A message from our President: Preparing for the days to come

Dear Stella Maris Academy families,

First, I believe it’s fair to say that we are all missing our community as we knew it so very much. And while it’s hard, it’s a good thing. It means that we recognize what a great community we have built.
Friday evening, I was picking up a few things from my office and finishing up some work and did my duty as we’ve all been asked to do by wiping down our office spaces. I took everything off my desk (it’s a clear glass surface) and there they were, these beautiful little God-designed fingerprints on top of and below my desk from kids who come to visit me to say hello or to ask questions. As I was wiping them away, I was thinking about how those precious fingerprints have left an indelible mark on my heart and in my memory. This vocation is a blessing beyond measure.
Know that faculty, staff and leadership are working tirelessly to maintain this mission the best way we can in these extraordinary times. We remain sharply focused on our mission and are approaching it with a mission possible mindset, trusting that throughout the rapidly changing times, God is with us and will bring us out of this according to his will. I cannot say enough about how our faculty and staff have faced this faithfully and head on with positivity!
Our primary focus right now is everyone’s health and safety while preparing to continue your child's educational experience with us through remote learning. The teachers are developing some amazing lessons and platforms and more will come from the teachers throughout the week- with formal learning to begin March 30th.
We are also aware of how important it is to remain a connected community. It is certainly a challenge, but as a hallmark of our school, we will seek and build ways to remain connected. Look for more info to come in the Friday principals' update that will help foster a continued connectedness amongst our three-campus community.
With so many digital tools, with instant access and immediate impact, it could be easy to become reliant and distracted. As a school, we are cognizant of this and while we are relying primarily on technology to support remote learning, we encourage a balance. Bishop Robert Barron suggests that a total reliance presents spiritual dangers and an unintended distancing of sorts by endlessly checking and mindlessly scrolling.
In all of this, we don’t want to lose authentic connections. We risk that with an imbalanced reliance on digital connectivity. Please be careful and monitor your children and their screen time. The digital predators are already on this and so parental controls are really important. You can find out more at www.protectyoungeyes.com
Let's make kindness, patience, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and understanding contagious! Write letters, make phone calls, check in on the elderly and support those in need in safe ways, sit with your family together and talk and pray, do puzzles, write stories, research family history, etc. Let's not count entirely on the internet or TV for our connectedness. Take care of one another, lead your children in
discussion at your best discretion. Soak in the sunlight when it shines and cuddle up in the rain when it falls. God can bless us in all circumstances.
As I said, our mission continues. It continues with the great care and compassion that defines us. We are blessed to be able to weather this storm with you through a variety of resources and together- we will see this through. Should you meet financial obstacles in this time, as always and before, we are here for you and will work with you.
Our mission depends on partners for financial support in every operational year, financial support that tuition dollars do not cover. We carefully, and with great sensitivity, continue to seek that support so that we will not only survive this time, but thrive for this generation and more to come when we are back. Look for more information to come about our annual Stellabration from our fantastically creative and dedicated Stellabration commitee. The Stellabration will carry on in a fun, new way. Look for more information to come in the next few weeks.
For lack of a better term… here are a couple of “housekeeping” items:
The governing board will be meeting April 4th, as planned, but via video conference and will be addressing the current situation and will continue to provide meetings summaries as before.
While the students and staff are away, we will be completing cleaning and sanitizing so that we can be ready to be together again when the time comes.
Our buildings will be largely unstaffed, only for essential staff at essential times. Please use email to communicate with the campus secretaries, principals and other staff. Voicemails will be checked as possible.
I know you are looking forward to hearing from your teachers- they are excited to share with you their plans and I know you will appreciate their creativity and dedication.
We are doing everything we can to finish this school year strong and as light in the darkness. When we come out of this, we will look back and be so pleased with how we met this challenge together. I might ask this of all of us, before the screens, and the feeds and the posts... seek God First. Be slow to anger and rich in kindness. We miss you tremendously and cannot wait to be back together again when we can.
God bless you all. Know of my continued prayers for our community.

Mrs. Hilaire Hauer,
Stella Maris Academy President

Please see resources listed below:
Resources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/index.html

Centers for Disease Control Travel information
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/after-travel-precautions.html

Minnesota Department of Health
https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/schools.html Parent/Caregiver Guide: https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/fact-sheet/outbreak_factsheet_1.pdf How to talk to your kids about Coronavirus https://parenting.nytimes.com/childrens-health/coronavirus-kids-talk?module=ptg-onsite-share&type=link Childcare Information https://www.ymcamn.org/choose-your-child-care Meals for

Children in Need
https://www.isd709.org/updates/free-breakfast-lunch MDH Hotline 1-800-657-3903 Essentia Health Hotline 1-833-494-0836 St. Luke's Hotline 218-249-4200