Parish and Carruth community,
Today, Governor Greg Abbott announced that Texas schools must remain closed through the end of the 2019-20 school year. We know many of you are very disappointed by this news, and so are we. Like you, we are eager to return to our beautiful campus and more eager to see the faces of your beautiful children! However, health and safety are paramount.
For the remainder of the school year, we will continue to deliver instruction remotely. Each day, teachers and students are becoming more and more comfortable with this platform; and we feel that students are benefiting in many ways. We do, however, continue to acknowledge that this new way of teaching and learning does not replicate a face-to-face Parish experience. We have heard your concerns about some students’ potential for lack of progress or regression; we share that concern.
To mitigate the potential for lack of progression or regression, we will be putting the following additional services in place.
Elementary Services:
- We will be partnering with the Neuhaus Education Center to offer intensive reading intervention to our elementary students. Parents will have the opportunity to sign their student up for 2 one-on-one sessions per week with a Neuhaus trained reading specialist until the end of the regular academic school year. These services will be offered at no additional expense to parents, and invoices will automatically be sent to The Parish School for payment. More information about how to sign up for these sessions will be provided no later than Friday, April 24.
- We will be hiring a minimum of two certified reading specialists as full-time staff members to provide additional intensive reading intervention beginning the 2020-21 school year.
Early Childhood Services:
- For early childhood students, we will be providing the opportunity for students to receive individual face-to-face therapy at The Carruth Center beginning Monday, May 4, tentatively, until we return to face-to-face instruction at The Parish School in August. To meet the needs of all students and work around the availability of The Carruth Center staff, these therapy services must be scheduled between the time the clinic re-opens (see below) and the end of August. All efforts will be made to meet your scheduling needs; however, we will have to work around the Carruth Center therapists’ current client schedules in order to accommodate everyone. For those of you already receiving therapy services at The Carruth Center, these sessions can serve as a credit to your account or can be used to increase the frequency of services based on your therapist’s availability, while balancing the needs of your child. In order to make the most out of the services offered, only one type of therapy service may be chosen: speech therapy, occupational therapy, music therapy or play therapy. Those interested in taking advantage of this offer should email Elizabeth “Liz” Chapa at echapa@carruthcenter.org to complete necessary intake paperwork for services.
- To bolster the learning of our youngest students, we will be implementing additional small group intensive therapies for the 2020-2021 school year. Programming will include short-term, targeted supports in the areas of language, play/social interaction, and literacy. These sessions will also include in-depth parent trainings to enhance learning across environments. In addition, we will expand occupational therapy services in all classrooms. Families can expect to hear more details specific to their child in the coming days.
If the current pandemic environment continues to show signs of improvement, The Carruth Center plans to re-open on May 4 for many of its individual speech, occupational, play and music therapy sessions. This date may change if conditions in the Houston area decline.
If you are a current Carruth Center client, you will receive information shortly from Mimi Branham, Carruth Center Clinic Director, detailing how we will keep your children safe during their individual therapy sessions. If you are uncomfortable bringing your child to the clinic for any reason, The Carruth Center will continue to offer telehealth services so your child can receive their needed therapies. The Carruth Center therapists and staff will be reaching out to you to discuss your preference and to work on establishing your child’s therapy schedule.
A final decision about whether we will cancel or continue with Camp Acorn will be made after Governor Abbott’s April 27 press conference updating us on the status of the pandemic environment. Please look for that communication on the evening of April 27.
Please know that we are still standing with you during this uncertainty, and we will continue to carefully and thoughtfully navigate these difficult decisions on behalf of our students, parents, faculty, staff and the long-term impact to the school and clinic. I truly appreciate all of the supportive and understanding emails and phone conversations, as well as the constructive feedback and input. Although I love our amazing campus, I see more and more each day that the heartbeat of The Parish School is in each and every person who walks into those doors!
Be well!
Cheval