We thank God for our faith during these hours, days, weeks, months where we truly do not know what lies ahead. As Pope Francis said in his Urbi et Orbi address last week:
“You ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak and we are fearful. But you, Lord, will not leave us at the mercy of the storm. Tell us again: ‘Do not be afraid’ (Mt 28:5). And we, together with Peter, ‘cast all our anxieties onto you, for you care about us'(Cf. 1 Peter 5:7).”
So, together, we are riding this storm of uncertainty–calling each of us to lean towards God in our “new normal” way of working/schooling/living. We pray for the time to see you and your children in person; however, the prospect of that time being this school year appears less likely given Governor DeSantis’ executive orders to “Stay at Home” until at least April 30 and “Safer at Home” until at least May 15. The silver lining is that we are mastering the world of online learning and now fully prepared to continue our distance learning plan through the end of the school year if that is what is necessary. We are doing everything in our power to ensure that students are continuing to learn. Students, teachers, and parents alike have risen to this challenge with grit and resilience.
At present, we are on schedule to complete the school year as planned on Wednesday, June 3. Our distance learning plan fulfills Florida attendance and instruction-hour requirements.
We understand the emotional hardship this time away from school and friends may be having on you and your children (especially our graduating 8th-grade students and parents): cancelations of sports seasons, special events, traditional annual field trips, etc. We are working on assessing the upcoming calendar of events to see how we can best transition as much as we can to virtual platforms. We strive to continue to honor our students and their Rosarian experiences.
Parents, please note there are two upcoming opportunities for you:
- The Southern Association of Independent Schools is hosting a webinar tonight, “Parenting in a Time of Crisis,” at 7:00 PM. There’s a capacity of 3,000 but still some spaces are available. If you would like to participate, click here to register.
- This Friday, we will host another ZOOM Parent Coffee Mee
ting at 9:00 AM. Once again, this meeting will provide the opportunity for you to ask pertinent questions and for us to have meaningful discussions on how we navigate this new path. Your participation, feedback and collaboration are extremely important during this time when we don’t have all of the answers. Good news–we now have increased capacity for 500 to join our meetings! Click here to zoom with us on Friday.
In the words of Pope Francis, “Lord, may you bless the world, give health to our bodies and comfort our hearts.”
