COVID-19 Updates

This video was shown to our students as part of their first-day-of-school training.

Dear Parents,

Thank you so much for taking in stride the sudden change to hybrid learning. I appreciate those who reached out, not only with positive comments, but also some areas of concern. I regret that in my communication on August 6 that I did not include a very important piece that many of you have asked about: What are the factors that will contribute to the decision to return to five days a week of on-campus instruction?

The first, of course, will be the status of our state and city. There is no magic formula or number; rather, a downward trend in the number of cases or possibly a move to Phase III. The second factor will depend largely on our students. We will use the first weeks of school to train our girls on the new mitigation procedures. We need to make sure that they not only understand the procedures, but that they are also complying with them. 

The third factor involves implementing additional lunchtime precautions and safe seating arrangements. When the consultation team from Our Lady of the Lake visited our campus, they deemed that several of our eating spaces did not allow for ample distancing to accommodate complete student body lunch shifts of 380-plus students. Since students will have their masks off to eat, this is inevitably the most at-risk part of the school day. We are working on a plan to ensure that our girls have safe eating spaces before we return to full on-campus learning. 

Lastly, we want to make sure that our school can maintain overall good health before bringing the entire student body together on campus. Again, there is no specific number for this. We are aware and prepared to deal with students who are exposed to the virus and who test positive. In that scenario, we must also think about the health of our faculty in order to maintain our classroom teaching.  

We will solicit feedback from parents, students and employees of SJA during the three-week hybrid period. We will use the responses and day-to-day life on our campus to help determine next steps. We apologize this change was made suddenly, and we regret the extra burden this has caused. But we feel that using these three full weeks of school as our time of training and transition will benefit our school in the long run. 

Click here for additional information regarding the structure, policies and procedures for our hybrid plan. Please email your questions to Dean of Academics Aubrey DeJohn (dejohna@sjabr.org).  

We ask for your continued prayers as we welcome our students back to campus this week.  
 
I love what I do, I love who I do it with and I love that we do it together in the name of our patron, St. Joseph.   

Stacia B. Andricain
Principal

Dear Parents,

As we have said from the very beginning of the COVID pandemic, the health and safety of our school community are the most important considerations for returning to school. With the Governor’s announcement on August 4 that Louisiana will remain in Phase II, St. Joseph’s Academy has decided that we must adjust our reopening plan.  

Student orientation for sophomores, juniors and seniors will still take place on August 10 and 11. I want to remind you that students will only be on campus for one hour to reimage their computers, take student ID/yearbook photos and watch a video explaining new policies and procedures. They will be in classrooms with no more than 20 students. Students must wear face coverings the entire time and remain six feet apart. Click here for the full student orientation schedule.    

We will continue to have a staggered start to school on August 12, 13 and 14, with one-third of the student body on campus each day. We will use part of the day to train students on SJA’s COVID policies and procedures, Microsoft Teams and the new MySJA platform. Students must report to their 1st period classroom upon arrival on their assigned day. We will use a special schedule for the training in the morning, but we will follow an eight-period schedule so students can meet all of their teachers.  

Wednesday, August 12: Students with last names beginning with A-E 
Thursday, August 13: Students with last names beginning with F-M
Friday, August 14: Students with last names beginning with N-Z
When not on campus, students will not participate in remote learning. Our first day of remote learning will be Monday, August 17.

Beginning Monday, August 17, SJA will follow a hybrid schedule (see below). This schedule will give our students the opportunity to connect with their teachers, classmates and services every other day and remote into the classroom on the opposite days. Having fewer students on campus on a given day will reduce each person’s possible exposure to the virus and, therefore, possibly lessen the spread.  

We will follow this hybrid schedule until Labor Day. We will continue to follow recommendations from the CDC and local health officials to decide whether to continue the hybrid plan after September 4.

 

With half of the students on campus each day, SJA will continue to take all mitigation steps included in our RoadMap to Reopening Handbook Addendum (below). These measures include reporting to 1st period classrooms upon arrival at school, social distancing in all areas of campus, staggered transitions and extra time between classes, symptom monitoring/reporting each morning, environmental cleaning and special seating and directives during lunch periods.

Thank you for your continued support and patience as we make changes and develop policies that will go along with a hybrid plan. On days when a student must remote into class, she will be responsible for being online, on time and attentive during the entire class period. Remote students can be offline during unstructured periods and lunch.

Additional Information

MySJA: This database, which replaces NetSJA, will offer online access to academic information, such as daily grades, attendance, conduct, report cards, class details and more. You will also use MySJA to complete and electronically submit various forms. Click here to get started.

COVID Symptom Monitoring Questionnaire: Now that you’ve created your MySJA login, you will use it to complete the daily COVID Symptom Monitoring Questionnaire. Click here for instructions.

Carpool: We ask that all freshman parents use the carpool line in the Kleinert lot to drop off and pick up their students. Please use Broussard Street, make a right onto Eugene and make a right into the lot. A police officer will instruct you to make a U-turn when exiting the lot to go back to Eugene.

Sophomore, junior and senior parents will drop off and pick up their students using the Academy Student Center carpool line. Please arrive at the lot using Parker Street. You will not be allowed to make a right or left turn coming from Broussard. We recommend using Myrtle Street or Claycut. 

Click here for the carpool procedures map. Please address carpool questions to Dean of Women Erika Angarita (angaritae@sjabr.org). 

I love what I do, I love who I do it with and I love that we do it together in the name of our patron, St. Joseph. 

Stacia B. Andricain
Principal