Per a release from North Platte Catholic Schools, the school system will be closing their on-campus schooling through April 3rd with a re-evaluation after that.
Below is a message that our Superintendent, Kevin Dodson, had posted earlier this week on our private school page.
| Dear parents and students,
It is in difficult times that true character and community togetherness shine. I want to thank the entire staff of St. Patrick’s and McDaid, along with our awesome students and parents for their ability to work together and help navigate through such an unprecedented time in education. We will continue to navigate our way through this and be better teachers, a better school system, and a stronger community. Please keep in mind that we are trying our best to help control the spread of the Covid-19 virus. In light of the news that Lincoln County now has a confirmed traveled-spread case of Covid-19, it will only be a matter of time before we hear of a community spread. This is where we have been instructed by Gov. Ricketts and the commissioner of the Nebraska Department of Education to suspend school for 6 weeks with a re-evaluation of community spread every 2 weeks. Gov Ricketts will be holding a press at 2:oo pm today with commissioner of the NDE. You can view this conference at netnebraska.org,this will extend our school closing until April 3rd…with a re-evaluation on April 5th as to whether school buildings will remain closed for another two weeks. The North Platte Catholic Schools will begin with off-campus learning on March 23rd. Teachers will be using a variety of e-learning methods, primarily google classroom, and some will be sending packets home for work to be completed. Many students have already received notification of an assignment from our teachers. I asked our teachers to “test the waters” this week and communicate with all of their students/families. Our teachers have been working very hard to transition their curriculum to an online platform and to communicate with their students. I’m extremely proud of their efforts and realize this has caused some anxiety….I ask for patience. Assignments and tasks are expected to be completed by assigned due dates. Once we begin off-campus learning, any questions students have about a course should be emailed to the teacher or sent via pass–a-note (whatever their teacher prefers). We will also have drop boxes available in the front entry-way of both schools for teachers who prefer to use that method. Staff members are also learning about zoom in hopes of providing a face with the instruction…I ask for patience I have asked our staff to be available for questions and concerns Monday through Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. communication will be the key to success. This is new territory for all of us. We recognize that there are going to be challenges that we will all have to work through together. We encourage parents to be involved with assignments, assist your students with time management, and communicate with teachers. If your family/student is in need of technology, such as a school issued laptop, please contact the front office at the high school for availability. Please refer to sycamore for any school wide announcements. We pray that this is a short-lived event and that normalcy returns quickly. Please keep our staff, school, and community in your daily prayers. Sincerely, Kevin Dodson – Superintendent |
