The private school for girls in grades 6-12 welcomed students back into the classroom for five-days-a-week instruction on Sept. 9, employing masks and distancing but not COVID-19 vaccines, revamped ventilation or other items being demanded by teachers’ unions.
Even so, Oakcrest has thrived. All but one faculty member returned. One student and one teacher contracted the coronavirus (aka COVID19 or Chinese Plague)
...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men.... The school temporarily quarantined the student’s grade, but otherwise never missed a beat, keeping its doors open, offering multiple sports, even putting on a fully masked spring production of "Antigone."
"We definitely found it to be doable in our case, given our circumstances," said Miriam Leon Buono, Oakcrest School associate head of school for operations. "I would not presume to tell others, but I do know that in-person learning has been a great gift to our children, and the faculty has been heroic. We’ve been very successful."
With the end of the 2020-21 school year in sight, she said, "we’re big advocates for in-person learning, no doubt about it."
With its 23-acre campus in Vienna, Virginia, Oakcrest has a unique advantage in terms of space, and yet its refusal to shut down for the pandemic was typical of U.S. Catholic schools.
Between 90% and 92% of Catholic schools reopened for full-time in-person instruction where possible, and hybrid learning where state and county restrictions prevented it, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.
Association Interim President Kathy Mears said most schools made the decision in June to reopen full time for the 2020-21 school year, and even though "nobody was sure that we could, everyone was going to try."