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We hope to celebrate "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" during the last week of school: Jingle All the Way: Monday, December 14: Students will listen to holiday tunes at lunch! Elves at Work: Tuesday, December 15: Students will participate in service by bringing in items to support the Angel Tree Project Sleepy, Superheroes, Sports: Wednesday, December 16: Students up to grade 4 can wear pajamas to school. Students in grades 5-8 can wear a superhero shirt or a shirt representing their favorite team Ugly Christmas Sweaters (and jeans): Thursday, December 17: Show your spirit by wearing an ugly Christmas sweater or holiday t-shirt and jeans Share the Joy: Friday, December 18: Students will make a Christmas card for a family member who they will not see this holiday season. Bring a stamped and addressed envelope and we will mail the card from school. Students who do not bring the name of a family member can make a card for a parishioner.
Can you believe that Thanksgiving is around the corner? This is a great time of the year to reflect on the gifts that have been given to us this year.
We know that many families are looking forward to a few days off. Regardless of your Thanksgiving plans, I pray that you and your family remain safe and healthy. On Wednesday, I sent the recommendations for the holidays from the Pima County Health Department which are based on the fact that community spread is happening at large social gatherings. If you plan to participate in large gatherings over the Thanksgiving break, we are asking families to transition to online learning for the 2 weeks following Thanksgiving break in order to continue to keep our teachers, staff and students healthy. If your child will participate in online learning following the break, we are happy to provide you with a Chromebook. Please contact Mrs. Kane at lkane@omosschool.com if you need a Chromebook. Our school community has remained healthy during the pandemic so far. There have been zero reported cases on the physical school campus! This is due to the combined efforts of our families and faculty. We continue to practice our mitigation strategies including social distancing, frequent hand-washing, and daily health checks. Please continue to help keep our community healthy by keeping children home when a child or household member is ill. Additionally, masks are effective when they fit properly. Please ensure that your child's mask fits correctly meaning that the mask covers the nose and mouth and fits snugly around the face and chin. The mask should remain in place when your child speaks and moves. If the face mask is falling while your child speaks, it is too big. There is also evidence that the single layer masks are not very effective when tested relative to masks with 2 or more layers. The recommendation is that masks have a minimum of 2-layers. After the Thanksgiving break, students, faculty, and staff must wear a mask that is a minimum of 2 layers. Please ensure that your child is wearing a mask, whether gaiter or traditional mask, that has a minimum of 2 layers that fits properly Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to determine whether a faculty member and/or student will need to quarantine following a trip. In order to help determine whether it may be necessary to quarantine, please answer the small questionnaire.
If you answer yes to any of the questions, please speak with an administrator to determine whether it is necessary to quarantine for 14 days upon returning from your trip. If you answer no to all the questions, you are welcome to return to campus following your trip as long as you are free from all symptoms related to COVID-19. The COVID-19 situation is constantly evolving, if the number of cases in an area changes during your stay, please re-evaluate your need to quarantine. If follow-up is needed, please contact Mrs. Vu and/or Mrs. Kane. Here is the survey. Thank you to all our families for their generosity. I was overwhelmed to see the overflowing boxes of stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, and other food items. The food will be used to help families with the Thanksgiving Food Baskets. At Mass today, Fr. Tom reminded us that we should also pray for those who are hungry, and we appreciate the prayers for the hungry too. Thank you for helping to feed the hungry and lovingly serving those in need! Now that the weather is starting to cool down, please remember to send your child to school with appropriate outside wear. This year, we are eating lunch and snack outside most days. As the weather cools, it is important that students have a sweater or sweatshirt. In the classroom, students should have a sweater or sweatshirt that follows the dress code. Sweaters and sweatshirts should be navy blue, chambray blue, or white. They may be plain with no logo, or they may have the school logo (purchased through our vendors). Please review the dress code policy for more information. Please remember to label your child's clothing! Finally, there have been a few updates to the Pandemic plan based on updated guidance from the Pima County Health Department. Please review the school website for the most current information: http://www.omosschool.com/covid-19-information.html  Many families have asked how to get involved and support our students. In response, here are a few ways that we would love for our families to support the education of our children:
Recently, the middle school students tested their engineering and design skills to build a car in order to test the speed of a car traveling down a ramp. Through their science exploration, they learned about gravitational potential energy, and they used different ramp heights to determine how the potential energy impacted the speed of the car as it travelled down the ramp. It was great to see the students in action.
On Monday, Fr. Arnold came to campus with the Blessed Sacrament to bless the students and the school. It was beautiful to see the students kneel before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Fr. Arnold came to each classroom, and he visited all our students. This week, we have received additional guidance from the Pima County Health Department and the Diocese of Tucson. As part of the guidance, we are requesting that families let us know if they will be traveling out of the country or traveling on a plane. If students are traveling out of the country or on a plane, we are asking that students quarantine for 14 days after retuning to Tucson. Additionally, if students are participating in large group gatherings, we are asking that students quarantine for 14 days following the event. Thank you for your support. Taking these extra steps will help us to keep our school community safe!
With the return to campus, it is important that all families review the 2 attachments detailing our safe return to campus. Thank you for helping to keep our community safe! Schools have been permitted to open using the hybrid model based on the Pima County Health Department’s COVID-19 dashboard showing a positive trend over the last few weeks. The health department specifications for the hybrid opening include social distancing, wearing a mask, increased ventilation, and additional hygiene measures. The Our Mother of Sorrows plan has been reviewed by the Superintendent for the Diocese of Tucson as well as the health department. For the full plan, please visit the school’s website.
On-campus learning will begin next week. In order to support the students who will come to campus, we will have students return to campus in two small groups. This will allow for students to practice the new hygiene routines, social distancing, mask-wearing, and the arrival and dismissal procedures. Here is the schedule for resuming on-campus learning:
All students currently attending the online learning on campus should report bother Tuesday and Wednesday. They will serve as leaders in the classrooms for the students who are returning. For families who have elected to continue with online learning, there will be an online learning orientation for families and students next week. This will allow for students to understand the expectations online learning as well as the shift in the daily schedule. We have a new Office Manager at Our Mother of Sorrows. I would like to welcome Aydee Felix as our Office Manager. Mrs. Felix will continue supporting the National School Lunch Program at the school, but I am excited to have her support our families as the Office Manager. If you need to contact Mrs. Felix, her email address is afelix@omosschool.com
Next week, we will have Parent-Teacher Conferences on Thursday and Friday. We will have an early dismissal at 1:10 p.m. on Thursday, and the K-8 students will not have classes on Friday. All the conferences will be held on Google Meet. At this point, we are getting close to re-opening. Thank you for answering our survey so that we can finalize and prepare for the students who will transition from online to on-campus learning. As of yesterday, the Arizona Department of Health Services shows that Pima county is meeting the benchmarks in all 3 areas. For the full report, you can look here: https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectious-disease-epidemiology/index.php#novel-coronavirus-schools Regarding the Pima County benchmarks, we are in progress or meeting 8 of the 9 areas. For more information, you can look here: https://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=568644 I know that many of us are anxious to resume on-campus learning, but let us remember to trust in God’s timing: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your path” (Proverbs 3:5-7). |
Mrs. VuMrs. Vu is the principal of Our Mother of Sorrows. This blog contains information regarding the exciting things that happen at Our Mother of Sorrows. Archives
December 2020
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