Catholic Schools of Fairbanks
While some of what we've experienced in 2020 has been uncomfortable, and much has been challenging, as a school community, we have been able to pull off something incredible: we have provided in-person education safely amid a pandemic. Here are three highlights from the first quarter:
1. Students and staff are required to wear masks. While we anticipated frustrations with mask wearing, in general, we have had very few issues. Our students are happy to be back in the classroom with their friends. Many parents have told us their children are "thrilled" to be able to be in-person for school.
2. We experienced twelve cases involving students and three involving staff/coaches. To date, we have not experienced viral spread of COVID between students and teachers or across cohorts. Our intentional and well-thought out mitigation plan is working.
3. CSF has been offering school three ways: in-person, online, or a combination of both (hybrid). This flexibility has proved beneficial for families. At the grade school level, all core learning takes place in the morning and special studies in the afternoon (PE, music, art, for example). Classroom teachers teach in-person in the morning and online in the afternoon. Parents are welcome to pick up students after core classes or the student can stay through specials. Any student participating in online school is welcome to attend specials in the afternoon. At the junior high and high school levels, students are able to attend classes virtually or in-person, and we have adopted a new schedule allowing for more dedicated content time.
In closing, I'd like to highlight the HIPOW Auction, our biggest annual fundraiser to support the schools. This year, despite being a virtual event, HIPOW raised more than $550,000. Amazing.
Your generosity and commitment keep these schools viable for our students. Thank you.
