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| Desks at St. Joseph Catholic School in Baraboo have been spaced out to accommodate social distancing. Some furniture had to be removed from classrooms to maximize available space. (Contributed photo) |
MADISON — Barring local county health departments issuing an order for closure, Catholic schools in the Diocese of Madison will return to in-person instruction this fall, but how that looks from school to school will vary.
“All of our schools are very different,” said Michael Lancaster, superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Madison.
“We all have the same mission and academic standards, but we are in very different communities. There is no way we can do a one size fits all.”
Challenge to open safely
“This summer has been like no other,” said Denise Brinker, principal of St. Joseph School in Baraboo. “It has been very difficult trying to meet everyone’s expectations as there are so many different views and opinions on what the school year should look like. There have been many challenges as the directives and guidelines are continually changing. We have learned that we will need to be very flexible in proceeding with the new school year.”
Common changes to all schools include social distancing, the wearing of masks, sanitation, and hygiene. These changes are based around guidelines put out by the CDC, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, and individual guidance from county health departments.”Hygiene will be a part of the regular curriculum,” said Lancaster. “We are going to spend a good part of the beginning of the school year — probably a week or two — really enforcing and practicing all the hygiene measures.”
Fr. Richard Leffler, pastor of SS. Andrew-Thomas Parish in Potosi said he didn’t foresee there being any difficulty in his school in implementing these safety protocols.
“[Our class sizes] aren’t too big with only 30 people in the school,” he said. “We won’t have any difficulty with the whole distancing. I’d say it’s been more confusing than difficult, but [we’ve] been working very closely with the public school.”
Larger schools, however, are having to get creative about how they implement the guidelines. A common trend is to stagger recess, lunch, and dismissal in order to prevent hallways and common spaces from becoming crowded.
Virtual learning
At St. Dennis, which has about 270 students, parents are being given the option of a choice between in-person instruction and virtual learning.
“The virtual learners will be using Google Classroom to stream live sessions with their class,” said Matt Beisser, principal of St. Dennis School in Madison.
“Teachers will be using Google breakout groups to mix in-person and virtual learners. For the lower grades, we are using Seesaw to facilitate virtual learners as well as live Zoom sessions.”
Lancaster said that while a number of schools are offering this, not all are able to. But for those schools that offer it, “it’ll allow students who are either unable to come back to school for some underlying condition or students who are out sick — it could be just out with a cold — to follow along with their class through the livestream.”
Stricter rules
In terms of illness, all schools have strict rules for not admitting sick students to the school. Most schools will have temperature checks at the entrance and will require students to be fever and symptom free for 72 hours or be approved by a doctor to return to school.
“We understand that there will be more times of absenteeism,” said Brinker.
If a child does become sick during the school day, Lancaster said that the situation would have to be treated as a potential COVID case.
“We will have to wear PPE because the assumption is that you don’t know what they have,” said Lancaster. “Could be COVID. Could be post nasal drip. We don’t know. Whoever is caring for the child would take the child to the sick room, care for the child, call the parents, and the child would be sent home.”
In addition to this, policies around room sanitization after a sick child or employee have been present are in place.
At St. Dennis, the school has purchased a sanitizing machine that will disinfect a room in five minutes. “We also purchased UVC wands and lights for the room,” said Beisser.
If there is a larger outbreak of coronavirus at the school, Lancaster said the diocese and schools are ready to work with the county health departments with their response.
“The county health departments do have the authority to close the school,” he said, adding that all the schools are prepared to transition to virtual learning if the situation arises.
“If there is an actual outbreak, like if we have a lot of cases, then the county could very well say that we have to close.”
The decision to open came with much consultation with principals and pastors and rested largely on the concerns of the effects of social isolation and what is being called “the COVID slide in student learning,” said Lancaster.