August 31, 2020
By Paul McMullan/Catholic Review
Photos: Kevin J. Parks/CR staff)
TOWSON – Amid considerably greater anticipation than normal, Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore opened for the 2020-21 school year Aug. 31.
Elementary and some high school students returned to classrooms for the first time in 171 days, as the coronavirus pandemic had shuttered schools and led to remote learning from home. With social distancing, masks and other precautions in place, teachers welcomed children in person for the first time since March 14.
There was also more anxiety than normal, which Archbishop William E. Lori acknowledged before he visited some classrooms at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Baynesville, where he was asked about ongoing concerns about COVID-19.
“First and foremost, our concern is their health and safety,” he said. “We’ve done everything that we can. … We also recognize how good it is for our young people, socially and emotionally, to be able to be back in school and to be able to interact with their classmates and their teachers.
“We are vigilant. I think we’ve worked really hard to do everything humanly possible to do this well and wisely.”
All Catholic schools in the archdiocese that are open for in-person instruction will also offer remote learning options for students and families.
Jesse Lee Mixson and his wife, Loria, sat in the front seat of the first vehicle in line at the IHM School entrance for the upper grades. She explained their thought process before their son, Jesse, a fifth-grader, jumped out of the back seat and began his new year of school.
His mother is a teacher in the Baltimore City Public Schools system, and said there was “no way I can do my job and watch him.” Her perspective includes attending a parish school in Manhattan, which she considers the springboard to an honors program at a high school in The Bronx, a scholarship to Syracuse University, a master’s degree from Temple University, and teaching in Catholic schools in New York and Philadelphia.
“I want my son to have the same experience,” she said. “I know they have the best interests of the children and families at heart, but as a mother, you worry.”
Full story and gallery at CatholicReview.org
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