Back to School 2020

As we establish new habits, identify soft spots in our procedures, and make adjustments, we expect to move from one phase to another on schedule. Please note we may have to adjust procedures, student schedules, timelines, or bell schedules based on our experience or health and safety guidelines.

Our phased approach was built with transition readiness in mind to ease any necessary shifting between remote learning and on campus instruction. We’ve adjusted our bell schedule in the first three phases such that asynchronous learning occurs from 9 a.m.-12 noon and asynchronous learning can occur in the afternoon, regardless of whether a student is at home or in the classroom, thus increasing consistency for our students.

Current Spartans can log into OnCampus to access their detailed schedules or see general Fall 2020 timeframes.

• August 3-6: Freshman Odyssey Week
• August 10: Freshman Orientation 
• August 11: Sophomore Orientation
• August 12: Junior Orientation
• August 13: Senior Orientation
• August 17-21: Phase 1
• August 24: Phase 2
• August 31: Phase 3
• September 14: Phase 4
• In consultation with Medical & Safety Advisory Group: Phase 5
• As required: Phase 0

We have decided to begin our school year earlier than normal and with some new processes, which enable us to build increased flexibility into our schedule. These changes also allow for us to have time with each grade level to orient them to any new procedures we have in place in compliance with health and safety guidelines.

Freshmen Odyssey will take place from August 3-6 to welcome the Class of 2024 to the De Smet Jesuit community. Students will meet their new brothers, work with their computers, walk through their schedules, and learn more about our campus and Spartan Country.

Orientation Week will take place August 10-13, with each grade level spending one day on campus as a class to practice safety measures, be welcomed back to campus, and reconnect with their peers.

Phase 1 Highlights

• Projected timeframe: August 17-21
• Classes from 9 a.m.-12 noon
• Asynchronous academic time from 1 -3 p.m.
• 50% students on campus, 50% students remote learning
• No lunch available at school
• Period of training for on campus health practices
• Period of training for remote learning practices
• 3 hours of synchronous instruction
• August 17-18: freshmen/sophomores begin on campus (no classes juniors, seniors)
• August 19-20: juniors/seniors begin on campus (freshmen, sophomores remote learning)
• August 21: No classes, formation Friday for club training and planning (students on campus as directed by club moderators)

Phase 2 Highlights

• Projected timeframe: August 24-28
• 4 academic days (Monday-Thursday)
• 1 formation Friday
• Classes from 9 a.m.-12 noon
• Asynchronous academic time from 1-3 p.m.
• 50% students on campus, 50% students remote learning
• No lunch available at school
• Period to adapt to a full school
• Identify areas for additional training or adaptation of practices
• 3 hours of synchronous instruction, either on campus or remote learning
• Monday-Tuesday, August 24-25: freshmen/sophomores on campus, juniors/seniors remote
• Wednesday-Thursday, August 26-27: freshmen/sophomores remote, juniors/seniors on campus
• POSTPONED - Friday, August 28: Mass of the Holy Spirit, TBD

Phase 3 Highlights

• Projected timeframe: August 31 - September 11
• 4 academic days (Monday-Thursday)
• 1 formation Friday
• Classes from 9 a.m.-12 noon
• 100% students on campus
• Asynchronous academic time from 1-3 p.m.
• No lunch available at school
• Period to adapt to a full school
• Identify areas for additional training or adaptation of practices

Phase 4 Highlights

• Projected timeframe: begin September 14
• 4 academic days (Monday-Thursday)
• 1 formation Friday
• Classes from 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
• 100% students on campus
• Lunch available at school

Phase 5 Highlights

• Requires revised guidelines from CDC and St. Louis County
• Classes from 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
• 100% students on campus
• Lunch available at school

Phase 0 Highlights

• For use in case of DSJ COVID-19 case, or St. Louis County stay-at-home order
  • if case occurs on campus, we will begin contact tracing, community notification, and campus cleaning (estimated 2-4 days)
• Classes from 9 a.m.-12 noon
• Asynchronous academic time from 1-3 p.m.
• 100% students remote learning

The development of our young men extends well beyond the college preparatory curriculum and classroom instruction. Please see Student Life and Learning section for more details on how we use our time on Fridays.

Download 2020-2021 Calendar at a Glance

Download How To Subscribe to Calendars and Online Resource Guide

Watch 2019 Video Tutorial: How To Subscribe to Calendars

All School Calendar

In March, we embraced blended learning when the school responded to COVID-19 by implementing our remote learning plan. Blended learning happens when students engage in face-to-face learning, along with electronic and online media. From March through May, we used our HP tablets on both OnCampus and Microsoft Teams platforms to teach and learn remotely – with synchronous and asynchronous sessions. During that experience, teachers and students discovered content, practiced skills, worked collaboratively in teams on projects, and participated in assessments. They used a plethora of online and electronic tools including but not limited to EdPuzzle, TurnItIn, Flipgrid, OneNote, Screencastomatic (to record and share videos), Kahoot, Socrative, and Poll Everywhere. 

