While their counterparts in the Saint Paul Public Schools continue to learn from home on desktop or laptop computers or tablets, students in local private high schools have been attending classes in person for most if not all of the current school year. With mandatory facemasks, smaller class sizes and large enough rooms to accommodate social distancing, the private schools have avoided all but a few cases of COVID-19 among students and staff, and those cases have been traced to off-campus sources.
All five high schools contacted for this story—Saint Thomas Academy, Visitation School, Cretin-Derham Hall, Saint Paul Academy and Saint Agnes School—allow students who prefer distance learning to take classes remotely from home.
Saint Thomas, an all-boys school in Mendota Heights with 480 students in grades 9-12, tore down walls to enlarge classrooms and upgraded its air filtration system last summer in preparation for the school year, according to headmaster Kelby Woodard. Classes range from 12 to 20 students with desks spaced six feet apart, he said.
In classrooms where a six-foot distance cannot be achieved for all, the extra students learn remotely from the school library via computer. “It’s better than being home all day,” Woodard said. “We look at every in-person school day as being worth two days of distance learning. A key piece is that our families and cadets buy in with 100 percent compliance with mask wearing and the sense that students want to be here in person. They’re willing to make those sacrifices.”
Saint Agnes has been conducting in-person classes for its 312 high school students since late August. “Our faculty knows the best way for kids to learn is in the classroom,” said headmaster Kevin Ferdinandt.
Saint Thomas asked families not to travel over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and those students who did travel agreed to limit themselves to distance learning for two weeks before returning to the classroom.
The academy was listed in a recent report from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) as having five or more cases of COVID-19 during the two weeks prior to December 24. Woodard said that report may be misleading because once a school is on the list it is not removed for 28 days or until the count is zero. Those COVID cases were not contracted in the school, he added, and did not result in closing any classrooms.
Saint Thomas’ sister school in Mendota Heights, all-girls Visitation, did a lot of planning to be able to conduct in-person classes this fall with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, the MDH and the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Headmaster Rene Gavic credits a partnership among teachers, parents and the schools’ 310 students for enabling it to continue with in-person classes.
“We have the gift of space,” Gavic said.
Visitation recently added 4,700 square feet of classroom space in the former Visitation Sisters monastery next door. Average class sizes have been reduced to 15. Student-to-student contact was minimized by eliminating lockers and having teachers rather than students move from classroom to classroom. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems were upgraded, and students’ temperatures are checked every morning.
Visitation had 20-some cases of COVID-19 this fall among students, Gavic said, but all were traced to contacts outside of the school. It, too, was on MDH’s December 24 list as having five or more cases during the previous two weeks. As a precaution, Visitation added a week of distance learning after Christmas break before students return to in-person learning later in January.
Saint Agnes has been conducting in-person classes for its 312 high school students since late August. “Our faculty knows the best way for kids to learn is in the classroom,” said headmaster Kevin Ferdinandt.
The school has been able to maintain social distancing in the classroom by keeping class sizes to an average of 19 students. Students move from classroom to classroom between periods. However, those who experience any symptoms, even symptoms associated with the common cold, are instructed to remain home.
Hybrid learning has been the primary model this fall for the 940 students at Cretin-Derham Hall. One-half to one-quarter of the students are in-person each day, with the rest learning from home. Upgraded computer technology offers students at home a collaborative learning environment similar to what they would get in person, according to CDH spokesperson Annie Broos.
The few COVID-19 cases this fall among Saint Agnes students and staff were traced to sources outside of the school, Ferdinandt said. Students who have been exposed to people who test positive for COVID are required to quarantine, and with the many large families at K-12 Saint Agnes, the number of students quarantining at any one time can number in the dozens.
Saint Paul Academy has followed mostly a hybrid model of learning for its 427 high school students this fall. With half of its students learning from home on any one day, the school has been able to keep its in-person class size to an average of 14.
“The upper school campus is spacious, so we were able to put a lot of safety protocols in place,” said SPA spokesperson Ami Berger. “We also significantly upgraded the HVAC system, so all classrooms are well-ventilated.”
Nevertheless, due to the rising number of COVID cases in Ramsey and Hennepin counties, SPA switched to all-distance learning in mid-November, according to Berger. It hopes to return to a hybrid schedule on January 19, she said.
Hybrid learning has been the primary model this fall for the 940 students at Cretin-Derham Hall. One-half to one-quarter of the students are in-person each day, with the rest learning from home. Upgraded computer technology offers students at home a collaborative learning environment similar to what they would get in person, according to CDH spokesperson Annie Broos.
There have been a few COVID cases among CDH students, Broos said. The high school was listed by MDH as having five or more cases in the two weeks prior to December 24. However, “many of those who tested positive this fall may not have been on campus during the exposure period,” Broos said. The school does aggressive contact tracing, she said, and requires students and staff to quarantine as needed.
“We’re hopeful we can continue our in-person classes,” Broos said. We’re doing everything we can to keep the environment safe, and our community is very compliant.”
—Carolyn Walkup
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