COVID-19 End of Year School Closure Notification to Families

April 17, 2020

St. Anne Schools Families,

Good afternoon. It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that on Friday, April 17, 2020 Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced during a press conference that all Illinois public and private schools will remain closed through the rest of the school year.

Referring to the rest of the 2019-2020 school year, Governor Pritzker stated that the “science says our students can’t go back to their normal routines.” He went on to explain that his “priority remains unchanged” and that’s to save the most lives during this difficult time. As a result, the Governor has taken this unprecedented step to close our schools for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year.

The closure affects all programming on the school grounds, including before and after school activities, all athletic and extracurricular practices and competitions, and weekend events. More details regarding SAGS and SACHS end of the year events/activities such as graduation, awards ceremonies, end of the year locker clean out etc., will be forthcoming from the District Office and both St. Anne High School and St. Anne Grade School administration.

It is important to remember, that just because the physical school buildings remain closed, instruction will continue. We will continue our Remote Learning Plans for the duration of the school year. Even during these difficult times, our faculty, staff, and administration remain ready to provide wonderful opportunities for all of our students.

One important change to note is that during what was originally our Spring Break, we were under the Act of God Days per the Governors original order. Act of God days counted toward school attendance days. As a result, we will be moving days used for Spring Break to the end of the school year and finishing a week earlier. The new last day of school will be Thursday May 21, 2020.

As I have said before, it is so important to us to continue to be able to provide meals for our students during this time. We are blessed to have an amazing food service department who has worked hard to do this during these trying times. We will continue to be working with our friends from Cardinal Bus Company to provide a delivery service for these meals to students in our rural areas. Please contact Betsy Statler at statlerb@apps.sags256.org to arrange this for your child. In addition, we will continue to have a meal distribution set up for grab and go meals at St. Anne Grade School for students in both districts. This will be held on Wednesdays of each week and students will take home 5 days’ worth of breakfasts and lunches. As with everything, these plans are subject to change depending on any restrictions that may be handed down by the government. If there are any changes, we will notify you as soon as possible.

I know that none of this has been easy. We are all out of our usual routines and hope to one-day get back to something close to “normal.” We miss our Giants and our Cardinals more than we can say. This is not the way any of us had thought the 2019-2020 school year would go, but I am so proud of our students, families and schools. You have been dealt a tough hand and you have worked hard to battle through. Thank you for your continued understanding and support during these trying and unprecedented times.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact me at stegallc@apps.sags256.org or contact your building principal at their school email account.

Sincerely,

Charles T. Stegall

Superintendent of Schools

COVID-19 End of Year School Closure Notification to Families

SACHS Class of 2020 Graduation