Our Diocesan school is allowing virtual the first two weeks of January and said to be prepared to go virtual if too many staff are out.

I would be less anxious if our school instituted the same restrictions they had last year that kept everyone safe and prevented in-school spread all year long (no parents in the building, cohorts, lunch in the classrooms, no choir, etc etc etc). This year they tossed all those things out the window and it’s basically been like normal except with masks. We’ve been lucky so far but I’m afraid of what the next few weeks will look like.

I think it will depend on how many staff are out and the lack of subs. At our diocesan high school none of the freshmen have been prepped for online learning modality, so I am wondering if the would just delay opening a week? It is only 4 days away, so hopefully they come up with a plan to put out to families soon.

Anonymous wrote:I think they will open on time, and then close when too many staff are out. They could start planning right now, instead of having to “pivot” in a hastely manner when the **** hits the fan! I feel all schools will end up doing this. They have to be able to say they had the intention of opening. Any thoughts on CYO basketball? I am pretty sure they will shut that down pretty soon.

Our CYO is only for 7th and 8th graders this year, with proof of vaccination. I would really be upset if CYO shuts down. (this is St. Joe's in Herndon)

Anonymous wrote:I think they will open on time, and then close when too many staff are out. They could start planning right now, instead of having to “pivot” in a hastely manner when the **** hits the fan! I feel all schools will end up doing this. They have to be able to say they had the intention of opening. Any thoughts on CYO basketball? I am pretty sure they will shut that down pretty soon.

What a stupid roller coaster that will be. What's wrong with required testing to return next week?

Bringing classes back and acting like things are the same as they were on October 1 is just delaying the inevitable.

I think they will open on time, and then close when too many staff are out. They could start planning right now, instead of having to “pivot” in a hastely manner when the **** hits the fan! I feel all schools will end up doing this. They have to be able to say they had the intention of opening. Any thoughts on CYO basketball? I am pretty sure they will shut that down pretty soon.

Anonymous wrote:No vaccine mandate is going to bite these schools in th behind.

I mean… It’s mandated in very few probates and no publics so no real difference.

The NOVA public schools are opening on schedule Jan 3, so I expect my k-8 Catholic school will too.

No vaccine mandate is going to bite these schools in th behind.

Anonymous wrote:Have you heard from your school's admin about possible closure/virtual learning for next week? We have heard nothing from our relatively large k-8 school. I wonder if the decisions will be made by each school, or by the Diocese of Arlington.

What they really need to do is announce negative PCRs to return and stay, and I hope they do! Then, you aren’t announcing a wide sweeping policy that isn’t backed by data, and you are doing your part to keep kids safe.

Anonymous wrote:St Ann is doing asynchronous Monday 1/3 and virtual remainder of the week. Ridiculous. They also did practice virtual days after other breaks. Are other parents as irate as me?

They’ve gone over to the alter of kool-aid.

We have not heard anything. And we were told at the beginning of the school year that there was not going to be a remote option (as there was last year) and, even for the kids who did go in-person, they were all spread out in separate cohorts.

So I have absolutely no idea how our school could swing it if we needed to go virtual again. :*(

In contract, I have another child who goes to another local private and they announced ahead of time that the first week back would be all virtual, they took a survey to see who had what technological needs, they prepped the parents on how to use the various learning platforms (Seesaw, etc.), and they sent the kids home from the break with everything they would need. I really like this approach better. :/

St Ann is doing asynchronous Monday 1/3 and virtual remainder of the week. Ridiculous. They also did practice virtual days after other breaks. Are other parents as irate as me?

Considering Arlington schools were open last year with the only virtual option being a separate online academy, I wouldn’t count on it.

Have you heard from your school's admin about possible closure/virtual learning for next week? We have heard nothing from our relatively large k-8 school. I wonder if the decisions will be made by each school, or by the Diocese of Arlington.