MS Coast private school switches to remote learning after COVID-19 outbreak
Saint Stanislaus, a private Catholic boys’ school in Bay St. Louis, is switching to remote learning after a coronavirus outbreak.
“As is the case throughout the country, it seems the post-holiday increase in positive cases has hit our school community as well,” the school wrote to parents on Tuesday. “At this time we have seven students and two non-teaching staff members who have tested positive. Given our success thus far in following the most stringent guidelines available, we believe it is best to move to remote learning for all and to suspend all athletic and extracurricular activities.”
The letter to parents did not indicate how long the switch to remote learning would last, but Brother Barry Landry, president of the school, said they would make a decision at the end of this week as to whether continue remote learning next week.
The letter said that the school had previously managed to avoid a significant numbers of cases by following stringent guidelines. The isolated cases that occurred, the letter said, were due to off-campus exposure.
The state last updated the number of cases at schools and students in quarantine on Jan. 12, for the week of Jan. 4-Jan. 8. At that point, Saint Stanislaus had reported that one to five students had tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the school year, and no staff members. (The state does not release a precise figure when a school reports fewer than five cases, claiming that this is necessary to protect individual privacy.)
During the week ending Jan. 8, Saint Stanislaus reported seven students were quarantined because of coronavirus exposure.
Saint Stanislaus offers a boarding program that serves some international students.
“We are making accommodations for individual students depending on their family wishes or circumstances,” Landry said in an email to the Sun Herald.
The letter to parents said the school’s remote learning will include live instruction for all classes and follow the standard schedule of classes from 8:25 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. That system has been in place since August and used for students in quarantine and who needed it for family reasons, the letter said.
“This decision to transition to remote learning will only be effective if all families adhere to the CDC guidelines regarding monitoring health, use of masks, social distancing, and hand-washing,” the letter concluded. “We implore you to be as safe as possible in your personal lives so that we can return to in-person learning and resume our athletic seasons as soon as possible.”
