St. John Vianney School, Kailua, third grade teacher Alexa Cortez takes the temperature of her student Hayes Beissel before she enters the classroom on the first day of school, July 28. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
It wasn’t COVID-19 but the threat of Hurricane Douglas that delayed the first day of school for St. John Vianney in Kailua.
Preschool through eighth grade students arrived on campus the morning of July 28, a day later than planned due to the storm. This year though they were wearing face masks and shields, and their parents carried extra cleaning items and hand sanitizers with their boxes and bags of school supplies. Teachers took student temperatures at classroom doors before the kids and no one else were allowed inside. Children washed their hands first thing, and had their own hand sanitizers out on their desks.
“Please let it be your best friend,” fourth-grade teacher Earleen Victorino told her students about those hand sanitizers as they settled in that morning.
Before school started up, Victorino had spent a lot of time figuring out the 6-feet spacing between her students and their desks. One empty desk was for a student who would be distance learning from home. A fourth-grade parent had also donated plastic face shields for each of the 14 students in the class. Victorino told the children they should wear a mask whenever they weren’t at their desks.
“We are going to make sure we stay in our bubble,” Victorino said, explaining how all grades would have their own designated spots at recess and stay in a single group for P.E. and other activities outside of the classroom. “We’re a family and we all take care of each other. We stay together.”
Fourth grader Liam Scruggs puts on hand sanitizer at the start of his first class on July 28. He and his classmates also received face shields donated from a fourth grade parent. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
St. John Vianney principal Caryn DeMello and her faculty and staff started strategizing over spring break on how to make in-person learning safe for the 2020-21 school year. The school held a short summer school session with no problems and learned from that smaller scale schooling.
On the first day back, DeMello wasn’t happy that the office printer was down but she was thrilled to see students on campus again.
“It’s so refreshing to see the children’s faces and to know that we’re back,” DeMello said. “We’re just going to be extra vigilant and careful. Other than masking up and distancing, we’re hoping they’re going to have a really positive experience back in school.”
In-person but ready to pivot
Similar precautions are being taken at the other Catholic schools in the Diocese of Honolulu. There are 23 parish-based Catholic schools and early learning centers, including Maryknoll School, and three independent Catholic high schools.
As these schools got ready for the fall, the Hawaii Catholic Schools department put out comprehensive guidelines based on policies from the CDC, the Departments of Health and Human Services, and other Catholic school departments. HCS continues to work with the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools for extra support and feedback from school administrator roundtables. HCS also has offered roundtables for preschool, elementary and junior/senior high school levels.
“Schools were responsible for creating their own plans being mindful of the needs of their individual school communities,” said acting HCS superintendent Llewellyn Young. “Most of the schools sent us their plans for review, and in all cases, plans exceed the guidelines offered by the CDC and Department of Health. We are very proud of our schools and all the hard work that went into preparing for reopening.”
The kindergarten class at St. John Vianney made use of dividers to keep children separated. (HCH Photo: Anna Weaver)
Most local Catholic schools were planning to resume full-time, in-person learning this fall. But also many had at-home learning options for students who didn’t feel comfortable being back on campus.
After a few months of very low numbers, positive COVID-19 cases in the state went up quickly at the end of July. While Hawaii is still on the low end of total COVID-19 cases in the U.S., the sharp rise concerned some about sending kids back to school. Hawaii public schools pushed back their first day by 10 days, until Aug. 17.
There is no single start date for Hawaii Catholic schools though most go back in the first or second week of August.
Young said that any shift to start dates will be left up to the individual schools unless there is a statewide mandate. He pointed out that a school’s location, size, community case amount, personal protective equipment availability, faculty and staff readiness, and parent support are variables best weighed by each school.
“We are so blessed to be working in a Catholic system in which we do not only take care of each other and take care of our communities, but we are also nestled squarely in God’s loving hands armed with the power of prayer to accept his will in all ways,” Young said. “We will continue to pray for the health and safety of all.”
St. John Vianney School, Kailua, preschoolers and siblings Keilani and Alika Kuchler hold hands as they walk to class together on July 28, the first day of the Kailua school’s academic year. (HCH photo | Anna Weaver)
Sampling of plans
The initially low number of COVID-19 cases in Hawaii contributed to many Catholic schools’ decisions to return in-person. Many island parochial schools are already small and able to social distance students better than larger schools. Several, like St. John Vianney, had in-person, socially distanced summer school sessions to test a “new normal” education plan.
On Hawaii Island, St. Joseph School in Hilo is planning for a blending learning model. It will use Catholic Virtual online classes for high schoolers half the time and in-person classes the other half of the time. If students want to, they can take their virtual classes on campus to allow working parents to have their teens supervised. St. Joseph kindergarteners through eighth-graders all will go back in-person, but wearing face masks and following safety and health precautions.
Chaminade University Montessori Lab School in Kaimuki will have its preschoolers through kindergarteners back on campus on Aug. 12. A summer program it ran was kept small to see how things went. The school’s new director, Kristy Sakai, said that because some outside student grants and subsidies disappeared with COVID-19, the school’s numbers were down as parents decided they couldn’t afford tuition.
Chaminade University itself has made plans to return to in-person classes. Nearby all-girls high school Sacred Hearts Academy was giving its students the choice between in-person or live virtual classes.
St. John Vianney preschooler Lucas Tuigamala walks with his mother, Hi’ipo, to class, loaded up with school supplies including a large bottle of hand sanitizer. (HCH Photo: Anna Weaver)
Holy Family Catholic Academy near the Honolulu airport area initially planned to be back to in-person schooling as well, according to a school news release. However it recently decided to start off with distance learning for the first week and go back in-person Aug. 17.
Holy Family will be making use of cohorts and keeping individual classes separated. Students will stay in one classroom most of the day, with special subject teachers going from room to room rather than the students. Doors and windows were to be left open and new sanitizing stations were set up around campus. Recess and lunch times will be staggered.
Holy Family is also planning for the potential switch back to distance learning by giving every student — except preschoolers — an iPad to use and making all classwork digital and online from the start. Kindergarteners to eighth graders also had the option to study from home with an all-virtual class option supported by a school staff member.
On Maui, Sacred Hearts School is using a four “house” system to encourage participation and also keep students within smaller groups. In addition, principal Tonata Lolesio said the school has worked all summer on an online program that can be used in case distance learning is mandated by the governor again.
“The toughest part of getting ready is that the changes take place on a weekly basis with regards to guidelines for COVID,” Lolesio said. “Regardless of the constant changes … because we are a small Catholic school, we can adapt.”
