Celtic Newsletter Spring 2020

From top: English teacher Kristen Kurpe with her 9th graders; 4th grader Colton Greenway with teacher Megan Potter; and Early Learners teacher Karen Clark with 4 - year - old Ridlee King.

On March 23, when Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is- sued an executive order closing schools and banning all gatherings of more than 10 people, we loaned our other CelticsLive broadcast setup to St. Andrew ’ s so the church could start broadcasting Mass. While other public and private schools made classes pass/fail or abandoned teaching and grading altogether, Office of Catholic Schools Superintendent Kelly Lazarra issued a statement to all diocesan school families: “ Our students will still be learning new material and receiving grades … while our classrooms and hallways may be closed to students gathering, we are still open to learning new things and successfully completing this academic school year! ” During the weeks that followed:  Teachers and aides visited students ’ homes when needed to drop off materials, and conducted one - on - one tutoring sessions via Zoom with students of all ages. They also met with individual students in need of extra help at school in a health - conscious setting.  Our administration created a Celtics@home webpage as an online clearinghouse for all COVID - 19 commu- nications for parents and students; handed out gro- cery gift cards to low - income families; and loaned the music department ’ s ukuleles to anyone who wanted to use quarantine to learn an instrument.  Art teacher Kim Spencer organized a school - wide “ Celtic Art Challenge ” with weekly contests that were posted to Instagram and Faceook for voting.  Middle school teachers created a Social Zoom Hour for their students and a virtual Seventh Grade Liturgy to celebrate the rite of passage for their seventh graders entering Upper School.  Mrs. Vanden Eykel had her Upper School students create and send digital cards for their Lower School prayer buddies.  Librarian Kurt Axt got Roanoke County Public Library cards for students so they could access the system ’ s catalog of e - books.  Enrollment director Emily Gaston coordinated virtual tours and a virtual open house for prospective fami- lies.  Jenny Roy, director of guidance and student services, created at RCS one of the only private Advanced Placement testing sites in the region so students would have reliable Internet to take the tests.  The development office worked with Roanoke City to reschedule the Shamrock Hill Run to Friday, August 28 at 7 p.m.

Of course, all of these efforts couldn ’ t replace the real thing.