July 26, 2020

Return to Learn Planning

As I mentioned in last week’s email, JFK and our area Catholic schools are still planning on face-t0-face, on-site, five days per week instruction for all students.  The details of our return to learn planning, however, do include an exception clause:

JFK, like other nonpublic schools and public school districts, is required to offer accommodations for remote learning if a child, another resident of the child’s residence, or one of the child’s regular caretakers has a significant health condition that increases their risk of COVID-19. The child’s parent or guardian must provide written verification from a licensed healthcare provider.

Other particular students for whom families choose to have their children do remote learning when the rest of the class/building are not in a remote learning model will be accommodated to the best of our ability while not overburdening our staff.

Remote learning methods to accommodate the above situations may include the following:

  • Some face-to-face instruction occurring for other students may be recorded and made available to these students
  • Some face-to-face instruction occurring for other students may be live-streamed
  • Asynchronous instruction will be more likely than synchronous instruction
  • Physical packets and materials, the same as or similar to the materials being used in face-to-face instruction, may be provided to these students
  • MobyMax may be more heavily used for these students
  • A third party provider such as Edgenuity may be contracted

There is not a reduction in tuition for these families as operating multiple instructional models is actually more expensive than operating only one model.

If you believe you need an exception to face-to-face, on-site instruction, please let me know as soon as possible so we can determine how we might be able to accommodate your family.

Bus Transportation

We have repeatedly been told that our bus transportation will not be affected; buses will still be running routes five days per week.  With the latest schedule proposed by the Davenport Community School District, the district’s schools will not have early out Wednesdays, but all days will be shortened by 25 minutes.  We are currently attempting to clarify how those two changes may impact our afternoon bus transportation, and if we need to make similar schedule adjustments.

Storage Space

In order to set up our classrooms for six feet of social distancing, we are moving large quantities of tables, bookcases, comfy reading chairs/corners, etc. out of classrooms.  We are in need of space in garages, warehouses, storage units, and/or trailers to store large furniture.  Please let me know if you have access to such space that we could use or if you know of someone who might.

JFK Is Hiring

JFK has several hourly paid school positions available during the school year.  The positions have flexible duties working with 3-14 year olds in classrooms, at recesses, and during lunches.  Helping with food preparation and cleaning may be included.  Candidates must be able to work schedules that start as early as 7:00 a.m. and end as late as 5:30 p.m.  Tuition, childcare, and other fee reductions are included.  Interested parties should send a letter of interest, resume, and references to chad.steimle@olvjfkmail.com or complete an application at the school.

Thank You for Your Service

We would like to thank Chris Guinn and Helen Curley for their service to JFK.  Mrs. Guinn and Mrs. Curley worked as instructional aides at a variety of grade levels.

New Staff Members

OLV is pleased to have two new staff members:  Fr. Scott Foley and Kaye Meyers.  Fr. Foley has begun his duties as parochial vicar.  Kaye Meyers will be filling our K-8 Faith Formation Coordinator position. Kaye’s primary role will be coordinating and administering the K-8 faith formation program and assisting JFK with religious education curriculum and sacramental preparation. She will also be taking over responsibility for the parish’s Safe Environment program. Kaye and her husband, Tom, are also members of the parish.

Jennifer Wemhoff will be remaining on the OLV staff as well, but she will be filling our newly created position
that will focus solely on adult faith formation. In this new role of the Adult Faith Formation Coordinator, Jennifer will work to provide faith formation opportunities for those over the age of 18 in the parish.

Back to School Registration

On July 24th, I emailed the general Back to School Registration letters for the 2020-21 school year to families.  One letter was for K-8 and one for preschool.  Packets with multiple forms, some of them personalized, were put in the mail on Friday for K-8 families.  Preschool families just have the letter in their “snail” mail envelope.

Back to School Registration will be different this year with scheduled time slots available on August 2-4.  While the letters contain the details, I am also including the links needed to sign up for the time slots HERE or https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0C4EABA82AA7F58-registration.

Only one time slot is needed per family.  A family of three children, for example, still only needs one registration time slot.

K-8 Supply List

Click HERE for the supply list for K-8 or use the following link/url: https://www.olvjfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Supply-List-2020-21.pdf

There is no supply list for 4/5 year old preschool.  The three year old preschool supply list will be available at/after back to school registration.

First Communion and Confirmation

Congratulations to the second graders who received their First Communion in July.  It’s such an important step to be at the Table of Christ.  We are looking forward to Confirmations occurring in August.

 

Please continue to take care of yourselves:  practice social distancing, maintain hand/face hygiene, stay home when sick, and wear a face covering when social distancing is not possible.

We can do this!

Chad

 

July 17, 2020

Aware of the DCSD’s Announcement/Letter

We are aware of the announcement by the Davenport Community School District that it will start the school year on August 24th in either a 100% remote learning or a one day per week in school hybrid model.  The DCSD will not start with full face-to-face on-site learning.

JFK is still evaluating the situation, and we are trying to get answers regarding bus transportation from the DCSD as well.  We will be re-examining the details of our face-to-face on-site plan and determine if any changes should be made.

The COVID-19 situation has changed dramatically within the past month.  I attended three meetings this week with health department officials, and they are extremely concerned.  A month ago, the number of new infections per day was around 4-6 new cases per day in Scott County.  Today, that number is about 40 new cases per day with a typical range between about 20 and 75.  Since cases were tracked beginning in winter/spring, about half of all cases in Scott County have occurred within the last two weeks.  Contact tracing is becoming more difficult, and the number of people having to quarantine per identified case is increasing as people are out and about more in the community and are having more close contacts now.  The message from the health department officials is consistent:  if we want kids in school in six weeks, we need to change behavior in our community today.

That said, the health department officials are not saying that schools cannot open.  If they are to open, they need to carefully examine the guiding principles from the CDC.  It is also noted that the principles are more than a month old, and more information continues to be learned.  For example, the data on the impact of face coverings is even more clear that they make a difference for everyone.  Below are the CDC guidelines:

  • Promote healthy hygiene practices such as hand washing and employees wearing a (cloth) face covering, as feasible
  • Intensify cleaning, disinfection, and ventilation
  • Encourage social distancing through increased spacing, small groups and limited mixing between groups, if feasible
  • Train all employees on health and safety protocols
  • Screening students and staff, which can be done at home

These principles are nearly identical to what is being stated at the county level:

  • Social distancing
  • Hand/face hygiene
  • Face coverings
    • Includes both staff and students
  • Sanitizing

At JFK, we will continue to review the information available and determine if any changes are needed to our plan for face-to-face on-site instruction to begin on August 24th.

As we always conclude, “Our Lady of Victory,… pray for us.”

Chad

July 9, 2020 – Video Message

Return to Learn Plan

Click HERE or use the following link to access a video message regarding JFK’s Return to Learn planning as of July 9, 2020.  Please note that it is subject to change:  https://kennedy-dav.zoom.us/rec/share/wt1MfuGu5khOT4WUz0bgZ4cdAK_9T6a81ScYq_NfyR57fOwg_XbLqWky0-xJxrGI

 

Slides for this afternoon’s presentation can be found HEREhttps://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yS4H0MWbtHS8W0UEI_U8z75krPRFvIwRzbEBofWuDmw/edit?usp=sharing

 

Chad