Thank you so much for your support and flexibility as we shift into this short period of virtual instruction. We believe that best decision possible was made to maintain the safety of your children and our staff as we return to school after the Holiday Break. Please read on for updates:

Virtual Instruction:

Virtual Instruction will begin January 6th, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. and end January 14th, 2022. By now you should have received an e-mail from your child's teacher containing the virtual instruction schedule and a Zoom link which you will use to access the virtual classroom. If you have not received an e-mail with the class schedule and link, please e-mail me and I will follow up. In addition, if you have not yet done so, please come to the school and pick up a Chromebook if your child does not already have a device at home that he/she can use to access the virtual classroom. Thanks to all who have already come by to collect your child's device. We are not able to deliver Chromebooks at this time due to manpower and safety.

Attendance:

St. Coletta will continue to take attendance daily in accordance with DC regulations while engaged in distance learning. More specifically, students must attend at least 80% of the scheduled school day to be considered present.  Absences as well as late arrivals/early departures will continue to be considered unexcused/excused, just as if students were attending in-person lessons. Only when the school receives a valid excuse (i.e. doctor appointments, illness, court appointments, death in the immediate family, or other reasons approved by the school's administration) in writing within 5 days of the students return, will the absence/late arrival/early departure be considered excused. The school will not make daily calls regarding student absences while in distance learning. Instead, parents must communicate this this information to the school by way of emailing our Attendance Coordinator, Judyvette Acevedo (jacevedo@stcoletta.org). Absences/late arrivals/early departures will remain unexcused if the parent does not provide a valid excuse in writing. Families may not "opt-out" of virtual learning given that attendance requirements remain in place. We fully understand the challenge that virtual instruction presents to students and families and we ask that you do your best to log your child on daily.

Rapid Antigen Testing:

If you have not yet done so, please stop by the school to pick up a Rapid Covid Antigen Test. Your child should take the first test on January 14th, 2022 and send a picture of the results to his/her classroom teacher, as well as log the results here:   https://coronavirus.dc.gov/overthecounter. The second test should be taken 36 hours later and the results submitted.

If your child's rapid test is "positive", please do not send them to school on Tuesday the 18th. Your child must take a PCR Covid test and submit a negative result to St. Coletta before returning. In addition, all staff at St. Coletta will be required to take a rapid Covid antigen test before returning to school as well.

With these procedures put in place; we hope to mitigate the impact that the new Omicron variant will have on our ability to provide high-quality, in-person services. We know that in-person works best for our students and we strive to return to that delivery model as safely as possible. Thank you for your understanding and support.

Thank you so much for your support. Together as a team we will ensure safe instructional opportunities for your child. We look forward to returning to in-person instruction on January 18th.