October 9, 2020


Dear St. Felicitas Families,

Thank you for your prayers and constant support as we continue to make plans and preparations for the reopening of the school. As you are aware, three weeks ago, we applied for a waiver to reopen our school for in-person instruction. Shortly after submitting the application with our reopening plans, Alameda County was placed on the red tier, a less restrictive tier than what we were on previously. Since then, the county has opened up another process for the reopening of schools. This new process includes resubmitting reopening plans to the Alameda County Office of Education and Alameda County of Public Health. At this time, Alameda County is only allowing students in TK through 6th grade to return to in-person instruction.

Although there are constant changes made by the county, our leadership team has remained updated with the requirements for reopening. We have resubmitted our reopening plans to the Alameda County Office of Education for review and have met all requirements to reopen for in-person instruction. The guiding principle has been, and continues to be, the health and well-being of our students, our faculty and our staff. Therefore, we will begin in-person instruction with our Kindergarten students on October 19 and slowly roll in other grades when it is safe and appropriate to do so. This slow process of rolling in students is recommended by both the County and the Diocese.

We want to partner and work with you through the transition of bringing students back and ensure that you feel comfortable and prepared with this process. With every new group of students returning to school, we will notify the specific class(es) of the date for returning to in-person instruction, and set up virtual meetings with families in those classes to discuss reopening and safety guidelines for returning to school. This will also allow you plenty of time to understand the procedures and ask questions. 

We recognize that there are still mixed feelings, and we thank you in advance for your continued communication of your needs and your cooperation. For those of you who may feel nervous about your child being on campus, I want to personally ensure you that we will work with you, and as we have stated in all our communications, the health and safety of our children and our community is our number one priority. Please contact me if you have any concerns about your child returning to school.

Again, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  Let us continue to partner together and unite together through God’s love.

Blessings,
Sr. Faustina Pham


 

September 18, 2020

Dear St. Felicitas Families,

I continue to thank God for the gift of our amazing school community. It has been a tremendous privilege to see our community continue to come together and support one another through distance learning. Just this week I was amazed by how our entire student body entered our prayer service on zoom so reverently. This is no small feat, and I have all of you to thank for it. I know it has not been easy, and I appreciate your hard work, patience, and flexibility. I am writing today to provide you with updates for the reopening of the schools.

As you know, in July, our Governor mandated that all schools in counties on the monitoring list begin the school year with distance learning. He also gave the option for schools to apply for a waiver to reopen in person, and this waiver was to be signed off by the local health department. Due to the increase in the number of cases at that time, Alameda County publicly stated that they would not sign off on any waivers. 

Now that the State has moved to the color coded tracking system, Alameda County is now allowing schools to apply for the waiver to reopen schools for in-person instruction. This waiver would only allow students in grades TK to 6^th grade to come back on campus, and requires the schools to present a safe reopening plan. These plans will be reviewed and must be approved by both the Alameda County Public Health Department and the California Department of Public Health. If the waiver is granted, it would mean that the local health department and the state department believe that the school is safe to reopen under its plans. 

After careful consideration and much discussion with Father Tom, our pastor, the Leadership Team, faculty and staff, and the Diocese, we have decided to pursue the application process for a waiver to return to the school building. This comes from professional dialogue about what would best serve the needs of our students. Ultimately, in-person instruction will best serve their academic, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs.    

We recognize this decision may bring mixed feelings to many of you, and we thank you in advance for your continued communication of your needs and your cooperation.  For those of you who are more than ready to get your children on campus, I ask for your patience as this process will take time. For those of you who may feel nervous about your child being on campus, I want to personally ensure you that we will work with you, and as we have stated in all our communications, the health and safety of our children and our community is our number one priority. We will reopen under the waiver when it is deemed appropriate and safe to do so through this process. 

We will continue to communicate regularly about the progress of the waiver application, and any next steps we would need from you. 

If and when the waiver is approved, please note that we will not start with all students on campus at once. In order to add another layer of ensuring our student’s health and safety, we are developing a plan that will have our lower elementary grade students return to campus first, and slowly roll in upper grades. 

For your reference, you can view our St. Felicitas School reopening plans on this document. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CgArW-XUiuIhO8hc7DmrzjDqJdgtac6j4MjyY6Vn4Xg/edit?usp=sharing)

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns and join me in keeping our school, community, and world in our prayers as we continue to unite together through God’s love.

Blessings,

Sr. Faustina Pham