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This private school has been open all school year, and has had zero in-school transmissions of COVID-19. And its tuition is far less than what the public schools spend. The real reason for keeping the public schools closed has nothing to do with COVID-19.
wordpress ^ | March 1, 2021 | Dan from Squirrel Hill

Posted on 03/01/2021 12:53:42 PM PST by grundle

This private school has been open all school year, and has had zero in-school transmissions of COVID-19. And its tuition is far less than what the public schools spend. The real reason for keeping the public schools closed has nothing to do with COVID-19.

By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)

March 1, 2021

According to this article, zero cases of COVID-19 have been contracted at this private Catholic school in Philadelphia, which has been open for the entire school year so far.

For students who are not part of the school’s affiliated church, tuition is $6,332 yer year. It’s even less for students who are part of the church.

Source: https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/19763/documents/2021/2/Saint%20Pio%202021-2022%20Tuition%20Letter%20and%20Rates.pdf

By comparison, the budget for Philadelphia’s public schools is $14,812 per student per year.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=School_District_of_Philadelphia&oldid=1002556395

This debunks the claim that public schools don’t have enough money to deal with COVID-19.

Somehow, this private school, with far less money per student, was able to open up, and have zero in-school cases of transmission.

Whatever the reason is for keeping the public schools closed, it has nothing to do with COVID-19.

https://whyy.org/articles/in-person-classes-old-buildings-almost-no-covid-are-philly-catholic-schools-a-blueprint/

In-person classes. Old buildings. Almost no COVID. Are Philly Catholic schools a blueprint?

By Avi Wolfman-Arent

February 21, 2021

Francesca Russo hesitates to acknowledge any good news without crossing herself and knocking on wood.

When it comes to COVID, the principal at St. Pio Regional Catholic School in South Philadelphia likes to cover her bases — physical and spiritual.

“We have not had many cases,” said Russo, who was a teacher at St. Pio’s for 19 years before becoming principal two years ago. “Thank goodness. Knock on some kind of wood. We did play it scary-mary safe.”

Each room at St. Pio’s has a window cracked and a door open. There’s a system for when students can use bathrooms between regular cleanings. And each desk has a three-panel barrier that students raise whenever they need to lower their masks.

Behind the barriers sit roughly 230 students, from pre-K through eighth grade, about the same number who occupied this building last year. They’ve been learning in a decades-old Catholic school five days a week since the school year began.

Five members of the school community have contracted COVID-19 since September, Russo says. One of them is among the school’s 15 all-virtual students. Three contracted the virus over winter break while school was closed. The fifth also contracted the virus outside of school.

So far, according to Russo, there’s been no in-school transmission.

“We love these kids,” said Russo. “We’d do anything to make sure they’re safe, protected, and happy.”

St. Pio’s is one of about 100 elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that has been open for full-time, face-to-face education since the school year began. Together, the schools host about 35,000 educators and children in buildings every day, according to the archdiocese. Archdiocesan high schools, meanwhile, have been open on a hybrid schedule.

While public debate swirls over whether the School District of Philadelphia should reopen school buildings on a part-time basis for about 9,000 pre-K through second grade students, another elementary system in the same region has opened its doors to nearly four times as many students. Leaders say they’ve managed to do so safely.

Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia share the same geography as the city’s public schools. And perhaps more than any other school system in the region, the parochial sector shares the public schools’ legacy of contraction, tight budgets, and, in some places, aging infrastructure.

Yet, according to officials, Catholic elementary and high schools in the five-county region have recorded just one suspected instance of in-school transmission during the pandemic. Using bedrock mitigation strategies, the parochial system believes it’s kept kids safer in schools than they would’ve been in the outside world. They’re determined to keep it that way.

“We’re gonna hold the course until June,” said Andrew McLaughlin, the archdiocese’s secretary of elementary education.



TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: education; schools

1 posted on 03/01/2021 12:53:42 PM PST by grundle
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To: grundle

“Whatever the reason is for keeping the public schools closed, it has nothing to do with COVID-19.”

The teachers’ unions don’t want to work. The ‘remote learning’ is BS, and doesn’t work, and they know it.


2 posted on 03/01/2021 1:01:25 PM PST by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: grundle

Must be location to location. My kids have all been back in school since the new semester started in January. Elementary, Jr High, Sr High. No issues, no complaints from anyone. (North Dakota)


3 posted on 03/01/2021 1:05:36 PM PST by BBQToadRibs2
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To: grundle

This is the exact situation at the private high school where my brother teaches. Tuition is half of what is spent in public schools and 93% of graduates go on to graduate from COLLEGE. Teachers and school administrators have to answer to the parents who pay the bills unlike in public schools where no one his EVER held accountable.


