Aquinas Academy began remote learning on March 17, 2020. Over the next three months, our students had many opportunities to interact with their teachers and classmates. In the younger grades, Zoom meetings were held two to three times per week. In addition, each grade had their own remote learning page on our website and teachers posted videos explaining work to be done and were available to answer questions the students might have. The upper grades had Zoom meetings almost daily. Our teachers were available to answer questions and provide additional help to those students who needed it. 
 
In order to provide children with the opportunity to socialize with their friends, teachers provided activities through Zoom such as "lunch bunch" and story time. We also had weekly family nights through Zoom. Families received an invitation and registered in advance each week for activities such as Bingo, Pictionary, scavenger hunts, and trivia nights.
 
We are actively planning for our fall re-opening. We anticipate having in-school classes in September with strict adherence to all guidelines from the State Department of Health and the CDC as well as those set forth by the Livingston Health Department and Board of Education. Our smaller class size will help insure adequate social distancing in the classroom and during lunch periods. 
 
We are sensitive to the needs of all families, including those who may not feel comfortable returning to live instruction in the fall for a variety of reasons. Therefore, we are planning to provide the option for full-day, live-streamed classes for those students on remote instruction. In addition to the live-streamed instruction, we are planning to use interactive programs, such as Classkick, in which the teacher can view the work of the remote learning students in real time and respond. We are also developing plans should we be required to return to full remote learning at some point in the future. 
 
We are currently conducting a survey of all of our families regarding their thoughts and concerns with school plans for the fall. We will also receive guidance from the Archdiocese of Newark Schools Task Force. Communication with our community is paramount in conjunction with all other proposed guidelines in finalizing our comprehensive school reopening plan. Upon completion, we will have our plan posted on our website on or before August 10, 2020. 
 
We look forward to continuing to provide a safe, nurturing, quality education for our Aquinas students.