Boys are back

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 9/3/20

By JOHN HOWELL Monday was the first day of school for 25 Hendricken eighth-graders and 170 freshmen, but the last day for the foreseeable future that they will be wearing jackets and ties. The first day of in-person classes - everyone was wearing masks -

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Boys are back

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Monday was the first day of school for 25 Hendricken eighth-graders and 170 freshmen, but the last day for the foreseeable future that they will be wearing jackets and ties.

The first day of in-person classes – everyone was wearing masks – started with the distribution of textbooks, remarks from Principal Mark DeCiccio and Hendricken President Father Robert Marciano and plenty of reminders about social distancing and precautions, such as no more than two boys in the restroom at a time, to help contain the virus.

There were some glitches – the password provided for eighth graders didn’t work and the photographs, which was the reason the boys wore their jackets and ties, took longer than scheduled. But that didn’t put a crimp in the excitement shared by teachers to have students back in school.

Sarah Murray teased eighth-graders as they sat up straight and without muttering a word in their homeroom. She had finished telling them they would find everything they need on Microsoft School, from their email to assignments.

“Who knows how to spell Hendricken?” she said to the 25 pairs of eyes looking at her from behind masks. A couple of hands were partially raised, but she had mercy and didn’t call on them.

“If you have questions you have to ask,” was the advice of one of the five teachers looking over the school’s newest crop of young men.

In addition to books that were stacked on or beside their desks, the students all had laptop computers or tablets. There was little uniformity to the devices as they belong to the students.

According to the Hendricken plan, each of the five grades have a separate wing of the school. That is where they will have classes as well as lunch. Some teachers will stay in their respective pods while others will move between wings.

“We’ve been thinking about this since everything shut down (in March),” said Spanish teacher Leeanne Soprano, who will be working with senior students this academic year. She said she and her peers were in constant contact ever since the school went to distant learning in response to the pandemic talking and thinking of ways on how to bring the boys back to school.

“It’s so nice to see bodies back in this building again,” she said.

According to DeCiccio, a total of 25 students of the entire enrollment of 725 have elected to do distance learning. The school is set up to do live streaming of each of the classes over Zoom.

Following the morning prayer and Pledge of Allegiance delivered by DeCiccio over the intercom, homeroom teachers continued to outline pandemic procedures of operation before sending students off to the Pepin gym for their individual photos. Photographer Joseph Sousa and his assistant had the boys remove their masks to reveal smiles for all of 30 seconds before sending them back to the adjoining McNally Gym to stand at least 6 feet apart. Then, class by class, they paraded to the football field where rows of evenly spaced chairs faced the grandstand.

So far, said Father Marciano, “the big challenge has been the masks.”

He explained it wasn’t the wearing of masks, which everybody adhered to, but rather some of the masks being worn. A boy wearing a mask declaring “2020 sucks” was told he would need to get something else.

Fr. Marciano also said with such indecision over the resumption of public schools, he has seen an increase in inquiries over whether there are openings at Hendricken and St. Kevin School. As the pastor at St. Kevin Church, Marciano said the school has been getting four to five calls a day about openings there. He said many of the lower classes are at capacity and they have not been able to fill requests.

“Our school is ready,” he said of St. Kevin. Freshmen and eighth-graders will go through a full schedule of classes this coming week and full in-person classes for the school resume on Sept. 14. “They were all in,” he added.

“A pandemic is no match for Hendricken,” he said.

In comments to the eighth-graders and freshmen, Fr. Marciano brought along his student identification card from middle school showing a smiling boy with a full head of dark hair. He intended on sharing it with the boys along with the sentiment, “you’ll be a freshman for a year, but you’ll be a Hawk for a lifetime.”

On Tuesday, sophomores returned to the school followed by juniors yesterday and seniors today. Protocols for the safe operation of the school were outlined to each class along with information on how to access information for course work and correspondence with their teachers and peers. Resumption of sports was an unknown as of Tuesday.

“We’re waiting for developments from the league (Rhode Island Interscholastic League),” said DeCiccio.

With 55 teachers, a staff of 30, a nurse and CNA and two custodians, DeCiccio said Hendricken is up and running smoothly. The school will be closed this Friday and a “full clean” of the building will be conducted including an electro-static spraying.

“The whole Henricken community has all pitched in to make this work,” he said.

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