April 14, 2020  

Dear St. Catherine Parents and Guardians,  

Good afternoon. I pray that your family remains safe and healthy at home, and that you were not impacted by Monday’s high winds. As I mentioned in yesterday’s Parent Newsletter, we are prepared to share some details with you on decisions made for the remainder of this school year. For any items/decisions still pending, we are creating a presentation to help address and better illustrate the answers. 

Yesterday, you and your daughters received the updated live course schedule. As you know, we are committed to maintaining integrity in our academic program and schedule. Every teacher has at least one day in the week (and a maximum of two) where they will host live class sessions. Your STAR should expect lectures, discussions, and even current event conversations during these sessions. We are working with the faculty on making sure they remain flexible, resourceful, and creative in how they present material. In turn, we ask that your daughter remains engaged, curious, and patient.  

After consultation with the faculty, local schools, and the Archdiocese of Detroit, we have made the decision to end the 2019-2020 school year Friday, May 22 for students in grades 9-11. Seniors will be dismissed from their regular coursework Friday, May 8. Final exam week for all students has been eliminated. There will be no traditional final exams. Instead, STARS will be working on culminating projects, papers, and assignments, but not cumulative final exams. We acknowledge that for two weeks in May, there will be disruptions to everyone’s schedule as students complete their 45-minute AP exams. (Reference: AP Exam Schedule.) 

Regarding service hours, it has been agreed that the student service hour quotas for this year has been waived. Please be sure, however, that your STAR submits her completed hours to her counselor or Mrs. Kirwin (NHS hours) by Friday, May 1. 

Since the stay-at-home order has closed schools for the remainder of the year, we will be planning for student lockers to be emptied and all the contents to be returned to the students next month. We will share more details on this in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please ask your daughter to notify Mr. Bumpus if she needs something from her locker to complete her academic studies. 

Expect to hear from me weekly as we continue to update our community on decisions and continue to publish the Parent Newsletter on Mondays. Also, look for updates on the Daily Mediation and Prayer moving to a blog-format! We’re all growing in our technology use. And, as I mentioned previously, we are preparing a presentation to help answer your questions concerning the remainder of the year. 

Thank you, again, for your continued support, encouragement, and prayers-may God bless and keep you!  

My best,   
Judy
Principal, St. Catherine of Siena Academy
 

Cc:  Lia Johnston, President, St. Catherine of Siena Academy
       Kevin D. Kijewski, J.D., Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese of Detroit