Catholic high school students, staff thankful to be back in class

The students in Rebecca Clement’s English class are finishing up reading the Greek play Medea.

Her students and Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School in Potomac Shores, both in class and learning virtually at home, took turns reading the book out loud. “I’m covering more than what I expected to cover so far,” said Clement, whose in her 14th year of teaching.

With a microphone posted in the front of the classroom, students logged in to their computers, and learning from home can hear the discussion with the teacher and students inside the classroom.

That’s how the majority of students at this private school are learning during the coronavirus pandemic, in a hybrid at-home, and in-person model. Most students at the catholic high school are coming to school three days a week and then learning from home during the remainder of the time.

“To come back and experience school when we didn’t think we could is really cool,” said Patrick McCaskey, 17, president of the school’s servant leadership association.

About 17,000 catholic school students, at 41 schools across Northern Virginia, returned to class late last month. It was the only area school division in the region to start the school year with in-person classes.

Elementary school students are attending in-person classes five days a week and middle and high schoolers are learning in the hybrid setting.

Arlington Dioceses Bishop Micheal Burbidge held mass at the high school today, and then toured the building to speak with faculty and students to learn about their transition into their new learning environment.

“I believe we are at our best when we are together,” said Burbidge. “The emotional stress caused by the pandemic, of people being separated…young people need to be connected.”

Each student he spoke to today, both at the school, and those online from home, said they preferred to be learning inside of a classroom. “I like being at school way better,” said one freshman. “It’s easier to learn in-person, and, the tech issues make it hard when you get kicked out of meeting rooms.’

Some students told Burbidge that online learning gives them more time to do homework.

This was Burbridge’s third tour of a school in recent weeks. He praised staff who worked with teams of experts that guided the school division on how to reopen safely.

Since reopening, 14 students at various schools in the division have contracted the coronavirus. So far, none at Saint John Pual the Great high school.

The affected students were quarantined, and all are now back to school. None of the affected school buildings needed to closed due to the quarantines, as students are kept together in smaller groups to minimize possible exposure to the virus.

“My message to the students: Thank you for following the protocols we have in place,” said Burbidge. “This is a unique privilege we have to be in school right now.”

A growing interest in private education

Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School has a capacity of 650 students. About 100 of them opted to learn from home full-time.

There are still seats to fill in this school, and prospective students visit on a regular basis, as parents look for alternatives to public schools that have not held in-person classes since March.

“It’s very important to be in-person. My education depends on it,” said Palmira Etienne, 15, who, along with her 16-year-old brother, KC, just became the newest students at Saint John Paul the Great.

Both siblings attended a private school in Warrenton until it closed in May. After attending summer classes online through Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., today was the first time they had been inside a school building since the start of the pandemic.

“We’ve seen a lot of interest from people outside the school system,” said Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Arlington Diocese Joseph Vorbach, when asked about new enrollment.

However, not everyone gets in.

“We’ve had to turn away some students, mostly because we can’t meet their individual educational needs,” said the catholic high school’s principal, Shawn McNulty.

Adjustment

There are 50 faculty members at Saint John Paul the Great, and eight of them requested a plastic curtain for which stand behind and teach. One instructor, heading a class of about eight students, sat at her desk today behind a drawn plastic curtain.

Most of the federal money the school division received from the CARES Act passed earlier this year to help offset the negative effects of the pandemic was used for personal protective gear. The faculty is provided with masks to mirror their students who must bring and wear their own. There’s hand sanitizer at every turn, and digital point-and-shoot thermometers are being used throughout the school building to check temperatures.

“We had hoped there would be an in-person element in the back-to-school plan,” said Malia Grace, a biology teacher at the catholic high school. “Academically, it takes a lot of creativity to replicate what we do in the classroom for students at home.”

Under the hybrid learning model, Grace says she’s spending more time communicating with students by email. That constant communication between student and teacher has meant a closer collaboration when it comes to the learning process, she said.

Grace’s views are the opposite of many public school teachers who have argued that school buildings should remain shuttered until a vaccine for the virus is distributed, or infection rates are lower.

“Remember the fervor when students arrive back at the school on the first day,” said Grace, offering advice to public school teachers still contemplating a return to the classroom.

Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School is located at 17700 Dominican Drive near Dumfries. The school opened in 2008.