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During the summer, parents were given a couple of surveys to listen to their concerns and address them appropriately. We invited them to zoom prayer/community meetings to stay informed and to assist them as their children continued their learning using the Individualized Summer Learning plans they were given at the end of the school year. In the parent surveys as well as in their zoom interactions, parents expressed the difficulties they experienced with Distance Learning, especially the parents with young children and those who do not have other adults to stay at home with the children while they were out working. Parents felt relieved when we shared with them all the work we planned and actually carried out in the school to be able to open the school for in-person instruction following the June 30 requirements and recommendations of the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. During June & July four staff members zoom and met weekly with administration to plan and implement plant modifications to allow for In-person instruction.
On July 16-20 the parents of our students responded to a survey to request Distance Learning survey in the case that the school would open with In-person Instruction - Only 26 families asked for Distance Learning out of 102 families who filled out the In-Person Instruction Plan Survey.
New parents were presented with the Distance Learning opening and the possibility of In-person Instruction in the near future and were happy to hear that. 6) Parents of our returning students were presented with the Distance Learning Process we were about to start and many of them asked when would In-person Instruction would start.
As the State Health Officer ordered, on July 17, 2020, the closure of all in-person operations in counties on the State’s monitoring list (including Santa Clare County), and as we learned of the possibility of obtaining a waiver to resume in-person instruction, we had three faculty/staff zoom meetings (July 23 to July 27) to understand the rational and what it would take to resume in-person instruction as well as to evaluate all the work that was done during the summer to prepare for it- two faculty and two staff members expressed the possibility of wanting accommodations to work remotely. We also held four zoom meetings (two in English and two in Spanish July 29, July 30, July 31) to help parents understand the rational behind the county encouraging elementary schools to obtain a waiver. Parents had excellent questions and were able to have a better understanding of all the preparations that were put in place at St. Patrick school to resume in-person instruction. They were thankful about all the work that was put into it, and they expressed relief on the possibility of being able to return to work and have their children in school.
On July 31 administration email the first draft of the In-Person Re-opening document to faculty and staff and on August 1 a survey was sent to the parents of our students (102 parents responded) on Distance Learning vs. In-person Instruction. presentation of In-person Instruction Plan - most parents were very positive about In-person Instruction, a few parents asked if they could choose Distance Learning.
As the parish of Our Lady of La Vang, the church community that supports and shares facilities with St. Patrick school, re-started daily attendance in cars to the Masses on August 2at the 8:30am and 6pm (Masses which are also streamed to many of the parishioners of Our Lady of La Vang), the active parish ministers became aware of all the modifications the school implemented in the plant to prepare for In-person Instruction. Fr. Loi Huynh, pastor of Our Lady of La Vang and spiritual director of St. Patrick school, helped the parish community understand the modifications made to the plant and the new protocols in place to resume their activity as a parish community and to continue their support to St. Patrick school.
In August 10 our faculty participated in the Diocesan zoom collaboration and held a school zoom collaboration to prepare for distance learning for the reopening of the school and beginning of the academic year.
At the August 12 and 13 zoom meetings for new parents, administration presented the distance learning opening and the possibility of In-person Instruction in the near future and parents were happy to hear about such possibility. At the August 17 and August 18 zoom meetings for parents of our returning students, administration presented the distance learning process we were about to start and many of the parents asked about the beginning of in-person instruction.
The input of our staff, as well as the feedback of our parents has been very helpful to identify areas that needed clarity or more detailed planning. Several of the plant modifications were suggested by parents and staff (i.e., how to modify the drinking fountains to be made into stations to fill water bottles, adding two outdoors touchless sinks, designating areas for outdoors purifiers, deciding upon the arrangement of desks in the classrooms and the appropriate circulation routes, etc.). Parents have also been very generous in donating cleaning and disinfecting materials, face masks, and their complements on our work and on the dedication of our faculty have been overwhelming. The training and the process of mitigation in our school has started even as we began the year with distance learning, since the majority of our personnel has began to work in the plant. We will continue to engage in this process of asking for input and feedback from our faculty and staff and from our parent community as we venture deeper into this new reality that is asking us to be alert and vigilant for the safety of all.
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