Over the last two years, the work of the Safety Committee has been instrumental in helping Jesuit High School navigate one of the most upending and mercurial periods in the history of American education. The committee operated under an augmented structure driven by emergency operations and response, first as the Safe Return Task Force and then the Health and Safety Committee. The committee’s primary objective shifted from creating and implementing policy and procedures that allowed us to return to campus safely to adjusting school operations, seemingly weekly, to follow the multitude of updates to Sacramento County and California State school and health guidelines.

Though mere words could never express how thankful we are for the time and dedication the members of the Safety Committee have put into caring for the faculty, staff, and students over these last two years, I’d like to take a moment to encourage us all to say thank you to the members of the Safe Return Task Force and the current Safety Committee the next time you see one of them on campus. We have witnessed the glory of God at work in innumerable ways through the plethora of people who choose to lend their gifts and talents to us as we navigate our way through the various phases of the pandemic.

While our work is not complete and the pandemic is not yet over, we are in a place where we will now return the primary objective of the Safety Committee to day-to-day operations during school hours. This will mean that the focus of the Safety Committee will shift back to overall campus safety and the classroom experience, including the preparation, execution, and ongoing evaluation of emergency and crisis management protocols and procedures. In short, we will return to a more “business as usual” way of proceeding with regard to all school programming.

We will also refresh our Visitor Policy, but guests will still be asked to schedule their visit in advance with their point of contact on campus (teacher, department, office, etc.) check-in upon arrival (main office, business office, or athletics office) and refrain from coming to campus if feeling ill. The Safety Committee and school administration will still actively continue to monitor the impact of COVID on our campus and will be ready to reconvene the Safety Committee in its previous form should the COVID landscape necessitate such a shift. School leadership will continue working with our school nurse to communicate with students and families when there are exposures at school or school events. We will also continue to share any health and safety updates as we receive them. 

Thank you for all that you have done to support the work of the Safety Committee over the last two years.

LaRoddric Theodule
Dean of Students, Chair of Safety Committee