4 posted on 03/01/2021 1:06:12 PM PST by 12chachacha (Bad illogical advice)
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To: grundle

I teach in Texas, and we have been at school since the start of the school year. We’ve had exactly 1 case of the chinese virus, and 1 case of the flu virus this year.


5 posted on 03/01/2021 1:10:47 PM PST by gop4lyf (Gay marriage is neither. Democrats are the party of sore losers and pedophiles.)
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To: grundle

All overkill. The kids are the safest people from the ChiCom Virus on the planet.


6 posted on 03/01/2021 1:13:40 PM PST by romanesq (TRUSTY THE PLAN! So ChiCom Joe is the Plan? Que magnificent! /s 👹.)
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To: grundle
The real reason for keeping the public schools closed has nothing to do with COVID-19.

It's the same reason for keeping lock downs and mask mandates in place which have nothing to do with COVID-19.

7 posted on 03/01/2021 1:13:41 PM PST by rllngrk33 (It seems the soap box and ballot box have failed, it might be time for the bullet box.)
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To: grundle

So how much are homeowners saving in local taxes because of schools being closed due to Covid? They must be getting a rebate at least since schools are not being used; for example, janitorial services and cafeteria workers aren’t needed, which common sense tells us should be a significant saving for school districts.


8 posted on 03/01/2021 1:14:58 PM PST by Prince of Space (Irish lives matter!)
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To: carriage_hill

Typical government employee mentality: No work; 100% pay.

Government employee unions are organized criminal enterprises. They feed at the public trough using coersion and bribes/votes as currency. Maybe they should all be dissolved for RICO violations.


9 posted on 03/01/2021 1:15:46 PM PST by Third Wheel
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To: grundle

EVERYTHING about COVID is a LIE. When you start from there, everything that is and has been going on, makes sense.


10 posted on 03/01/2021 1:17:49 PM PST by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell)
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To: grundle

My son’s Christian school has been in-person only since they started on time in August. A few cases here and there, but they don’t appear to have spread in school. Meanwhile, county schools started two weeks late and are about half live and half virtual, meaning no one is getting anything done.


11 posted on 03/01/2021 1:18:54 PM PST by tnlibertarian
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To: grundle

A man I know started a new, conservative Catholic high school in our area. Our Bishop told him, “we’re closing schools, do we really need another?” but agreed to rent him a disused parish school building for $1 year.

Started 6 years ago with 12 students. Teachers were local university professors who volunteered their time to get it started. Daily mass, Latin, classical philosophy, math, science, English classics. No social justice or liberation theology. Tuition is <$6000. Now up to 150 students. First graduating class already attending top universities.

Flee the government indoctrination camps before the cultural revolution comes to you.


12 posted on 03/01/2021 1:30:28 PM PST by PGR88
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To: Third Wheel

Worth repeating all day long:

“Typical government employee mentality: No work; 100% pay.

Government employee unions are organized criminal enterprises. They feed at the public trough using coersion and bribes/votes as currency. Maybe they should all be dissolved for RICO violations.”


13 posted on 03/01/2021 1:41:57 PM PST by Carriage Hill (A society grows great when old men plant trees, in whose shade they know they will never sit.)
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To: grundle

Same thing w/ Chicago Catholic schools!!! Have in class learning..students doing GREAT!!!


14 posted on 03/01/2021 1:51:25 PM PST by Paul46360 (What??ME worry?)
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Same in Phoenix Catholic schools.

In person since August, a few flu cases here and there.

And no communist indoctrination.

But still a mask requirement while in school.


15 posted on 03/01/2021 1:55:40 PM PST by AlmaKing
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To: Prince of Space
They must be getting a rebate at least since schools are not being used; for example, janitorial services and cafeteria workers aren’t needed, which common sense tells us should be a significant saving for school districts.

I have heard that in many places the school cafeteria workers still make meals for home schooled student's parents to drive by and pickup.   The childern (sp) need proper nutrition, don't you know.   Oh also, those government workers still get a paycheck.

16 posted on 03/01/2021 2:45:34 PM PST by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken )
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To: 12chachacha

My family have been going to the SAME Christian private academy for decades. NEVER CLOSED. Doesnt teach fag curriculums and we say prayer AND stand at attention to the flag every morning.

As of last year, there is still a 3 year wait for enrollment. Parents in the area know it is NOT a liberal school and the admissions people know if the parents are leftards due to the interview process. I took the same subtle questions when we interview employees as we dont want Dummycrats in our business..


17 posted on 03/01/2021 3:32:44 PM PST by max americana (FIRED LEFTARD employees at our office every election since 2008 and enjoyed seeing them cry.)
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To: grundle

Rd later.


18 posted on 03/01/2021 6:39:12 PM PST by NetAddicted (Just looking)
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To: grundle

THANK YOU for posting!!!!!


19 posted on 03/01/2021 6:48:42 PM PST by WhattheDickens? (Funny, I didn’t think this was 1984…)
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