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Faith Carries Parish School Community From Virtual To In-Person Learning
Every school year is filled with memories, but when our Saint Michael Parish School students leave for summer break on June 11, they will have the joyous — and unique — memory of returning to in-person schooling last January after “going virtual” in April 2020.
“It was complete joy and excitement,” says Principal Connor Geraghty of the students’ return to school after the Christmas break. “Virtual learning was extremely challenging for student engagement and their mental health. They were disconnected socially, and emotionally challenged when they can’t see their friends. Each student who returned wanted to be back and they had a new appreciation of school and their teachers.”
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Not only were the students excited to return to school, but their teachers were, as well.
“Each teacher here begged me to do all we could to return,” Mr. Geraghty says.
And the answer was creating teams of teachers and staff to address different areas of the school to safely reopen in person. A logistics team addressed the need for space to allow social distancing, while the health and safety team worked with regulations that would allow students to safely return. The parish facility team took charge of thorough cleaning.
To provide the required space in the classrooms, some of the rooms were transformed. One room had a door cut in a wall to connect two rooms so a larger class could spread out with a teacher and aide in charge. The library was turned into a second-grade classroom after the secondgrade classroom became the third-grade room. The multipurpose room became the seventh-grade classroom.
“We looked at how could we make the classrooms safe and best serve the educational and developmental needs of our kids,” Mr. Geraghty says.
There were stations set up for temperature checks, sanitizers were set up throughout the school, and personal protection equipment (PPE) was kept well stocked.
“But we couldn’t do this without the parents,” Mr. Geraghty says. “The parents notified us, and we had zero outbreaks because the parents know the protocol. Everyone diligently following all the quarantine directives is another aspect of making it safe.”
Throughout all the changes and protocols, from virtual learning to in-person school, the mission of Saint Michael Parish School was unchanged — making God first in all we do.
“We had prayers through the day, in the morning, at lunch, and at the end of the day,” Mr. Geraghty says. “To have the students pray inperson is beautiful. Our third grade was praying the Rosary and they were praying it during Lent. They switched to a different prayer after Lent and stopped the Rosary. One of the new students asked, ‘Can we please keep praying the Rosary?’”
The students understand what it means to be Catholic and cherish the connection they have with one another in their faith.
As an example, our middle school students have been able to draw upon their faith during junior high saints houses, where they shared their ups and downs experienced throughout the past year.
“They had the lessons of our faith to guide and support them,” Mr. Geraghty says. “That type of expression of faith wasn’t possible in a virtual event. Now we’re able to support our students through the lessons of our faith when they’re back on campus.”
With this firm foundation of our faith supporting our school, Saint Michael students can also benefit from its outstanding academic program with small classes and caring teachers.
