7/8/2020

Dear Roanoke Catholic families:

Thank you for your support of our plans to resume in-person instruction 5 days a week on August 25. We are excited to welcome our families back to campus for the start of the 2020-21 school year, while at the same time mindful of the many challenges that lie ahead to safely and responsibly reopen amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

In consultation with our Diocese and the Virginia Department of Public Health, on July 1, I assembled a task force of Roanoke Catholic administrators, teachers and staff to begin developing a set of protocols to provide us with mitigation strategies -- including physical distancing, face coverings, hygiene/cleaning, and health monitoring -- until vaccination is available.

The role of children in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, which is the virus that causes COVID-19, remains somewhat unclear and we are learning more every day. Researchers agree that children are not contracting the new coronavirus at the same rate as adults. However, data has yet to show whether young children transmit the new coronavirus at a similar rate as adults.

Employing these mitigation strategies can help protect students and staff and may help avoid frequent, and potentially more disruptive, school dismissals and closures.

At this time I would like to share with you our Task Force's working document, "Roanoke Catholic School Phase III Reopening Plan - Health Information," so that you can begin having conversations in your family about what the new school year will look like. This is a working document, so please allow us the opportunity and grace to amend and update this as new public health information becomes available.

In many ways the start of the new school year will be as strange as the end of the previous one. But I am confident that, together again, we will successfully navigate the challenges before us and continue to deliver an excellent Catholic education to our students. Please stay tuned to emails, social media posts and videos in which we'll share more information, and please continue to keep Roanoke Catholic in your prayers as we work for a healthy 132nd year serving the Roanoke Valley.

Sincerely,

Patrick Patterson

Principal and Head of School

Phase III - Re-Opening Draft Document