The Diocese of Orange’s Catholic schools will begin in-class instruction Sept. 8 for children in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, according to a letter sent Tuesday, Sept. 1, from Diocese Superintendent Erin Barisano to families.
Seven of the diocese’s 31 elementary schools have received waivers from the state that allow in-class learning as Orange County works through the coronavirus pandemic.
“The remaining waiver applications are being reviewed and processed by the county and state health agencies, and we anticipate approval before the end of the week,” Barisano’s letter said.
The status of the schools’ seventh- and eighth-grade students is still is being evaluated, the waiver process is only for elementary school levels.
Orange County is on track with its coronavirus metrics to be allowed by the state to have widespread in-person learning starting Sept. 22.
Not all students will be involved in in-person schooling. Online-only and hybrid – a mix of in-person and online instruction – are two other options at most diocesan schools. St. Polycarp in Stanton will exclusively be an online school.
Diocese of Orange spokeswoman Tracy Kincaid said in-person schooling will differ from school to school because of the size of their campuses, the size of their buildings and in their enrollment numbers.
“Each of the principals has been preparing for what’s best for their schools,” Kincaid said.
Holy Family Cathedral School in Orange is among the seven diocesan elementary schools that have received a waiver.
Principal Marie Ubl said of the school’s 387 students, 81 will be online learners per their parents’ choice. Children who are online-only learners can switch to in-person students at the end of a trimester, she said.
Ubl said the school day will start with students having their temperatures checked by staff, who will have already had their temperatures checked, and a series of coronavirus-related questions will be asked. Arrival times, lunch times and recess times will be staggered to limit the number of students involved in those activities at a given time. Some classes will be outdoors on occasion.
She said a clinical psychologist will be available for the students at Holy Family.
“There could be a lot of social and emotional changes for the children,” Ubl said, “because they’ve been away from each other for so long.”
Online students will be in virtual attendance in their classrooms thanks to swivel cameras that will send live video from the rooms to the students’ homes.
St. Bonaventure in Huntington Beach also will utilize swivel cameras and, like Holy Family, was able to acquire them through donations.
“They have two-way speakers,” St. Bonaventure principal Kim White said, “so that the kids can talk back and forth and offer the possibility of pairing up a kid at home with another one in the classroom.”
St. Bonaventure Director of Marketing and Development Vanessa Frei said 85% of the school’s enrollment will be in-class students with the other 15% going with what the school calls its “virtual-plus” program.
Partitions will be in place between desks and students in second grade and below will be encouraged, but not required, to wear masks. Like Holy Family, St. Bonaventure will use exhaust fans and purifiers to keep air fresh and circulating and will incorporate some outdoor instruction.
“It’s a lot of work,” White said, “and a lot of planning.”
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