WWW.THEFLORIDACATHOLIC.ORG August 2021
FLORIDA Catholic
MIAMI ARCHDIOCESE
ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO
of the Florida Catholic staff
MIAMI Masks, social distancing and plexiglass dividers will continue to be class- room features in the Archdiocese of Miami, at least for the first few weeks of school - or as long as the delta variant of COVID-19 ram- pages through South Florida. After initially making masks optional for staff, teachers and students who are vacci- nated, the archdiocese changed its policy a week later, requiring masks for all students, employees and volunteers in elementary schools, regardless of vaccination status. Masks will be optional, "but encouraged," for all fully vaccinated individuals in high schools. Children under 12 currently are not eli- gible for vaccination. "We are taking a different approach to masking in our high schools due to the avail- ability of a vaccine for all students and em- ployees," wrote Jim Rigg, superintendent of schools, in a letter sent to Catholic school par- ents and employees Aug. 13, 2021. The revised policy will remain in effect "through at least Aug. 31," Rigg's letter stated. "We will continue to evaluate our policy con- tinuously in the days and weeks to come," he added, as the pandemic evolves. School par- ents will be notified of any changes. Masks will not be required while students and teachers are outdoors, eating or during vigorous exercise. An email to school leaders announcing the changes stressed that "all other COVID miti- gation efforts that were in place last year are to be maintained to the extent possible with social distancing being as important as the usage of masks." That means 3 feet of separation between students and 6 feet between adults and stu- dents or adult to adult. It also means keeping plexiglass shields on desks, one-way patterns in the hallways, student seats facing in one direction, classes remaining in place with teachers changing, or classes remaining as a cohort, social distance in the lunch lines and hallways, and "choosing outdoors whenever possible." "These updates are in response to the con- tinued progression of the virus throughout South Florida," the email to school leaders stated, especially as "COVID-related trends continue to worsen." According to the Centers for Disease Con- trol, the seven-day average of cases in Florida was 21,375 as of Aug. 12, a 378% increase from July 12 of this year. The state is breaking case- count records set during the previous surge in January 2021, and now accounts for about 19% of all the new infections in the U.S. de- spite representing only 6.5% of the popula- tion. Hospitals are reporting that more than 90% of their COVID-positive patients are unvac- cinated. Several hospital systems have once again postponed elective surgeries to deal with the overflow of COVID patients. The Aug. 13 policy also updated and sim- plified the rules for quarantining and testing when staff and students return from trips within Florida, the U.S. or internationally. The unvaccinated do not have to quaran- tine or test after traveling within Florida. If they travel outside Florida but within the U.S., their school or parish could require a seven- day quarantine and a negative PCR test. A seven-day quarantine and negative PCR test will be mandatory for anyone who is unvac- cinated if they travel outside the U.S. The fully vaccinated will not have to quar- antine or test if they travel within Florida or the U.S. If they travel internationally, they will not have to quarantine but will have to take a PCR test "on day 3, 4 or 5" after their return, and report the results to the school or parish. The rest of the archdiocese's updated CO- VID-19 policy, a summary of which was re- leased Aug. 6, 2021, has not changed. Archdi- ocesan principals had received the summary a day earlier, at their first meeting of the 2021- 22 school year - also the first time they met with Rigg, who took over as superintendent July 6. "We feel this is a morally and medically correct policy," Rigg told the principals. He added that legal counsel for the archdiocese as well as the Florida Catholic Conference had reviewed the policy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an exec- utive order July 30 prohibiting school districts from requiring that students wear masks and threatening to pull funding from those that did so. But Sister Elizabeth Worley, archdiocesan chancellor for administration, said she has consulted with medical professionals who agree that DeSantis' actions are not correct from a scientific point of view. "The situation (with COVID) is worse now than it was last summer when we didn't have a vaccine," she said. In an introduction to the summary of the new policy, Archbishop Thomas Wenski wrote that "vaccinations, masks, social dis- tancing, etc., of course, are not 100% effective but not to attempt to mitigate risks to parish- ioners and school families would be a failure of pastoral oversight on my part." Since vaccinations came out in Decem- ber, the Catholic Church has taught that it is morally acceptable to use any of the CO- VID-19 vaccines. Getting vaccinated not only conforms with the duty to protect one's own health, according to Church teaching, but also the moral responsibility to protect "the most vulnerable" and ensure the common good. Sister Elizabeth, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Augustine, stressed that "the only way" to end the pandemic is through vaccination. Masks, plexiglass and social dis- tancing are merely layers of barriers aimed at preventing unchecked spread of the virus. To see the latest updates and policy summaries, go to miamiarch.org and put in the keyword COVID.
Archdiocesan elementary schools to require masks for all
ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO
of the Florida Catholic staff
MIAMI One month into his new job, Jim Rigg has already made history: He is the first archdiocesan superintendent to have his own children enrolled in Catholic schools. That's because past superinten- dents were priests or religious, and Kim Pryzbylski's sons - his immedi- ate predecessor - were young adults when she took the job. For Rigg, who has two children in high school and two in elementary school, that history-making factoid is more than a point of pride. It epitomizes his staunch belief in Catholic education, and his ability to see
New superintendent's priority: Listen and learn
Jim Rigg, new superintendent of schools, meets with archdiocesan principals Aug. 5, 2021, in preparation for the new academic year. Jim Rigg
PLEASE SEE RIGG, 2
Schools' excellence, ethnic diversity brought Jim Rigg and his young family to South Florida
Masks 'encouraged' but optional for high school students, staff who show proof of vaccination
things from the parents' perspective. "One of the unique attributes I bring to my role is that I'm not just a Catholic educa- tional leader, but I'm a school parent. And as I interact with other parents, I share the perspective of having children in our Cath- olic schools," he told the Florida Catholic a few days before the start of the school year - and a day after attending a parents' orien- tation night at one of his children's schools. Rigg, who holds a doctorate in educa- tional administration and has worked in Catholic education his entire career, began his tenure in Miami July 6, after six years as superintendent of schools in the Arch- diocese of Chicago. There he oversaw 199 schools with an enrollment of about 70,000 students. Miami has 61 schools with about 30,000 children enrolled. As superintendent, he also oversees the Office of Catechesis, where enrollment in after-school and week- end religious education programs matches that of the schools. He previously served as superintendent of schools in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and as a teacher, dean, principal, assistant super- intendent, and college-seminary lecturer in Tennessee and Colorado. His wife, Lauren, also worked in education until becoming a stay-at-home mom. What brought the Riggs to Miami? "The quality of life here is unparalleled," he said, citing the year-round sun and beaches but especially the cultural diversity.
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