Pandemic Week 15: A drama debut & plans for the school year

Anna as "Miss Viola Swamp"
According to Anna, this week was one of the best since March.  We can thank Mrs. Prince, Anna's music teacher from St. Mark for that.  Mrs. Prince, along with her sister who also happens to be a music teacher at a local Catholic school,  came up with a week-long drama camp  for rising 6th-9th graders.  It certainly could not have been easy for them to get approval, but they kept the number small (20 students) and had all sorts of protocols in place to maintain social distance and wear masks (except for the performance).  Each day the parents had to sign a form saying their child showed no signs of illness and one of the teachers would take their temperature.

All of the effort was worth it.  Their production for the week was "Miss Nelson is Missing."  Anna got one of the lead roles as Miss Viola Swamp.  In between rehearsing, they had plenty of games, art projects for the set, and general fun.  Four of Anna's friends were also participating at camp and they had a great time.  Unfortunately the production was limited to one parent, but they did broadcast it via Zoom.  You can check out a clip of Anna's performance HERE (she is at about 1:25 in and dressed like a witch....fortunately Theresa had several items in her closet for a witch costume, which is another discussion entirely). 

A HUGE thank you to Mrs. Prince and Mrs. Salinas for putting the camp together.  It was a great week for the girls.

The other big news of the week was that Fairfax County Schools announced their initial planning for the 2020-2021 school year.  As of right now, the most students will on site is two days a week.  Parents will receive a survey shortly with the options of:
  1. Full-time online instruction. Students will take part in virtual, face to face instruction four days a week. 
  2.  Students will receive at least two full days of instruction in school each week. Students will be engaged in independent study and work on the days they are not in the school building.  

It is unclear how extra-curricular activities will work, but we are not optimistic. Anna plans to op for two days in school during the week.  All of this is contingent on the teachers and suffice it to say the teacher unions are not happy.  There are no easy answers.

To be continued.....

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