St. Margaret of Scotland Families:

When scheduling the calendar every year, we add three inclement weather days to the total number of school days. Because of the snow storms last week, we have now used all three of our scheduled inclement weather days. Moving forward, If we were to continue to take off school for inclement weather, we would have to adjust our school calendar to accommodate these missed days. Essentially this would mean that we would have to have school during days that we would not normally be in session: President’s Days, Easter Monday, Spring Break, etc…
Because we do not believe it is wise or fair to change our calendar, nor to extend our days further in May past the scheduled final day of school, every inclement weather day going forward this school year will be a virtual learning day. This will allow us to count these days as school days.
Virtual Learning will be our priority this month during our professional learning day. We will discuss what virtual learning looks like at St. Margaret of Scotland both as a whole faculty and in grade groups. It is our goal to have plans completed soon. I am also including further information in this newsletter that has some broad goals and expectations.
I understand that ‘virtual learning’ comes with many connotations both positive and negative. I am sure that parents, students, and teachers all share some trauma over remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Know that we are sensitive to this and are committed to coming up with age-appropriate, easily accessible learning experiences for these days.
It is my hope that we will have no more inclement weather days this school year. I am always committed to the power of in-person learning and the classroom is the ideal space for school. In the future, we will always use our snow days first before relying on virtual learning as an option. However, it is extremely important that we are prepared if we have another inclement weather day.
As always, thank you for your support of St. Margaret of Scotland and our mission of providing a Catholic education rooted in Catholic Social Teachings and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
God Bless,
Patrick Holley