COVID-19 Updates

To mitigate the spread of the virus, St. Joseph Catholic School will seek guidance from the CDC, TEA, Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops Education Department, Diocese of Austin and public health officials, as we strive to provide safe and healthy learning environments in the 2021-2022 school year. Please keep in mind this plan is subject to change and will be amended as needed or required by the circumstances and latest directives.

Video: COVID Update | August 30, 2021
Video: SJCS Mask Requirement Video for Students | COVID-19 Update

Updated on Monday, Aug. 30, 2021:

As we have worked through our first 10 days of the school year, we have learned a great deal about how we need to responsibly respond to COVID in our school. After consulting local doctors, the Brazos County Health District, the Diocese of Austin, and Father Brian, I come to you with an update on our COVID protocols.

As it stands right now, we have three options for our school’s response to COVID:

Option 1: No Masking and No Contact Tracing. This is what the local public schools are currently doing and we are seeing large numbers of students and educators testing positive for COVID. There is no required quarantine period in this option so staff and students can come to school even if they have been directly exposed to someone who tested positive.

Option 2: No Masking with Contact Tracing. This is what we have done over the past 10 days. Since our first confirmed positive case, countless hours have been spent reading seating charts and communicating quarantine dates to students and families. This requires the student to shift to online learning for the duration of the quarantine period. So far, we have required over 30 students to be out on quarantine alone based solely on close contact protocol. 

Option 3: Mask Requirement with Contact Tracing. This would mean wearing a mask while inside the buildings when students cannot be more than six feet away from others. When sitting that far away and not wearing a mask is not possible we would conduct contact tracing. If a student was without a mask and within six feet for more than 15 minutes, we would notify families about the close contact and provide the option to quarantine. The decision to quarantine would fall to the family as long as the student is asymptomatic. 

After weighing these options, St. Joseph Catholic School will move to requiring masks and contact tracing with optional close-contact quarantine for grades 1 through 12 starting on Tuesday, August 31st. Students who test positive will still be mandated to quarantine for 10 days.

Note: Any students who began a quarantine period extending beyond Tuesday, August 31st may return to school as long as they are showing no symptoms.

By requiring all staff and students to wear a mask, we are taking a proactive approach to minimize the quarantine protocols for everyone and avoid shutting down our school to full virtual learning. We know students learn best when they are at school in person with their teachers and peers and this option substantially reduces the number of quarantined students in relation to a single positive case while still providing protection to our students and staff.

We will reevaluate the mask requirement at the end of the first 9-week marking period. And, we will solicit feedback from our stakeholders to help us in moving forward at that time.

Pre-K and Kindergarten students are allowed to wear masks, but it is not mandatory at this time due to an evaluation of their social and functional developmental stage.

At the secondary level, our coaching staff will communicate expectations for our athletic teams.

If your student has previously documented health concerns that exempts him/her from wearing a mask, you must submit a written note from a doctor explaining such.

As campus principal, I carry the responsibility of all 333 kids and their wellbeing and promise to get them home safely to you each night. I realize this decision might not be popular. I realize we are the outlier in our area in making this decision. I am thankful that we have the option to choose this for our school. I am thankful for each of you and your families and choosing St. Joseph’s to provide a Catholic education.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Mishler
Principal