Will Notre Dame School Grades K-8 be returning in person before Christmas Break?
It depends.
On 7/17/20, Governor Newsom, in conjunction with the CA Department of Public Health, ordered that K-12 schools must be distance learning in any county that is on the CA monitoring list. Until Santa Barbara County has been off of the monitoring list for 14 consecutive days, K-8 students at Notre Dame will be doing distance learning. We plan to return to in-person instruction as soon as Santa Barbara County is cleared off of the monitoring list for 14 days. We will closely be watching this list and notify families when we are a few days away from being able to open in person.
Do I continue to pay my full tuition even though instruction is not in person?
Yes.
Notre Dame School continues to be open and providing a robust education for your child. It is true that students are not allowed to be on campus, but their curriculum and instruction is delivered through various platforms (Zoom, Google Meet, Google Classroom) and the 1-1 iPad program that is beginning this year. Your child is staying connected to their friends as well as to their teachers. As soon as we are able to return to campus, students and families will once again enjoy the benefits of the Notre Dame community.
Can NDS apply for a waiver to open in-person instruction?
Not at this time.
The CA Department of Public Health waiver guidance document states: “CDPH recommends that schools within jurisdictions with 14-day case rates more than two times the threshold to be on the County Monitoring List (more than 200 cases/100,000 population) should not be considered for a waiver to re-open in-person instruction.”
As of 8/4/20, Susan Klein-Rothschild, MSW, of the County of Santa Barbara states, "Unfortunately, Santa Barbara County has 14-day case rates more than two times the threshold and waiver applications are not currently being accepted." As soon as Santa Barbara County goes below the threshold, we can move forward with the waiver procedure.
Will Notre Dame Preschool and PK be returning in-person?
Yes, with safety modifications in place.
Notre Dame's preschool and PK program are a state licensed preschool program with different guidelines from K-8 schools. The program will open in person on the first day of school with a limited enrollment and various safety modifications in place. These include daily temperature checks, outside check-in, individual toys and supplies, assigned seating and nap areas, and predominant instruction outdoors.