News Release 

WARSAW – Much like the other schools in our community, Sacred Heart School is gearing up for a successful reopening of the 2020-2021 school year.

SHS’s plan includes 5 domains: logistics & planning, promoting Catholic identity, curriculum & instruction, technology support, and creating & maintaining community.

Principal Mike McClain shared that the SHS plan, “is a result of a lot of collaboration between the teachers, myself, and other stakeholders. Last year’s extended eLearning was tough for everyone, but we had some silver linings that came out of the shutdown last year, too. We took those silver linings, lessons learned, and the results of our survey work that we did with parents at the end of the year and developed what we think is a pretty good plan that will support student learning in a safe & innovative way and also respond to any new guidance that may come out in the future.”

On the logistics side, the plan includes:

• Health screenings for students by parents as well as staff prior to the start of the school day,
• Creating new sections to make class sizes of less than 20 to allow for social distancing,
• Frequent handwashing,
• Targeted use of masks in the hallways & when social distancing cannot happen, and
• Electrostatic sprayers for routine sanitization of spaces multiple times per day.

To promote their Catholic Identity, SHS will:

• Continue their Mass schedule & “Mass Buddies” program,
• Continue to weave their faith into all aspects of the curriculum, and
• Hold a digital praise & worship hour if pressed into extended eLearning.

The school’s Curriculum & Instruction plans include:

• A targeted “First 20 days” focusing on IDOE power standards, and
• Blended learning in the classroom, including the use of Seesaw & Google Classroom to prepare for eLearning, if necessary.

To Create and Maintain Community, Sacred Heart plans to:

• Use their “Sacred Heart Champions” program to support students & families,
• Hold socially-distanced & carefully scheduled back-to-school nights and parent-teacher conferences, and
• Hold Community Circles to talk about real-world issues.

Supporting Technology plans at SHS include:

• Training the students in technology early in the school year,
• Deploying individualized learning platforms both in school and at home, and
• Holding “Parent University” nights to train parents & guardians on technology.

Important upcoming dates for Sacred Heart School include registration on July 21st & 22nd, Back-to-School nights on August 10th & 11th, and the first day of school on Wednesday, August 12th.  You can find more information about the school, its back-to-school plan, financial aid opportunities, and more on Facebook and at shswarsaw.org.