Lillie Stevens

St. Cecilia
Beaverton, OR
Lillie Stevens, Principal

St. Cecilia School is fortunate to be participating in Comprehensive Distance Learning with limited in-person instruction occurring on campus for 2-consecutive hours a day.  Currently in Oregon, in order to be on campus full time 4th-8th grade the metrics would have to be less than 10 cases per 100,000 residents in Washington County and for K-3rd the metrics would have to be less than 30 cases per 100,000 residents in Washington County, in addition to meeting a test positivity rate of 5% or less.  Our Pre School students get to be on campus with their regular schedule from 8am-12pm daily and our Transitional Kindergarten students get to be on campus from 8am-3pm, with an early release on Mondays at 2:15pm for staff professional development.

Students in Kindergarten and First grade spend their two-hours of daily instruction working on religion during their morning meeting, calendar time, hands-on math investigations, and using the daily five for English Language Arts.  Students then have their specialist classes virtually throughout the rest of their day in addition to working on asynchronous activities on SeeSaw.

In the Second through Fifth grade classes, students are on campus five days a week for two hours.  They begin their day with an all school prayer, get to work on close readings in English Language Arts, spend time in writer’s workshop, writing their own stories, and work on their math skills beyond just using the textbook, all the while enjoying building relationships with their new teachers and peers.

Middle School students are on campus twice a week and get the opportunity to have one of each of their core classes.  The middle school students have been stepping up to be the leaders of the school, starting our school year off by hosting our all school Masses and daily morning prayer for the entire student body.  The middle school students are truly enjoying having time to work face-to-face with their peers and to have those teachable moments that occur right in the middle of class time.

We are very blessed at St. Cecilia School to have so many specialist teachers that are able to work with the students on their core classes while they are on campus.  Then these specialist teachers are able to meet with each of the classes throughout the week virtually so that the classes continue to have Spanish class, technology class, music class, health and PE classes, and are able to check out books as well as listen to read alouds from our Librarian.

Jason Vaillancourt (parent of two students at St. Cecilia School) said, “In talking to many parents across our school community, it is clear how beneficial the time in school has been for our kids.  While the time in school is short, the benefits are great. Our kids have experienced a little bit of normal in seeing their friends, teachers, and classrooms, while doing it all in an extremely safe manner and enhancing their mental health. The common theme from the parent community has been of appreciation for all the hard work the teachers and administrators have done to give our kids this opportunity to become part of their school community once again.”

Teachers, students, and parents all understand the importance of using every minute of the time students have on campus.  Students are arriving earlier than they ever have before in previous years and with the many staff personnel doing health screenings at the door before entering, the students are using those extra minutes to complete their morning work prior to our all school morning prayer.  Teachers are planning hands-on activities, group discussions, and seizing the opportunity to check in with students in order to keep them on track not only with the assignments and activities while they are on campus, but also those asynchronous and synchronous lessons and activities that happen when the students are off campus.