Weekly Updates

 In-Person Flexible Hybrid Learning Begins
Totino-Grace students and staff successfully completed the first week of our In-Person Flexible Hybrid Learning Model for the 2020-2021 academic year. Students were on campus, attending in classrooms and in common learning spaces, and those who selected remote learning joined us virtually. We are grateful for the partnership of our community members to follow our plans and protocol to keep students and staff safe and healthy. We are proud of the significant amount of planning and preparation by administrators, teachers, staff members, and so many others to get us to a place where we could successfully bring students back on campus. This is a challenging and uncertain time but being together allows us to better foster relationships, provide support, and build community with each other. Thank you, TG parents and guardians, for trusting us to educate your sons and daughters and prepare them for a future full of possibilities. We are in this together! Please pray for the Totino-Grace community as we begin a new school year.

  

President's Message

Dear Totino-Grace Families,

We welcomed almost 700 students back to school this week.  After not seeing our students since March 12, it was a joy to have so much energy and joy back in the building.  

One of our priorities this week was to set a tone for the year.  Many of our students and families have experienced anxiety due to COVID-19 but also due to the social unrest that has been especially heightened over the past three months.  It is very important to us that each of our students know that they count, that they have a voice, and that we want each of them at TG.  This has been TG’s mantra since our doors opened in 1966, and it remains one of our core principals today.  

A second priority this week was to communicate safety precautions to our students.   Specifically, we want students to:

• Health screen before they arrive at school.

• Stay at home if they have a temperature or have COVID-19 symptoms.

• Wear a mask in the building at all times, except while eating lunch.

• Practice physical distancing as much as possible.

• Conduct routine hand-hygiene.

Our students have done a great job of doing what we’ve asked of them. 

 

Weekly Response to Pandemic Update

Totino-Grace will provide a weekly update regarding our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am pleased to report that we are not aware of any student or staff member who has tested positive, which is obviously great news.

Eventually, having positive cases in our school community will neither be a surprise nor a cause for alarm.  While we hope to hold off as long as possible, we anticipate having positive cases at some point, and our goal is to mitigate the spread of the virus on campus.  Totino-Grace will continue to follow and promote all COVID-related safety procedures as outlined above and in our Return to School Road Map. 

As more cases are confirmed across the state, including in our community, we must continue to be vigilant. 

 

New Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Guidelines

 The MDH released a more nuanced decision tree this week for families and schools to discern when a student should stay home from school, when to receive further evaluation or testing, and when to return to campus. We are asking families to review and use these updated guidelines to inform their health screening decision making.

A significant addition to the protocol as a result of this new decision tree is that we are now asking students and staff to stay home from school when there is illness that meets the decision tree threshold by any member of the household.  Please contact Mrs. Gail Koshiol in the TG health office for any assistance in making screening decisions. 763-571-9116 ext.202 or gail.koshiol@totinograce.org 

 

When Totino-Grace is Notified of a Lab-Confirmed Case of COVID-19

Finally, I want to share that Totino-Grace High School will take the following measures when we are notified of a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19:

 Communicate and Protect Privacy

• Report the case to Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

• Inform all members of the school leadership team and prepare to consult with MDH.

• Inform faculty, staff, and school families that our school has received a report of a lab-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and is engaged in a consultation process with MDH to determine next steps.

• Be in close communication with the community or those impacted regarding next steps after consultation with MDH.

• Protect the privacy of the student, employee, or family with COVID-19 diagnosis by withholding names in any public communication.

Clean and Disinfect

• Identify, clean, and disinfect all classrooms and spaces used by the individual with the lab-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis using MDH procedures.

Consult with Minnesota Department of Health

• Consult with MDH to determine the most prudent way to continue educating students after a confirmed COVID-19 case in the school. MDH does not recommend changing plans for in-person learning before consulting with them.  

• Collaborate with MDH to identify close contacts and inform families, if needed.

• Review and reinforce our health and safety protocols.

 Require Households with COVID-19 to Stay Home

• Require all individuals who are sick to stay home.

• Require all individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 to stay home until no longer at risk for spreading the disease.

• Require all household members to stay home if there is a case of COVID-19 in the household or if a household member is awaiting test results.

• Offer learning options for students who are well enough to learn when they are home. 

On behalf of TG teachers and staff members, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve you and your family, especially as we face this challenging situation together. Thank you for your support of Totino-Grace.  

Live Jesus in our hearts. Forever!

Dr. Craig W. Junker, President

During the third week of the semester, September 14-18, remote classes will be held for all students to experience distance learning and prepare to be their best synchronous learners if implementation is needed at any point during the academic year. The schedule is outlined below.

• Monday, September 14: Day B
• Tuesday, September 15: Day A
• Wednesday, September 16: Day B
• Thursday, September 17: Day A
• Friday, September 18: No School

School is not in session on Friday, September 18, as it is a professional development day for staff.

On Monday, September 21, students will return to on campus in-person learning, following the Day A / Day B Schedule.

President's Message

September 11, 2001 Remembrance

Today is the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on our country. It has been 19 years since passenger jets hijacked by terrorists slammed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pa. Nearly 3,000 lives were lost, some 2,700 of them in New York, in the deadliest attack in our country’s history.  

