26 February Letter from Mr. Kelly
February 26, 2021
Friday of the First Week of Lent
Dear SJS Catholic School Community,
We are making great progress with keeping our number of COVID quarantining students low. Which is great, I am so proud of our community. And it couldn’t happen without your hard work and vigilance. I have received my fair share of communications on both sides of the COVID issue–it is very real, and the opposite, that it is nothing to worry about. I work to be respectful to all. And it seems that whenever I get those emails people are convinced that everyone else feels just like they do. My guess is this is likely because they have a group of friends who they visit with who share similar thoughts. Or their friends on social media have similar thoughts. Or the newsfeed that they get on their phone is full of similar thoughts. But, I can assure you that we are very much a microcosm of American society in our school. There are all sorts of ideas and thoughts on the pandemic. So as an administrator we have relied on science, and the advice of experts, and erred on the side of caution and safety. We listened to school leaders and are doing whatever we can to keep the kids safe and in school. And, I have to say, our results have been outstanding. Every day in school in person, no spread in the school itself, few sick staff. This falls in line with our Catholic ideals of being concerned for the other, looking out for the greater good. So as numbers go down, and vaccines go up (particularly for teachers), you will see that we will slowly tweak our approaches. We will move to get things more back to how we have typically done them. But, we can only do that with safety and caution in mind. So I appreciate your continued support and understanding. I am pleased with how we have done so far overall as a school. No school that I am aware of has had as much success as we have in being in person every day, with so many students/staff present. And, this couldn’t have been done without our fine teachers. So let’s keep their safety and efforts in mind for the rest of this year as well please. Our teachers came to school at a time when it really wasn’t known how safe it would be. Our teachers rearranged their entire rooms/procedures to keep the kids safe (for example we had to change how the kids order milk, yes, milk). Our teachers have made cleaning a priority. I will do whatever I can to make sure that those efforts are recognized, and we only make decisions that are safe for our students and staff. We will get back to more normal, in a safe manner. I encourage a perspective that looks out for the common good and one that looks at all sides.
We are making our way through the holy season of Lent. Our teachers are reminding students of the value of prayer, fasting, and giving alms. And, we will provide an opportunity for almsgiving on Tuesday with an optional out of uniform day. Proceeds will be donated to disaster relief in Texas. Here is a link as a reminder to some of the rules for Catholics during Lent-
We appreciate your attention to the registration process. Your prompt attention helps the school. If you have a financial concern, or otherwise, please contact the office and I can assure you we will do what we can to help.
Thanks for all you do.
Peace,
William Kelly
Principal
