Dear Sacred Heart Families,
The 2020-2021 school year is beginning! Next Monday, August 17 we will be welcoming our newest Sacred Heart educators to campus for their Faculty/Staff Orientation. This group will join our almost 150 educators, faculty and staff members who will be returning to campus on Thursday, August 20, to begin our series of Institute Days. This year, Institute Days are especially designed to help us prepare to safely provide our nearly 700 students with a Sacred Heart education and ensure that our educators work in a healthy and safe environment. Though the New Faculty and Staff Orientation, Institute Days, and the New Parent Orientation will look much different than in the past, they will certainly be delivered with as much fervor for our mission.
Below please find some updates from this week's planning for Back to the Heart since last Friday's communication:
Back to the Heart Virtual Meetings, Monday, August 17
Middle School Back to the Heart Salon
Participants—Nat Wilburn, Head of Schools; Dan Gargano, Middle School Head; and Lauren Plush, Middle School Counselor
Time—4-5 pm CDT; RSVP here
All Community Back to the Heart Virtual Meeting
Participants—Dan Bayston, Chair of the Board of Trustees; Rebecca Burns, M.D., current parent and physician at Lurie Children's Hospital; Nat Wilburn, Head of Schools; Holly DePalma, Preschool Director; Elizabeth Coleman, Primary School Head; Karen Uselmann, Lower School Head; Dan Gargano, Middle School Head; and additional members of the Opening of School Task Force
Time—6:30-8 pm CDT; RSVP here
A link for the Zoom meetings will be sent on Monday.
*Because many questions have been received for these sessions, we highly encourage families to access the Back to the Heart site and our Back to the Heart Guide, where you can find many of the submitted questions answered.
Broadening our Delivery of Education: On-campus, Hybrid for Middle School, and Expanded Remote Access
As shared in earlier communications and because we are in Phase 4 of Governor Pritzker's Reopening Plan, it remains our intention to have our students return to campus the week of September 1, with Middle School beginning their hybrid learning on that date.
With continued and once again increasing numbers of the transmission of COVID-19, many families have also recently requested the option for remote learning regardless of medical necessity. To this end, the administration has developed a new option for any family to engage extended access to remote learning while we simultaneously open our campuses to students. If you would be more comfortable with your child(ren) engaging in remote access versus on-campus learning (regardless of medical need), please send the names and grade levels to remoteaccess@shschicago.org by Friday, August 21. Please know that with the remote access option, students will have access on their respective learning platforms to recorded live lessons within 24 hours of their delivery. In fairness to teachers and the in-person learning environment, families will have to elect remote access learning for the child(ren) for an extended period of time. If you plan to send your children for on-campus instruction, you do not need to send an email.
Our Division Heads have been working extremely hard to thoughtfully plan for our return to school. Access the Division plans and expectations for learning here:
Preschool On-Campus Reopening Plan
Primary and Lower School On-Campus Reopening Plan
Middle School Hybrid Learning Reopening Plan
All Together Now!
COVID-19 has demonstrated that our individual choices affect others. Please remember that travel to a "hot spot" as defined by the City of Chicago requires a 14-day quarantine before returning to campus. However, in order to best protect our community for a safe return to campus, it will be safest that families self-isolate for two weeks before school starts from August 18-September 1, as well as over the extended Labor Day holiday weekend. We have written a Back to the Heart "Shared Responsibility for Safety" document, which will be shared with you next week. Additionally, once school begins, families will need to log on to the Magnus Health app every morning to confirm your child's health and fitness for studying on campus. Further details regarding this app will be provided before the start of school.
Additional Campus Safety Improvements
Our Opening of School Task Force has been meeting weekly as the guidelines from CDC, IDPH and the City of Chicago are frequently evolving. Our Facilities Team is preparing our building, and two forthcoming improvements to campus safety include the purchase of HEPA filters for the buildings and UVB lighting for the schools.
I think we would all agree that the COVID pandemic will be with us until a safe vaccine is created, tested, and the majority of the world is vaccinated. That will take time. As we work together to limit the spread of the virus, we acknowledge our individual and collective responsibility to mitigate risk. Members of our school community must lead by example on and off campus, wearing face coverings, conscientious physical distancing, and limiting group interactions to increase the chances that we may continue our goal of offering the meaningful, in-person educational experiences for which Sacred Heart Schools is known. There has never been a more critical time for partnership and cooperation—I thank you for yours.
I look forward to you joining me and the leadership of Sacred Heart Schools next Monday. We will share more information with you about our focused efforts and dedication to provide our students the best—and safest—education during this extraordinary time.
Sincerely,