Mary Ryan Academy

Mary Ryan Families:

On behalf of our entire school family, we are excited to open our doors once again and be able to greet some of our students in person (from an appropriate distance, of course!) Whether you’re attending class in our building or continuing with our Virtual Learning Option, our priority remains the same: providing engaging, challenging and equitable opportunities to all our students.

There are many updates I want to highlight for families in our virtual or in person learning option:

  • A summary of our district back-to-school plan, called A New Way Forward, can be found here. The plan includes the latest state guidance and recommendations, as well as district protocols for everything from riding the bus to breakfast and lunch instructions to cleaning guidelines for buses and classrooms. The specific plan for Mary Ryan is as follow:

  • Parents will need to check their student’s temperature before they can board the bus. Any student with a temperature of 100.4 or greater will not be allowed to ride the bus that day. Once the student has boarded the bus there will be a designated seat assigned to them in order to assist in contact tracing.

  • Students will be dismissed one at a time from the bus after having their temperature checked. Then they will enter the building one at time and sign-in at the desk in front of the main office. The sign-in sheet will list the teacher’s classroom that the student has been assigned to. (Note: if a student does have a temperature

  • Students will then walk to the cafeteria to pick up their pre-packaged breakfast and then return to their assigned classroom to eat their breakfast.

  • Students will receive all of their instructional content in the classroom that they were assigned too. All teachers will be using google classroom and meet as their delivery platform. Students will have an assigned desk and will be expected to wear their mask during the school day.

  • At lunch time students will again go to the cafeteria to get their pre-package meal and then return to their assigned classroom.

  • At the end of the day, students will be dismissed one at a time from their classroom to board their bus.

  • I know over the past several weeks your student’s teacher of record and or school psychologist has spoken to either you and or your student about what the expectations, daily procedures and what your student’s class schedule will be for the remainder of the school year. As always if you have specific questions please do not hesitate to reach out to either myself or the teacher of record. Our specific return to school plan may be found here.

● Our school, like every school in JCPS, has a Healthy at School Officer (Thomas Russo, Assistant Principal) , who will be your primary contact to report a Covid-19 exposure, positive Covid-19 case, or ask questions regarding the virus. I can be reached at thomas.russo@jefferson.kyschools.us and will work with the district’s contact tracers to identify possible exposures, coordinate school-level data with district and local health officials and provide important information that you’ll need to keep your family safe.

  • Contact Tracing - If your child is exposed or possibly exposed to an individual with Covid-19 at school, a contact tracer will reach out to you and advise of steps you should take, including quarantine guidelines.

  • We are implementing a robust cleaning and disinfection program to prevent transmitting viruses from surfaces to people. This includes using disinfectants approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and battery-powered sprayers that deliver the disinfectant as a mist to provide coverage in harder to-reach areas. In addition, we have increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting high-contact surfaces, and have provided classroom teachers access to disinfecting wipes. There will also be ample opportunities for students to wash their hands and use hand sanitizer, which will be available in classrooms and throughout the building.

  • As a reminder, parents/guardians of bus riders must attest that they will not send a child on the bus who has a temperature of 100.4°F or higher. Parents need to check their student’s temperature daily before they board the bus.

  • The U.S. Department of Education (USED) will require states to administer a

statewide assessment for the 2020-2021 school year, the agency announced on Feb. 22.

The decision comes after many states have requested a waiver of the testing requirement due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. At this time, we must continue to move forward with our planning for 11th graders to take the ACT and 10th & 11th graders to take KPREP.


  • Students who return to in-person sessions will be scheduled to take either the ACT and or K-PREP tests on the days that they are scheduled to be in the building.


  • Students remaining VIRTUAL will be contacted (e.g. email, phone call, etc.) and invited in to test on Wednesdays. Parents/guardians of students attending school virtually may refuse to allow their student(s) to come in for testing. Students who do not take either test will not be penalized (i.e. not being able to graduate or move to the next grade level). The district is providing transportation for testing at school for those wishing to take advantage of it. More information in regards to accessing this resource will be provided at a later date. Lastly, students will be required to follow all of the health at school protocols if they choose bus transportation and while in the building taking the test.

  • As schedules become finalized, teachers will be communicating with parents/students what their adjusted class times will be. For students remaining virtual there will be dedicated open lab times where the parent/student can speak with a teacher and or get assistance in completing an assignment. Note: for students who are remaining virtual there are several built-in open lab times where they can get assistance with their work from one of our virtual teachers. The times and the link are listed below. The link will also be posted in all of the student’s google classrooms for quick reference.

    • 7:30-8:35 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday

    • 11:30-12:25 on Mondays and Tuesdays

    • 12:25-1:20 on Thursdays and Fridays

    • 1:20-2:20 on Thursday and Fridays

    • 11:10-2:20 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays

    • Open Lab Link


  • Seniors I do have some great news in regards to end of the year activities. The board of education has approved schools to hold small graduation ceremonies for the 2020-21 school year. At the present time, this is all the information we have. More information will be shared, once we get more information and finalize our plans.

  • Finally, communication is critical during this time and you will continue to receive frequent updates from the school and district. Please sign up for School Messenger and/or School CNXT, if you haven’t already. SchoolMessenger is a one-way messaging tool used at some schools and by the district to send texts and emails directly. Click here to sign up for this platform.

We may be in masks and seated farther apart, but our common goal remains the same. I am so proud of the amazing stories of resilience, ingenuity and dedication that I have seen at our school and throughout the district over the past year, and I look forward to seeing your smiling faces online and in our buildings.

Sincerely,

Thomas Russo

Assistant Principal