Our staff has been working very hard to prepare for Saint Peter Lutheran School and Little Lambs Preschool to re-open in the fall. We have done some in-depth studies, worked with our school nurse, met with the leaders of our other area WELS schools, and met with our teaching staff and education committee to develop a plan that we feel best fits our specific school context. We want to share with you our intended plan so that you can begin preparing for what we feel is the most likely scenario for the upcoming school year.
Our plan is to begin our school year meeting on our school campus with face-to-face learning. The plan includes some modifications to help keep our students and families healthy and safe. We feel strongly that face-to-face learning is what is most effective for our students. While there are always some health risks involved in attending classes at any school or going to any public event with other people present even when there isn’t a specific virus concern in our nation, we feel the plan that was developed allows face-to-face learning to return while also minimizing the risk to our students.
A short video has been put together explaining the key components of our plan to return to school. It can be viewed at the following link:
https://www.loom.com/share/4e637f0c03d04966a917e3cc1851c02b
With so many different thoughts and opinions about the challenge before us, there would be truly no way to develop a plan that every individual perfectly agrees with in every way. We pray that the love of Jesus motivates us to be patient with and show empathy for those who share a different opinion from our own in how to react to the situation before us. If there are aspects of the plan that were put into place to address the concerns of others that we personally disagreed with, may the love of Jesus motivate us to still follow those aspects of the adopted plan out of Christian love for the concerns and needs of our neighbor. Despite any differences of opinion we may have, we all have three common goals in mind: We want our children to know their Savior, Jesus, we want them to learn in a way that is most effective for them, and we want them to be as safe and healthy as possible. May these common goals push us to work together in a spirit of unity and Christian love for others in how we work together to open school in the fall!
As always, don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. You can find a document version of our intended plan at the following link:
I look forward to working with our school children in the fall! We pray that God allows this plan to move forward and we can successfully meet face-to-face!
Principal Brad Gurgel
Saint Peter Lutheran School