At the time, I was President of Cotter Schools, a Catholic school located in Winona, Minnesota.  I will never forget the images of what transpired on that day, as the World Trade Center buildings came down.  Although we watched the events on screens, the suffering was palpable.  Many of Cotter’s 600 students looked to their teachers for comfort.  And what did those teachers do?  They prayed.  They prayed to God to be present to those suffering, including the innocent victims, their families, and the emergency responders. 

Today as we go about our day, it is important that we keep in our prayers the lives that were lost, the lives that are still mourning, and the healing that continues to take place.  God bless all these people and God bless the United States. 

Pandemic Update #2 

I am pleased to report that Totino-Grace is not aware of any student or staff member who has tested positive for the coronavirus, which is obviously great news.

Today marks the end of our second week of school, where both online classes and in person classes have been taking place.  Our teachers and students have done a great job of managing such a different learning model.  Next week, we will adopt a one week period of synchronized (remote) learning -- in order to allow our new students to become familiar with how virtual teaching works at TG and troubleshoot any problems. We will resume our current model on Monday, September 21, and continue to offer in person classes as long as possible.    

No doubt the pandemic has forced Totino-Grace to change many aspects of our daily culture.  For example, TG is all about bringing people together, never leaving anyone out.  With social distancing a key safety priority, it’s been contrary to who we are to ask our students to not get too close to one another.  That has felt odd to us.  So while our school protocols are different, what the pandemic has not taken away from us is our shared values about building community with students.  Education is about relationships, so we have been working harder and more creatively to make sure students feel welcomed, valued, and wanted.  Next week, our students will need to attend class via Google Meets and participate virtually.  Parents can count on TG to center on the needs of our students so that meaningful learning and accountability take place. 

A Story of What Not To Do

A Catholic high school in the Twin Cities recently shared that a student attended school with a temperature of over 100.4 on two consecutive days.  Shortly thereafter, this student tested positive for COVID-19.   The result of the student being in school with a temperature of over 100.4 present, needlessly exposed the school community to the coronavirus; approximately 45 students were asked to quarantine for two weeks; and several also tested positive.  Not only were these students not able to attend school with their classmates but they also could not participate in any of their co-curricular activities.  They also exposed their families to the virus as they remained home.   The situation caused a lot of disruption and anxiety for the entire school community.  Had the parents kept their child home when they knew of the temperature, this would not have happened. 

Continued Safety Precautions

Everyone has a contribution to make as we move deeper into the fall; we all have a responsibility to keep one another safe.  This may be getting old but I want to again lift up that we want students to:

• Health screen before they arrive at school.

• Stay at home if they have a temperature of 100.4 degree or or have COVID-19 symptoms.

• Wear a mask in the building at all times, except while eating lunch.

• Practice physical distancing as much as possible.

• Conduct routine hand-hygiene.

Our students have done a great job of supporting what we’ve asked of them. Let’s keep it up.  

Final Note

Last week, I shared that having positive cases in our school community will neither be a surprise nor a cause for alarm.  With hundreds of people in our building daily, we anticipate having positive cases at some point, hopefully well into the future.  Our goal is to mitigate the spread of the virus on campus.   

New Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Guidelines

To access the most up-to-date decision tree from the MDH, refer to the image below.  As you will see, a significant addition to the protocol as a result of this new decision tree is that we are now asking students and staff to stay home from school when there is illness that meets the decision tree threshold by any member of the household. Please contact Mrs. Gail Koshiol in the TG health office for any assistance in making screening decisions.  763-571-9116 ext.202 or gail.koshiol@totinograce.org. 

Conclusion

Relationships matter, safety matters, and a climate of expectation for strong teaching and learning conditions matter.  Totino-Grace is grateful for the opportunity to teach your children. Thank you for your support of Totino-Grace.  

 

Live Jesus in our hearts. Forever!

Dr. Craig W. Junker, President

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have successfully completed three weeks of school. Congratulations to our students for diligently following our new safety protocols, to our teachers for patiently navigating the challenges of teaching in this new format and to our staff who work so hard behind the scenes to make in-person learning possible. We look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday, September 21. 

During this week of remote learning, we made some changes to our plan and facilities improvements to make the learning experience even better. Over the course of this week we added several new internet access points around the school to improve students’ ability to remotely connect to class. While access was pretty good during the first few weeks of school, there were certain times of the day when things slowed down. We hope to see dramatic improvements.

Beginning on Monday, we will provide more opportunities for students to go outside. When the weather cooperates, we will allow students in one grade to eat on the lawn. We will rotate by grade each day. This will give students more opportunities to connect with each other, but still remain socially distant.  Teachers will also be able to take their classes outside when appropriate. During these class times, students will be expected to keep their masks on. 

After school, we were asking students to leave campus if they did not have an after school activity or needed to wait for a ride. What happened is that students began gathering in large groups outside the front doors. We are now going to ask students to either wait inside, seated at a table in the commons, or wait outside, but with their masks on. Please help us communicate that to your children. 

Thank you for your support in following the Covid-19 Decision Tree. We are glad to see that parents are keeping their students home when they are ill. With our remote learning option, this makes staying home easy. Please continue to follow the guidelines for symptoms and reach out to us if you are ever in doubt about your decision to stay home. 

I wish you a restful and sunny weekend. 

Cheri Broadhead, Principal