The SPIRIT of SKS

Hello Saint Kateri School families,

It is hard to believe that the beginning of school is just around the corner. We are getting excited to see and hear our students in the building ~ it has been way too long!

All public and non-public schools submitted their plans for re-opening in the fall on Friday, July 31st. Schools were required to create a Task Force committee to help with the thinking around the plan for Saint Kateri School and how to re-open safely.

For the past two weeks I have been meeting on Zoom with a great group of people in our community:

• Sue Cleary, 5th grade Teacher
• Laura Fasano, a parent of SKS alumni, parishioner and School Advisory Committee Chair
• Hannah Gasic, Preschool Teacher
• Annette Syracusa, SKS Finance Manager
• Matt Whelehan, SKS parent, parishioner, and educator

It was a pleasure to work with them and they have brought a wide range of experiences and perspectives to this process. We have discussed Health Screenings, Transportation, Before and After Care, Face Covering and Social Distancing, In-person or Virtual (or a combination of both), Food Services, and what will Communication look like as we continue to move through re-opening ~ just to name a few.

In the slideshow below I have included some highlights from our official Reopening Plan that seem to be the burning questions current families and prospective parents have asked over these last few weeks. There is also a Q & A below to address some of the questions that were raised during the Department of Catholic Schools survey. I will continue to answer more questions each week ~ as always you can reach out by phone or email if you have any other questions.

Additionally, Governor Cuomo has given us a date of Friday, August 7th for his announcement regarding school buildings opening in the Fall. Our plan is to open in the fall with all grades in the building, Monday - Friday, with additional safety protocols. We will let you know in the near future how the announcement on Friday will impact our opening as soon as we know.

Please know that every day I am praying for you and our school ~ we are such a special community and I appreciate you all more than I can say!

Peace and Light!

Mrs. Terri L. Morgan, Principal

Email: Terri.Morgan@dor.org

Phone: (585) 467-8730

QUESTION: Will the space available be utilized to make our school even more effective than public school?

ANSWER: We will be utilizing ALL available space in the school building and some classes may be repurposed to serve another need. (i.e. We will need to have a space dedicated for students who develop a temperature to wait to be picked up.) Our class sizes have traditionally been small and I think a big reason why our families come to Saint Kateri School ~ they are able to get more personal and individualized care and instruction in a smaller group. Our class sizes will stay small ~ and our students will be able to attend every day.

QUESTION: If education moves to Distance Learning at any point during the school year ~ how can we safely support the social-emotional development of our students?

ANSWER: Supporting the social-emotional development of our students has long been our strength ~ and will continue to be. Children will still play, they will still interact and teachers will continue to teach their students how to do that safely while they are at school. It will look different than before but the feeling we get from being connected with each other will remain strong. We are also in Year 2 of the Department of Catholic Schools Social-Emotional Learning initiative. This year our school will have access to 5 consulting hours where we will have the opportunity to learn ways to support our school needs specifically.

QUESTION: Will masks be required? Provided?

ANSWER: All students will be asked to bring a clean face covering to school each day, and it is a good idea to have a spare in their backpack. Face coverings can be disposable or made of washable materials. Let your child try a few different styles and see which one works best for them. Let them pick the color ~ there will not be a "uniform" face covering, we only ask that it be school appropriate and not distracting to your child or other children in the class. Also ~ help them to be independent when putting it on and taking it off. School will be able to provide face coverings to students if theirs gets soiled or breaks during the day.

There is availability in many of the Preschool - Grade 5 classrooms for the 2020-2021 school year. Registration paperwork can be found on our website, https://www.saintkaterischool.org/

Saint Kateri School and the Diocese of Rochester-Department of Catholic Schools offer Financial Aid. Want to get $500 off your tuition? Click the link below to find out how ~

Ambassador Program

Please contact us with any questions you may have regarding Registration or Financial Aid process.

Thank you!

Email: sksdcs@dor.org
Website: www.saintkaterischool.org
Location: 445 Kings Highway South, Rochester, NY, USA
Phone: (585) 467-8730
Facebook: facebook.com/St.KateriSchoolIrondequoit
Twitter: @StKateriSchool