COVID Return Protocols

As staff and students approach the beginning of the school year on August 16, important updates will continue to be sent to families in order to facilitate a smooth start to the 2021-2022 school year.

 As part of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Holy Ghost School, as well as all others in the Archdiocese, have received guidelines to share with you regarding the continuing challenge of fully opening amidst the ups and downs of the pandemic. The goal is simple: keep students, staff, and families as safe as possible while on campus as HGCS fully opens in person on August 16th.  The following are the guidelines in a condensed form:

• All students, faculty, and staff will wear masks indoors when we return to class.
   
• Students will be distanced at least three feet apart indoors.  From our experience last year, we know we will be able to ensure this as a minimum benchmark in every classroom.
   
• Since there are still unknowns about the “delta variant” as to how it affects children, we will continue to keep students in cohorts as much as possible. Therefore, the following practices will be in place:
   
  • Students will eat lunch in their classroom or outside in designated areas, as we have beautiful weather for much of the year.
     
  • Each classroom will have a touchless hand sanitizer and students will be reminded of good hygiene regularly.
     
  • As part of our ongoing “good health” practices, we will continue to disinfect for both COVID and other viruses.
     
  • Student morning drop off and afternoon pickup will remain the same as last year:  parents will drive into the north parking lot off of Arizona Street, and queue up as staff retrieves students from the vehicles.  Pick up will operate the same with parents remaining in their cars as students are brought to them.  Each family will again be assigned a “family pick up/drop off number” to be displayed in the windows of vehicles so that staff may easily identify families.
     

If a family member is sick, we will ask you to keep all students home and ask you to pick up all of your children at school should one of them become ill during the school day.

• Students will be able to be outdoors without masks at this time.
   
• Students will be able to play sports and other games with balls at this time.
   
• Students will be allowed on the playground equipment at this time.
   
• Students will continue to distance themselves from one another in order to adhere to best practices.
   

 In the coming weeks, we will continue to update you as we begin another successful year.  Some of the information that will be forthcoming shortly include the following:

• The sign-up schedule for parent-teacher- students conferences
   
• The process for signing up for FACTS as well as downloading the app to make access much easier for you
   
• Management of the Woody Young Before and After School Care program--in terms of location on campus and how best to accommodate students. It is very possible that Woody Young may remain located in the gym at least for part of this year.
   

 Please look out for communication over the next two weeks as we want the year to begin with clear expectations.

 Thank you, as always, for your trust in the staff of Holy Ghost Catholic School and for your continued support of us.