Dear De La Salle Community:
Throughout the pandemic, De La Salle and Carondelet High Schools have gone to great lengths to follow COVID school guidelines and to ensure a safe campus before, during, and after this global pandemic. I applaud our faculty and staff, as well as our students, for how they have continued to ride the COVID waves and adapt as changes are made.
As you may be aware, the Governor announced that masks in schools would become optional in a few weeks. De La Salle and Carondelet look forward to March 14th, which will be the first day that masks become optional. While still strongly recommended, students and staff will soon no longer be required to do so. People are allowed to continue to wear masks, however. Additional changes to policies and practices may be announced as more information is known and shared by the State and the County.
This news sits differently with members of our community. Let’s honor the feelings people have on all sides and not allow a divide between us because of people’s beliefs about COVID, guidelines, masks, and more. On behalf of what makes our community special, I invite us all to allow those who wear masks to feel comfortable doing so, while also allowing those who don’t wish to wear masks to feel free to do so–free from judgment and free from anyone feeling like an “other”. In fact, a Core Principle of a Lasallian school includes being an inclusive community, and our Founder once wrote, “Union in community is a precious gem…preserve it with care, therefore…” Thank you in advance for your support of our community and all who are here.
We look forward to a wonderful, and busy, spring. With ashes marking our foreheads this Wednesday to begin Lent, let us also unite our prayers for the people of Ukraine and throughout the world ravaged by war, fear, or oppression.
Sincerely,
David J. Holquin
President