his safe return to school plan July 30, which includes a mask mandate for all staff, visitors and students in kindergarten through high school at public and nonpublic schools, including Catholic schools. It also takes into account COVID-19 counts in each county, with in-person learning at low levels of virus activity, a hybrid of in-person and distance learning at higher levels, and only distance learning at higher levels still.

“It’s going to be a first day of school unlike any we’ve seen,” said the governor, a former teacher.

With those trends in hand, public schools in Wright County, west of Minneapolis — including Buffalo — are preparing for elementary schools to offer in-person learning this fall, while middle and high schools offer a mix of in-person and distance learning.

St. Timothy’s School, however, is preparing for in-person learning for all of its prekindergarten through eighth-grade students, with the flexibility to turn to distance learning if necessary. The other 90 Catholic elementary and high schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are doing likewise.

“With the announcement of what was to come this school year we sat him (Isaac) down, and he said ‘No way, mom. I am not doing distance learning. I want to talk to my teachers in person, right there,’” Brandstrom said. “The education side is very important to him.”

St. Agnes School first-grader Adria Hansen works on a writing assignment. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Another conclusion

Sara Lawrence came to the opposite conclusion for her children. The mother of three has a 3-year-old, Ava, with chronic lung issues because she was born prematurely. Contracting COVID-19 would be particularly dangerous for Ava.

So, second-grader Harper and first-grader Nora will learn from home instead of at All Saints Catholic School in Lakeville, south of the Twin Cities, much as they started doing in March, when schools across Minnesota closed their campuses against the virus and shifted to distance learning for the rest of that school year.

“My husband (Dominic) and I both work from home. We have worked, done school and summer from home. We’re not ready to go back, and if we go back, that might change” depending on the status of the coronavirus, Lawrence said.

All Saints plans to videotape teachers in the classroom for families who don’t want to immediately return to in-person learning this fall. That should work well, Lawrence said. The school also is flexible about having families who are distance learning enter the school later in the year, if that works best for them, she said.

The Lawrences, as well as the Brandstroms in Maple Lake, are committed Catholics who want to remain part of their communities. Staying with the schools in one form or another is important to them, they said.

“When we go back into a school, I need our kids to walk back into that school building,” Lawrence said of All Saints. “We literally have made some of our best friends there.”

Brandstrom, who also works from home because of the pandemic, as does her husband, Joshua, said distance learning was hard on all three of her children. Her son, Maximilian, is entering first-grade and her daughter, Carly, is entering third, both at St. Timothy.

“My second-grader (Carly) was in her room, sobbing, because she wanted to be with her teacher, she wanted help,” Brandstrom said of distance learning. “I have no concerns about the health issues (of COVID-19). My biggest concerns are the social and emotional impact of not being in school.”

Benefits of in-person learning

Many parents across the archdiocese have expressed similar sentiments about distance learning, and the challenges are affirmed in guidance by the Centers for Disease Control, which emphasizes the social, academic and mental health benefits of in-person learning, as well as economic benefits for many families who rely on school lunch and other programs, said Jason Slattery, director of Catholic education for the archdiocese.

Catholic schools also have a special calling to share the faith, encouraging students to develop a personal relationship with Jesus, said Emily Dahdah, associate director of Catholic education. That is best done in person and in community, she said.

“We cannot have a relationship with Jesus Christ without a relationship with each other,” she said. “Our relationship with God is the most important thing, from which all other relationships stem. That’s on top of all the academic and social benefits of in-person learning.”

Those were among the factors weighed by a Catholic Schools Task Force of experts in finance, communications, law, public health and mental health, who began to work in June to help the archdiocese determine what would be needed to safely return to in-person learning, Slattery said.

The Task Force developed a series of health and safety protocols for Catholic schools, which pastors, canonical administrators, heads of school or school boards have been asked to affirm before a given school opens this fall. Many schools are preparing for a Sept. 8 first day, Slattery said.

“We’ve not been told by anyone to this point” that a Catholic school isn’t ready for in-person learning, he said.

That confidence comes even as Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools announce their plans to start the fall by offering only distance learning. Dahdah said one key difference is the scale of those districts versus a smaller Catholic school system that breaks down very quickly into still smaller individual schools.

“We are in good shape to decide at a building level,” how to handle challenges such as the novel coronavirus, she said.

County-by-county COVID-19 cases, which will be used to help determine the level of in-person learning at public schools, also will be important information for Catholic schools, Slattery said.

“It’s an important data point” in a multi-faceted decision each Catholic school will make to determine whether to close as a campus, Slattery said.

If Walz were to order all public schools in the state to shift to distance learning because of the pandemic, Archbishop Bernard Hebda would ultimately decide if all Catholic schools in the archdiocese should follow suit, Slattery said.

Slattery said the school year will have its challenges, but it can be successful as families work to avoid COVID-19 as part of their daily routine, and as all parties work together.

“It’s a real opportunity for growth in patience and grace,” he said. “There’ll be hard days, but there’ll be good days, too.”

Getting ready

All Saints Catholic School in Lakeville, like many Catholic schools in the archdiocese, is preparing a Sept. 8 opening day. Safety measures against COVID-19 are a top priority, said Carol Margarit, principal.

Students will face forward in each classroom to help prevent spread of the virus, instead of learning in circles, which has been the norm, she said. Students and staff will wear masks or face shields, and protective shields will be fitted to each desk.

Classrooms generally are large in the school, making social distancing relatively easy, even with 355 students in kindergarten through eighth grade and 90 in preschool, Margarit said. But accommodations also include art and music teachers not having their own classrooms this year to make still more room for several classes, such as middle school math and language arts, she said.

All Saints also is prepared to offer distance learning to families who choose that route, Margarit said. Some parents have requested that option because their child or someone in their family has an underlying condition that would make contracting COVID-19 particularly dangerous, she said.

At St. Timothy’s School in Maple Lake, 22 preschoolers and 94 K-8 students have an unusual safety measure – classrooms can open directly to the outdoors. With awnings to protect against the weather, that will all but eliminate students passing each other in hallways, said the principal, Julie Shelby.

In addition, the school has a large green space, where canopies will be set up so classes can be held outdoors before winter hits, she said.

“There will be many opportunities for outdoor learning,” Shelby said.

Health and safety protocols for safely reopening Catholic schools

Promoting behaviors that reduce spread

Benchmarks and protocols for:

• Allowing into the building only those who show no symptoms of COVID-19
• Practicing personal hygiene, including washing hands and covering coughs
• Social distancing
• Wearing face coverings, as mandated by the state of Minnesota (July 31 adjustment to protocols)

Maintaining healthy facilities

• Cleaning and disinfecting school buildings, including necessary supplies and equipment
• Providing a separate physical space for students with symptoms of COVID-19
• Ensuring that heating and cooling systems promote a healthy environment

Maintaining healthy operations

• Regular health checks at home and school, such as temperature screening
• Caring for students at school who become ill with symptoms of COVID-19
• Having a parent or guardian pick up a student as soon as possible
• Communicating with the student’s family about health guidance
• Procedures for a family to report a diagnosed case of COVID-19 and return to school
• Promoting a safe environment with limited use of shared objects and social distancing
• Limiting large, in-school groups or meetings
• Pursuing virtual events and activities
• Developing procedures for student and employee entrance, movement within and exiting the school building; food service, including breakfast, snacks and lunch
• Implementing transportation procedures, including a contingency plan if a public school district that supplied transportation is unable to do that
• Analyzing and adjusting Mass schedules, liturgical practices and traditions
• Monitoring and addressing community spread of COVID-19 as it relates to short- or long-term closure of the school building