As we look to this coming year, we have identified areas for continued growth and are working to address those areas during planned professional development seminars in July – all in preparation to welcome our Spartans back to campus!

The health guidelines required for the 2020-2021 school year necessitate the removal of non-academic time and traditional models of offerings of formation programming from the academic day. Thus, we have dedicated time specifically for these opportunities. On Fridays, all students will participate in required formation programs such as service, Mass, days of reflection, advisories, house activities, and more. 

• Campus Ministry,retreats, service projects, social justice, advisories, student council
• Clubs, organizations, intramural sports
• Full day of programming, some required, some optional
• Faculty roles in required programs

We have ordered 50 Logitech web cams to supplement and provide flexibility for our classroom teachers as they present in mixed mode environments. 

Classrooms have been reconfigured so student desks are six feet apart. Students will be assigned seats in every class.

If for any reason students, faculty, and staff are not feeling well, we ask them to stay home. The symptoms of COVID-19 often mirror those of a common cold. Students and staff members must stay home even for what seems to be something minor, unless they are cleared to return by a medical professional or a negative COVID-19 test.

Students who stay home sick will participate in remote learning, provided their symptoms are not severe enough to impede learning. If a student is too ill to participate in remote learning, a parent or guardian must call the main office to report the student absent by 9 a.m.

Each student and staff member must complete the daily health screening prior to arriving to campus. Details are forthcoming. Students and staff must avoid campus if they exhibit any of the following symptoms:

• Fever of 100 or higher
• Cough
• Shortness of Breath
• Sore Throat
• Muscle Aches
• Chills
• Loss of taste and smell
• Gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g., nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, etc.)

Any student feeling sick or showing signs of illness must stay home. Please do not attempt to mask symptoms or encourage students to “tough it out.” We must be cautious and protect one another.

If a student feels ill at school, or if a staff member believes the student might be ill, the student will be sent to the nurse’s office immediately. The student will wait in a designated waiting area if there is already a student or staff member in the nursing office. Chairs will be 6 feet apart in the waiting area. Masks will be required in the nurse’s office. Students exhibiting any signs of COVID-19, or those having a temperature of 100 degrees or above, will be sent home. Students will go to an isolated waiting area while they wait to be picked up. The nurse will notify the main office that the student is being sent home. The isolation room will be disinfected.

This pandemic has caused stress on staff and students. From prolonged absences to fear of the unknown to deaths related to COVID-19, there have been a variety of stressors on our school community. De Smet Jesuit is developing support in the following ways:

• Providing a Care Team to support student with acute social or emotional stress.
• Providing access to the school’s Care Team via a confidential online referral program.
• Equipping students and parents with the tools to recognize and manage stress.
• Providing resources for those who need additional support.
• Raising faculty awareness so they can better assist those who are struggling.
• Providing suicide prevention programing for students and parents.
• Providing programing for students and parents regarding alcohol, tobacco, and other substances.

Students, faculty, and staff who have been knowingly exposed to COVID-19 should refrain from coming to campus and seek advice from their healthcare provider on quarantine procedures. If the student, faculty or staff member has continuous close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, their quarantine period and absence may be longer than 14 days. Their quarantine period will only end when their family member is officially cleared by local public health officials. They will need to stay home and be monitored for symptoms of COVID-19 during this time.

CDC Recommended Precautions for COVID-19 Exposure

If an individual within a school building tests positive for COVID-19, De Smet Jesuit will follow procedures outlined by the health department, including identifying anyone with whom the individual was in contact within a 6-foot space for at least 15 minutes. Any of the following scenarios will be possible. 

• If specific contacts cannot be identified, quarantine everyone who was in the same room, bus or other areas. De Smet Jesuit will keep classroom, visitor, and bus logs in order to assist with contact tracing and minimize when possible the number of students required to be quarantined.
• If over 5% of the student body in a building test positive any day, 4% test positive over 2 days in a row or 3% test positive for 3 days in a row, then the building will close for 10 days (percentages may change when better scientific data becomes available).
• In the event a person diagnosed with COVID-19 is determined to have been in the building and poses a risk to the staff or students, the school may close for 1-2 days for cleaning and disinfection of the building or exposed area.

