St. Mary's To Start School Off Site

The following is a letter from Jennie Schneider and Paula Atkeson, who are the principals of St. Mary's Schools.

Oct. 14- Update Today, we got the good news that we could enter the buildings and retrieve what we need to have school in remote locations. The exception is the northwest grade school quad (3rd grade, Art, Resource). This quad is sealed off and we won't be able to enter it in the near future. Our teachers are busy moving, organizing, and getting set up in their temporary classrooms. We are all anxious to get back to school!

Here is our tentative plan:

Grades 7 – 12 will start school on Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m. at the Northeast Community College campus in O'Neill. Parking is available behind the building, and students can enter through the back door on the south side of the building.

Grades K- 6 will have their new locations open on Wednesday to give the students and their parents a chance to see their temporary classrooms. This is optional for parents and students.

The Faith Community location will be open and teachers will be present from 3:30 – 4:30 on Wednesday.

The former administration building will be open and teachers will be present from 4:30 – 5:30 on Wednesday.

Grades K-6 will begin school on Thursday morning at 8:00 a.m. at their respective locations.

Preschool and Pre-K will be taking a field trip on Thursday, so they will begin Monday, October 21.

After the teachers met this morning, there were a couple of things that they wanted us to include in our update.

Regarding lunch:

Microwaves are available ONLY for students with food allergies/intolerances.

Please send water for lunch; no pop, bubblr', etc.

Please send students with a full water bottle every day. Not every location has available water fountains.

There will be no refrigeration available for sack lunches.

Regarding elementary drop-off: Doors at both elementary school locations will be open at 7:45. For safety reasons, we cannot have students dropped off before 7:45.

Students can come into the building at 7:45 as soon as the doors unlock.

We know that the experiences of the last week have been unsettling, and that beginning school in a new place will be challenging for our students, especially our youngest ones. Our counselors will visit each classroom and address the needs of our students as they adjust to their new environments.

While we wish we could be in our own familiar classrooms, we will be happy to get our students gathered together and back in school. We are so thankful for all of the people who have helped to make this transition as easy as possible for our teachers, and we appreciate the flexibility of our teachers, our staff, and our St. Mary's families.

Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Pray for Us!

Paula Atkeson

Jennie Schneider

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