We would like to thank you all for your patience and understanding during the ten-day closure. We would also like to thank all our parents who continue to have faith in the school and all our safety protocols to protect our community from the spread of COVID-19. After consulting with the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, and the Private School Coalition, 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.
While we can look forward to participating in school activities face-to-face, this experience continues to reinforce the need to maintain our safety practices to keep our community safe. Rest assured that Mount Carmel School’s current COVID-19 mitigation protocols have thus far prevented a spread at the school, which we will continue to do as follows:
Conducting temperature and symptom checks for all incoming employees, students, parents, and guests
Requiring everyone on campus to wear a mask
Enforcing a physical distance of at least 6 feet from others
Continuing the use of plexiglass partitions in classroom
Continuing the use of UVC lighting fixtures in all classrooms, which kill all types of coronavirus particles circulated in the rooms
Continuing procedures for ensuring physical distancing during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up
All faculty, staff, administrators, and vendors will also reinforce all COVID-19 mitigation guidelines set forth by the school and the CNMI COVID-19 Task Force.
Lunch and Break: November 08 – 12, 2021
As a precautionary measure, from November 08 – 12, 2021, all students will take their break and lunch in their homerooms. All lunch sports activities will be suspended until Monday, November 15, 2021.
During the closure, parents contacted the school about student meals that were paid for prior to the closure, it was recently communicated through LSG that paid meal tickets will be extended to November 19, 2021.
Surveillance Testing
As our school prepares to return to face-to-face learning on Monday, November 08, we highly encourage our students to regularly participate in our free monthly surveillance testing program on campus.
Participants will be tested using the antigen test, which is free, quick, and painless. As a reminder, the antigen test is different from the PCR test given to incoming travelers. The following MCS surveillance testing dates and times are as follows:
November 27, 2021- 8:00AM - 12:00PM
December 18, 2021- 8:00AM - 12:00PM
January 08, 2022- 8:00AM - 3:00PM
January 29, 2022- 8:00AM - 3:00PM
February 26, 2022- 8:00AM - 12:00PM
March 26, 2022- 8:00AM - 12:00PM
April 30, 2022- 8:00AM - 12:00PM
May 28, 2022- 8:00AM - 12:00PM
COVID-19 Vaccines for Students
Early this November, it was announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the CDC does recommend the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11 years old. This coming Saturday, November 06, 2021, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation is expected to receive its first shipment of pediatric doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. While Mount Carmel School is not requiring its students to be vaccinated, the school highly encourages parents to vaccinate their children to protect them from the COVID-19 virus.
The school is also working with the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation to facilitate monthly vaccine events to correspond on the same dates as the school’s surveillance testing.
As positive cases are detected in the community, everyone has a role to play to keep the school community safe. Families who have been contacted by the COVID-19 Task Force for contact tracing are asked to voluntarily share this information with the school. While the school understands that families who have been contacted by the Task Force will desire privacy, lack of communication can pose a greater risk to the school community and a potential school shut down. Lack of information can also delay the school’s ability to enact the necessary COVID-19 mitigation procedures if there were a positive case detected.
To ensure the privacy of any affected family, we ask parents to voluntarily share this information with Acting President Mrs. Frances Taimanao through the following communication platforms below.
While our community continues to do its best to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we ask all families to remain vigilant in their efforts to stop the spread with these three simple Ws:
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds especially after you have been in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
Watch your distance by maintaining a physical distance of at least 6 feet between yourself and other people you don’t live with.
Wear a mask in public settings around people who don’t live in your household.
Should you have any questions and/or concerns, be sure to follow any of our media platforms linked below or reach out to us by email.