The school nurse will assist the school and families with contact tracing. Tracing typically involves:

• Interviewing individuals with COVID-19 to identify everyone with whom they had close contact during the time they may have been infectious
• Notifying contacts of their potential exposure
• Referring contacts for testing
• Monitoring contacts for signs and symptoms of COVID-19
• Connecting contacts with services they might need during the self-quarantine period

We understand that parents will be naturally be concerned by a positive COVID-19 case in our community. Be assured that our policy regarding any potential cases is to immediately notify only those at risk of exposure when we have a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 in our school community. 

If you do not receive an email from De Smet Jesuit when there is a known positive case in our community, it means your son has not had close contact with the individual who has tested positive and is therefore not considered at risk for exposure. 

School officials will support the Department of Health’s efforts for contact tracing and enforcing quarantining of those infected and their contacts. Provisions are already in place to support the continuity of learning from home during quarantine periods and for students choosing to remain at home.

In accordance with privacy laws, De Smet Jesuit will not disclose the identity of the individual who has tested positive. As always, we follow the guidance of the St. Louis County Department of Health in making decisions to close classrooms or divisions, or to quarantine specific groups of students, faculty, or staff.

Students arriving to school before 8:30 a.m. should be dropped off at the cafeteria entrance. Seating areas will be spaced six feet apart, and a faculty proctor will monitor the space. Students arriving after 8:30 a.m. should be dropped off at the Emerson Lobby or Ballas entrances and report to their first class period and sit in their assigned seats. If students are in the building after the final bell, they should report to the cafeteria, unless participating in a supervised De Smet Jesuit activity. Please note, the building will close 30 minutes after the final bell.

If you anticipate having difficulty dropping off your son during the 8:30-9:00 a.m. timeframe in the morning, or picking him up 30 minutes after the final bell in the afternoon, please contact Jen Rothermich, jrothermich@desmet.org

Parents or guardians should not enter the building unless permission has been granted in advance. Parents entering the building will be logged at the main office and a health screening, including a temperature check, will be conducted. Parents picking up students prior to dismissal should wait in their car at one of the visitor spots outside the main entrance and call the main office to indicate they are present. Items may not be dropped off for students during the school day.

To ensure appropriate physical distancing, we have reconfigured  desk and table arrangements in classrooms, implemented technological solutions for meetings and classes, established one-way traffic flow in the buildings, and room density management.  Most classrooms will have 6 feet between desks. In a limited number of spaces desks are 5 feet apart. All desks meaningfully exceed the minimum required distance of 3 feet apart.

Students are encouraged to sanitize their hands when entering a classroom. Cleaning supplies will be available in each classroom, should individual students and staff members prefer to clean their desks prior to the start of a class. In all classes, all desks will face the same direction and seats will be assigned. Students will be dismissed by rows to manage density in the hallways and prevent crowding in the doorway.

Students, faculty and staff are required to wear masks at all times when on campus.  The only exception is when they are outside, maintaining a physical distance of greater than 6 feet.

De Smet Jesuit will provide a mask to each student, teacher, and staff member.

• Fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face.
• Be secured with ties or ear loops. Include multiple layers of fabric.
• Allow for breathing without restriction. Be able to be laundered and machine dried without damage or change to shape.
• Not be neck gaiter/neck wrap style coverings. These require too much touching of the covering and often are not multiple layers.
• Free of images or words other than De Smet Jesuit branding.
• Be a solid color or a pattern without pictures or words; masks representing sports teams are not allowed.

Hand sanitizer will be available at building entrances and in other high-touch areas. Students will be encouraged to sanitize their hands when entering a classroom. High touch areas will be cleaned during the school day.  The school will also be cleaned daily once the school is closed.

In phase 4 of the phased re-opening plan, lunch will be introduced to the schedule. Students will eat lunch in their homeroom. Students will have assigned seats.  Students may either bring their lunch or purchase a boxed lunch from Food Service Consultants. Purchased lunches will be delivered to the classroom. At the end of lunch period, students will disinfect their desk and throw away trash.

Water fountains will only be available to fill reusable bottles.

Students should avoid using the restroom during passing periods. Students should follow distancing guidelines while in the restroom. Teachers will allow students to go to the restroom one at a time. Restroom doors will be open. If the restroom is full, students should wait in the hallway until someone exits the restroom. Students should wash their hands after using the restroom.

Students will only be allowed to access their lockers at the beginning and end of the school day.

We will implement traffic patterns that minimize density in hallways.

School transportation will operate with 50% reduction in capacity to provide physical distancing. Students must wear a mask while riding the bus and will have assigned seats. Drivers will wear masks. Buses will be cleaned daily. Detailed information regarding pick up locations and times will be sent to registered participants.

Visitors may not enter the building without prior arrangement and approval from the principal’s office. All approved visitors will answer health screening questions and have their temperature taken in the main office. A log of all visitors will be maintained.