St. Augustine High School (Saints), in San Diego, safely and successfully completed both its summer school and summer athletic programs for more than 400 students. Complying with county health requirements and implementing rigorous safety measures, Saints was able to offer in-person learning for 214 students and athletic training programs for 192 athletes without any reports of on-campus Covid-19 cases. Moving forward, Saints is exploring all options to offer the best educational experience for their students. Saints filed a lawsuit, August, 6th, against Governor Newsom, and related state officials, seeking to prohibit the enforcement of Governor Newsom’s discriminatory school shutdown order, thereby allowing Saints to bring its students back to campus for in-person schooling. Seven families of students attending Saints, including Timothy Cabana, Juan and Gabriella Enciso, Cesar and Blanca Gonzalez, Martha Hernandez, Thelma Villasenor, Tomasa White, and Antonio Zazueta, have joined in the lawsuit. Saints will offer a distance learning option for those families who don’t want to send their children back to school.
“At Saints, we don’t believe remote learning is sufficient to provide a quality education our students are entitled to and our families have come to expect,” said Principal James Horne. “We are confident we can open our school safely, consistent with CDC and San Diego County health guidance. We ran a safe and successful summer school program and believe it is an indicator that we can safely return to school in the fall.”
…Many families fear the negative mental health impacts by keeping kids isolated in a distance learning environment, while some fear exposure to Covid-19. Many Saints’ families have two working parents that want to ensure their children are in a safe learning environment during the day. Many students come from low income families that deserve the right to a quality education; the virtual learning environment has proven more difficult for children of low-income families….
With the success they achieved during their summer programs, Saints intends to implement the same rigorous measures that will provide a safe return to the classroom for those students that choose in-person learning. Each student will be required to wear masks and adhere to social distancing requirements, the air conditioning systems will use UV lights that were installed over the summer to sanitize the air circulating in classrooms and buildings, and buildings and classrooms will be routinely sanitized with an electrostatic disinfecting mist system….
Saints uses a teaching technique called relational teaching. It emphasizes the importance of connectivity and relationships between the student and teacher as well as their fellow Saintsmen. Saints believes in “The Brotherhood” in which students remain bonded for life. For these reasons, the faculty and staff are committed to doing what it takes to return to this type of environment for learning.
The above comes from an Aug. 6 release from St. Augustine High School.
Any guess as to how long before Principal James Horne is fired by McElroy?
I’m sure that bars don’t believe remote drinking is sufficient. Guess what? Tough. Newsom says remote learning, so deal with it.
Pro-baby killing (and nursing home residents) Cuomo thinks it’s safe to open the schools in NY what’s pro=-abortion Newsom afraid of? Oh, he really cares about kids I forgot..what a joke!…
And they sure are dealing well! Prayers for this high school!
The Church didn’t submit to Diocletian in his persecution, nor did the Church bow to Plutarco Calles. The Church
should not obey Newsom either.
I was right! I was wondering how long it would take before someone would post something about this school’s administration wanting to kill off its students and refuse obedience to Newsom. Yep, these folks just don’t care about their kids and want to kill ’em. Just like the bishop and clergy in Tijuana. They don’t care about people. (Maybe they all became clergy or educators for the money.).
Anonymous, are you eating remotely?
If not, I suspect you go to the grocery store or, more likely, if you can afford it, have your groceries delivered.
How is this shut down effecting you personally?
As one scholar noted, every single person who has decided to shut down businesses, schools, churches and other places has a full on-going paycheck. It’s easy to decide what others should or shouldn’t do with “no skin in the game.”
I’m not sure San Diego Bishop McElroy can fire Principal Horne since the school is not Diocesan supported.
What is the all girls Catholic HS doing? what is the co-ed Diocesan HS doing?
Anyone want a small pool wager on when Saints has its first Covid case?
Mike, sure. But, I’d have to figure out how to collect from you.
This high school already had its first COVID case.
You can simply donate your wager loss to your local St. Vincent de Paul Society. Many people are out of work or underemployed due to COVID restrictions and could use assistance. That would be a good thing for a Christian to do. Thanks.
Let’s face it, dictators do what they want to do and if you don”t like it, that’s your problem. If you decide to speak up, just remember, he knows where you live.
Governor Newsom’s original social lock-down had the stated goal of not overloading the hospital system. This was a wise and prudent objective. Once he met this objective, though, he executed “mission creep” and continued with the lock-down indefinitely with only vague, questionable objectives.
The problem is that this indefinite lockdown is unconstrained and without legislative or judicial oversight. This is raw power that points to a flaw in the California constitution as well as to violations of the U.S. Constitution.
There’s currently a recall effort to remedy this situation. A downloadable petition and a list of petition sites can be found at https://recallgavin2020.com/
Steve, I agree with you in part and disagree with you in part. The stated goal, was as you said, to avoid overloading the hospital system and he has pretty much accomplished that. So far. Had we used that time to boost our capacity, our PPE, muster our population for the long haul for managing social distancing, for preparing the population for the psychological and economical consequences of a pandemic, boost the quantity of drugs that have been proven to lessen mortality and hospitalizations, etc., then we could be more open. But even here in CA, we have mixed results, and some people are not complying with social distancing and mask guidelines. Most are complying. But it only takes a few massive parties, large gatherings, group events, weddings, etc., to set us back to square one.
About your judicial oversight question: There is judicial oversight. People have brought lawsuits on behalf of various entities including Churches. And just about universally, the courts have ruled in favor of this Governor and other governors who cite a public health emergency.
But the real answer is not in any kind of government mandated shutdown and distancing measures, which is why no one, as far as I know, has been cited with a violation of the laws. The real answer is you and me, voluntarily complying with the things we know prevent the spread of this awful disease.
The Law according to St. Gavin, the 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt honor thy State Governor”.
Mr. Horne cannot be fired by Bishop McElroy because St. Augustine High is not a diocesan school. St. Augustine High School is owned and operated by the Order of St. Augustine in the Province of St. Augustine, in California.
newsom is just some dude
what makes his OPINION special ???
just askin’
He is the elected Governor of California, and has a sworn duty to provide for public health and safety, that’s what, Jack.
Anonymous, I believe bars are closed in San Diego.
Xavier, FYI there are many COVID outbreaks being linked to re-opened schools.
We are about to top 5 million cases in the US, and One Hundred Sixty One Thousand Deaths.
We can’t even tell how we are doing in San Diego and any other California county because there is a glitch in the state testing database, and the Feds changed the reporting on hospitalizations about 2 weeks ago. We don’t even know if we are drowning or being saved.
Solidly Catholic attorney Charles LiMandri graduated from St. Augustine High School in the mid 1970s. I wonder if he’s helping with the lawsuit?