With gratitude to our Heavenly Father, we are today announcing the suspension of the mask-wearing mandate at all HOPE Christian Schools in the City of Milwaukee beginning March 1.  Scholars and staff who prefer to continue wearing a protective mask may do so. We will continue to require proper handwashing protocol and hand sanitation gel will still be made available to our students and staff. We ask any scholars or staff who feel ill and are running a fever not to report to school.

We will be forever grateful to our parents and staff who have been, over the two years of the pandemic, understanding and patient as we successfully followed the mandates set down by the CDC and local health departments to protect our scholars, staff, and visitors on our campuses from infection with COVID 19.

January 3, 2021 

 Dear Scholars and Families, 

 HOPE Christian School Fortis will temporarily change learning modalities to be virtual only from Tuesday, January 4, 2022, through Friday, January 7, 2022, due to several teachers and staff testing positive for COVID-19. We are planning to revisit the conversation of re-opening our doors on Monday, January 10th after deliberating with our network, and will provide you an update on status by 4pm Friday January 7.   
During this temporary virtual learning period, students will use their school-issued Chromebook to do the following to continue learning: 

•    Teachers will begin doing live instruction for the following subjects based on their class schedule which can be found on Class Dojo: Word of God, English Language Arts, and Math classes
•    When scholars are not receiving live instruction, as mentioned above, they should complete Lexia, Zearn, and/or IXL depending on their grade levels:
o    k5-6th grade scholars should complete 4 Zearn lessons a week
o    8th grade scholars should complete at least 300 questions a week on IXL
o    Every scholar should login to Lexia to complete their assigned minutes weekly
•    Complete the daily attendance ticket for each class on Google Classroom
•    Find daily assignments on the Google Classroom stream and assignment tab
•    Complete and submit daily work on Google Classroom

We thank you for your continued support and understanding as we strive to provide high quality education in a safe and healthy school environment. We hope to be able to resume in-person instruction on Monday, January 10th, 2022. 

Blessings, 
Breonna Stone, Principal HOPE Christian School Fortis 

Download Letter Here

 

Dear HOPE Parents:

In an effort to keep our schools safe for your scholars at a time when the City of Milwaukee is experiencing increases in COVID positivity rates, the following procedures will be in place beginning 9/82021.

1.  All individuals in our schools will be required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status.
2.  We will still follow CDC guidelines around keeping all areas of our schools sanitized.
3.  Hand sanitizer will continue be available in classrooms, hallways, offices, and community spaces.
4. We will notify you if your scholar has been exposed to COVID as defined by our health and safety protocols.
5. If your scholar is running a fever or has other COVID symptoms, please keep your scholar home from school and consider contacting your healthcare provider for further information.

May God continue to shed His light upon you and your family,

Ellen Bartling, PhD

Executive Director

HOPE Christian Schools

Download Letter Here

Dear HOPE Parents and Families:

We are very much looking forward to welcoming our scholars for the start of the 2021-22 school year in late August. With the changes in COVID recommendations from the CDC, issued 7.9.21, and the end of health department mandates for schools, our HOPE COVID On-Campus Operations Framework Team met recently to determine HOPE’s 2021-22 COVID Health and Safety Protocols; and we would like to share the following updates with you.

• Mask Wearing

  • Scholars and school staff will not be required to wear masks on campus, in most cases, but may do so if they wish.

  • Visitors, including parents and volunteers, will be required to wear masks on campus and follow all visitor protocols.

  • Scholars and school staff will be required to wear masks during all-school assemblies/chapels when these events are held in the gym.

• School Arrival Screening

  • Temperatures will no longer be taken upon scholar or staff arrival at school. We ask, however, that parents/guardians monitor their scholar’s health for symptoms of COVID and other communicable diseases before scholars leave home for school. We will continue to require scholars who are ill upon arrival at school or become ill during the school day to be sent home as soon as is possible.

• Field Trips

  • All field trips will be approved on a case-by-case basis after reviewing COVID risk factors that may impact scholar/staff attendance.

• Breakfast and Lunch

  • All scholar meals will continue to be served on pre-filled/sealed individual trays. Each campus will determine whether scholars will eat meals in their classrooms or adequately spaced with their cohort in the cafeteria. All eating surfaces will be cleaned/sanitized before/after student use.

• Movement of Scholars

  • Scholars in Kindergarten – Grade 4 will continue to be part of a classroom cohort throughout the day.

  • Scholars in middle (grades 5-8) and high school (grades 9-12) will be allowed to transition from one classroom to another maintaining appropriate space between cohort groups while in the hallways.

  • Staff will ensure that learning spaces are clean/sanitized between cohort use.

• Cleaning and Personal Hygiene

  • All common spaces and restrooms will continue to be cleaned throughout the school day as we did during the 20-21 school year.

  • Scholars will wash and sanitize their hands before/after eating and after using the restroom.

  • Shared scholar materials such as gym equipment and math manipulatives will be sanitized between scholar use.

  • Scholars will be issued plastic water bottles at the beginning of the school year, and water bottle filling stations will be available for scholar use again this year.

  • Hand sanitizer dispensers will remain in place throughout our school building for scholar and staff use.

• Interscholastic Sports

  • Our scholars will resume participation in competitive interscholastic sports as approved by their parents/guardians and following the protocols established by athletic governing agencies.

• Personal Space
  • We will maintain a 3 foot distance between scholars in our classrooms when feasible. All attempts will be made to keep scholars a safe distance apart in common areas when feasible.

If you have concerns or questions regarding these updates or would like further information, please contact your scholar’s principal.

We pray for God’s blessings on our scholars, their families, and our staff during the upcoming school year,

Ellen Bartling, PhD | Executive Director | HOPE Christian Schools

Download Parent Letter