A message from Assumption School Principal Lana Rocheford
It is hard to believe we started the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring and now find ourselves approaching the holidays. Your commitment to learning and community health and safety throughout has been outstanding and, as a result, Assumption School remains poised to successfully continue its reopening process.
Many families, like mine, are likely starting to have difficult conversations about how they will spend their Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. As you start to make your plans this year, please strongly consider how your plans can best align with the school’s priority of keeping our classrooms free of the virus and building on our plans to continue bringing students back into the classroom.
Alameda County released guidelines this week for staying safe during the holidays. Regarding gatherings, they strongly advise:
- Keep it small: Your gathering should include no more than 3 households, including the host family. The smaller the number of people, the safer.
- Keep it outdoors: People may go inside to use restrooms, as long as restrooms are sanitized often and attendees only go one at a time.
- Keep it short: a two-hour limit is recommended.
- Keep it STABLE: Do not participate in multiple gatherings with many different households.
Since COVID-19 is spreading rapidly across the country, Alameda County recommends against non-essential travel for the holidays. If you travel outside the Bay Area, it is strongly recommended that you self-quarantine for 14 days after your return if your activities while traveling put you at higher risk of getting COVID-19.
If you plan on traveling and have students that are currently in in-person learning, please advise your teacher of your travel plans and transition to distance learning for two weeks per the County’s guidelines.
We asked some Assumption families to share with us some ways they plan to celebrate safely and what they are thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Patrick and Kristyn Whalen, parents to TK’s Elias, say that adapting this year to the pandemic has been a blessing in disguise. They get to spend their first Christmas at home and they look forward to that. Kristyn shares “We started a new tradition during the pandemic of doing scavenger hunts to mark special occasions and we plan to do one for Thanksgiving. Elias loves creating the clues for his younger brother! While we’ll miss seeing Grandma and Grandpa in person, but we are thankful for technology and chat with them often on FaceTime."
Josh and Meghan Meyer, parents to TK’s Brayden and 1st Grade’s Madelyn, are doing a small traditional Thanksgiving dinner with their social bubble, which only includes their immediate family and Meghan’s mom and dad. Having their grandparents in their social bubble has helped daily with Brayden and Madelyn’s childcare and distance learning. Meghan’s dad will roast the turkey; and, Meghan plans to handle appetizers and sides. They plan to zoom her aunt and uncle, who would have normally been included in the dinner. Meghan expresses “We are trying to stay focused on gratitude this year more than ever. We have each other, our health, a warm and safe home, and are employed – that’s a lot to be thankful for."
Shannon Levya, mom to Robby in TK, Mason in 4th grade and Mary in 8th grade, shares that they have always been on the cautious end where gatherings are concerned. This year, they are busy with a major construction project on their home. “Our social bubble is small. I am my mom’s caretaker and keeping her safe, and my family is a top priority. Our construction project will keep us busy during the holidays, so we are keeping our holiday celebration simple."
You can read more from Alameda County on safe gatherings for the holidays at https://covid-19.acgov.org/sip.