In anticipation of Mount Carmel School’s “Night with the Knights” gala on Saturday, February 04, 2023, Mount Carmel School is accepting nominations for the special awards that will be announced during the event. This year’s event is special as it is dedicated to also celebrating seventy years of the school’s commitment to faith, service, tradition, and excellence.

Mount Carmel School’s recent graduates Alyson Red Velarde Camacho, Michael Canice Litulumar Camacho, Jimin Kwon, Cory Lee, David Rui Li, Francel Lumanlan, Christopher Adam L. Mafnas, Ariel Sumiishi Morales, Chelsea Taylor Palacios Olouachel, Kiana Lei Manglona Propst, Vidal Jose Borja Sablan, Haani Skylar Tomokane Seman, Margarita Leighanna Sanchez Terlaje, Jennalyn Rose Travilla, Kaia De Jesus Travilla, and Gayle Noreen Habaluyas Vidal have committed to attend Northern Marianas College starting this Fall 2022.

Mount Carmel School recently announced her student council leaders for the 2022-2023 school year. The MCS Student Council (STUCO) is responsible for organizing activities, which build school pride, spirit, and unity. STUCO, acting as the voice of the student body, provides a channel through which ideas from students in all grades can be expressed and shared. The STUCO president is also a member of the school’s leadership team to serve as the voice of the student body.

On March 27, 2022, Governor Ralph DLG Torres issued a press release stating that the CNMI is in COVID-19 Community Level Medium and will no longer recommend for all people to wear a mask indoors in public. However, people who are considered immunocompromised, at high risk for severe illness, or reside with someone who is immunocompromised, should talk to a healthcare provider about whether they need to wear a mask and take other precautions. That said, Mount Carmel School is ready to share the following summarized below: • Effective, April 11, 2022, Mount Carmel School will give individuals the option to wear a mask indoors and outdoors while on campus. • Mount Carmel School will continue to promote recommended COVID-19 mitigation practices • Mount Carmel School encourages parents/guardians to discuss the school’s recent COVID-19 update with their students • CNMI’s COVID-19 Resources

As shared on the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation’s official media outlets, the CNMI is experiencing a recent surge of positive cases. While containing the community spread of the virus is unlikely, Mount Carmel School is making the following adjustments to keep students and employees safe, as well as sharing vital information summarized below: • Mount Carmel School will return to optional face-to-face synchronous learning or asynchronous remote learning until February 24, 2022 • All extracurricular activities are suspended until February 24, 2022 • Mount Carmel School reminds families of MCS COVID-19 protocols • Parents are asked to support the school’s efforts to keep students safe • Official contact information to help our families

As 2021 comes to a close, the Mount Carmel School team would first like to express our sincere appreciation for our families and their support during this challenging semester. Many hurdles were presented due to the pandemic and we want to assure our stakeholders that the school’s leadership team has always worked to best meet the needs of students, employees, and families. That said, the school has several anticipated announcements summarized below and explained further in detail in the latter half of this letter: • From January 05 – January 14, 2022, families will be given the option for synchronous face-to-face learning and asynchronous remote learning • The school has made adjustments to its COVID-19 Policies and Procedures in line with recommendations by CHCC and CDC o Adjusted Learning Environments o Response Procedures to Positive COVID-19 Cases • Adjustments to Mount Carmel School’s next surveillance testing scheduled for Saturday, January 08, 2022. • Extracurricular activities will resume but with specific adjustments • Help Stop the Spread

Our team would like to thank you all for your patience, support, and understanding as the school tackles the dynamic challenges this pandemic presents to our community. As we have stressed before, we aim to create solutions that will best serve all our community members but most importantly, solutions that will keep our students and employees safe. That said, starting December 06, 2021, Mount Carmel School will enact the following changes summarized below for your convenience: Protect our school community. Stop the spread through proactive communication. Mount Carmel School will reopen, December 06, 2021, and will continue to provide parents the option to have their child participate in asynchronous remote learning or face-to-face synchronous learning. Supporting the needs of teachers: Mount Carmel School will return to four days of face-to-face synchronous learning, Monday to Thursday, and one day of asynchronous learning every Friday. When on campus, MCS students will take break in class and lunch in the cafeteria for 7-12 grades. K4 to 6th grade students will have lunch in the classrooms. All sports and extracurricular activities will remain suspended until Monday, January 03, 2022. Students will need proof of vaccination in order to participate in any school-sanctioned extracurricular activities. Mount Carmel School has made updates to its current response procedures.

Mount Carmel School considers the health and well-being of our students and staff a priority. With that in mind, we are sending this letter home for your awareness. It was communicated to the administration today, November 23, 2021, that another student has tested positive for COVID-19. As the school works to support the affected student, class, and families, we ask parents to remain calm and refer to the official information below for guidance: Mount Carmel School received notice of its second positive case therefore, face-to-face classes are canceled tomorrow, November 24, 2021. Students will participate in remote asynchronous learning starting Monday, November 29 to December 03, 2021. Students will pick up their belongings on Monday, November 29, 2021. Slots are still available for the school’s vaccination event and surveillance testing. As positive cases rise, Mount Carmel School will work with medical experts and healthcare professionals to best protect and serve the school community.

As we have all been learning in the past few weeks, new community transmissions of COVID-19 continue to be detected in our community. As numbers rise and living through this pandemic has become our new normal, our team has several important announcements to make, which are also summarized below as follows for your convenience:  An MCS student tested positive for COVID-19. Mount Carmel School is ready to enact its current COVID-19 response procedures to keep the school community safe. Mount Carmel School will continue to provide the option for students to participate in face-to-face synchronous or asynchronous remote learning. All student extracurricular activities are canceled until further notice. Mount Carmel School’s upcoming COVID-19 testing and vaccination events will continue as scheduled this Saturday, November 27, 2021. Mount Carmel School’s leadership will revisit the school’s current response procedures to better serve the school community.

As communicated, Mount Carmel School will continue to provide face-to-face classes but will give parents the option to keep their child at home to complete asynchronous work. However, synchronous Zoom classes will not be provided as teachers will be conducting lessons in person.

Mount Carmel School will resume face-to-face classes on Monday, November 08, 2021, with the option for students to stay home and do asynchronous work from November 08 to 12, 2021. However, Mount Carmel School will resume full synchronous face-to-face learning on campus starting Monday, November 15, 2021.

As the CNMI COVID-19 Task Force, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation (CHCC), and other agencies respond to the recent community transmission of COVID-19, Mount Carmel School is taking the following courses of action to best serve its employees, students, and community.

In accordance with Governor Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres’ recent directive, Mount Carmel School will not facilitate face-to-face classes for the next ten days. At this time, asynchronous classes will not go into effect as we need to give our teachers ample time to prepare for the transition to online learning. A separate announcement will be made regarding a scheduled student supply pick-up. We kindly ask students and parents for their patience as the school will also need time to gather more information from the Office of the Governor, the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, and the CNMI Public School System before activating any additional protocols.

It was recently announced by the CNMI Office of the Governor and the CNMI Public School System that three individuals were confirmed positive through surveillance testing. Based on the developing situation and current information disseminated by both official agencies, Mount Carmel School has decided to continue with face-to-face classes, with parents given the option of keeping their students at home for tomorrow's classes.