End of 2019-20 School Year

Dear School Communities:
 
As we enter this final week of our 2019-20 school year, I am sure you, like me, are feeling many conflicting emotions, including the joy of a job well-done, anticipation of the freedom of summer, but also sadness regarding the absence of the traditional closing activities associated with a normal school year. We all miss our graduations and other ceremonies, but we have also enjoyed the new “Teacher Appreciation Parades”, sidewalk messages, and the many other ways our school communities found to stay connected.
 
It has been a year of change and challenges, but one also marked by many successes. Last September, we never dreamed distance-learning would play such an important role in our lives, but our teachers, students, and parents rose to the occasion. We feel confident we have fulfilled our Mission of delivering students a dynamic, distinctive, and devoted Christ-centered education which helped them grow in faith, knowledge, and service to others. We are also looking forward to our new school year, however ‘normal’ may be defined in the fall.
 
Our planning for the upcoming school year has been ongoing for the past several weeks. Our diocesan committee has researched information from the CDC as well as state and national organizations regarding re-opening and using the information gained in this process, the diocese developed a Template for Re-opening Schools. This template asks each school to form a local committee to plan for the various scenarios that have been projected for the fall.
 
Because our twenty-one schools are located in nine different counties with nine different governing bodies, each school is working with their local health department and public school district to maintain consistency in each locale. Each school’s plan will be based on the knowledge that we have today but may have to be adjusted as new information or guidelines are issued from a governmental agency. Your building principal will communicate your local plan to you within the next few weeks.
 
We hope that you have a restful summer and look forward to seeing and working with you again in the fall. You will be in our thoughts as we continue to prepare for the upcoming year. Thank you again for entrusting your children with us and for your ongoing support and dedication to our Catholic School communities.
 
Sincerely,

 

Margaret Erich
Superintendent of Schools / Diocese of Kalamazoo