Dear Students and Families,
Our first day of in-person summer school and athletics was a memorable and successful day. I'm grateful for everyone's cooperation with our new procedures, and it was great to see our students and hear how happy they were to be back at Brebeuf.
I want to share a few reminders and updates related to our risk management strategies. As stated in our campus reopening plan, our plan has four key elements: screening, masking, distance, and hygiene.
Screening
The online screening form may be completed from any device. Moving forward, students will need to enter their Brebeuf email address to help us effectively monitor that all students are completing the self-screen each day that they enter the building.
Additionally, we want to thank all of the families who communicated with us yesterday and kept their students home for COVID-related monitoring reasons. If you find yourself in the situation that your student needs to stay home from summer school, please contact Shani Simonson (ssimonson@brebeuf.org) in the Principal's Office. We will work with you to identify a return date and how to participate in class from home when possible.
Masking
We felt that our students did great wearing their masks in the building on the first day. As we continue into the summer session, we need to stay consistent with this to minimize risk. Remember to launder cloth masks like clothing. Each student should have a number of them, which they rotate and wash throughout the week. We will also continue to provide disposable masks at the front desk should a student need one.
Distance
We can already tell that keeping distance is going to be a challenge. For July, we are arranging desks six feet apart and planning PE activities which space students six feet apart. However, during breaks and lunchtime, as well as outside of the school day, we ask that students stay cognizant of their proximity to others in an effort to reduce transmission.
Outside of school, please remain aware that close and/or large gatherings for significant periods of time can result in a greater risk of exposure. In order to keep school open, it's going to take each of us, in and out of school, to figure out how to balance our social needs with this need for increased physical distance.
Hygiene
Students were great about using the hand sanitizing stations on the first day. We also recommend that students carry their own bottles of sanitizer, as well.
On Tuesday, July 14, we will host our next Campus Reopening live Q&A session online. At that time, we hope to be able to share more about our plans for the fall. This summer school session will be a great time for us to learn together about how to operate a safe reopening, and we hope to be on track to welcome everyone back full-time on the first day of the fall semester on August 13.
Thank you,
Greg VanSlambrook
Principal