Head of School

Dear Merion Mercy Community,

What a joy it was to have MMA students back on campus where they belong this week!

We're counting down the days until Tuesday when school opens. While some might be anxious about our return to school, our MOST Team, faculty, staff, and maintenance have worked tirelessly this summer to prepare for our opening—and we are ready to begin the 2020-21 school year!

As we have communicated previously, the success of maintaining in-person instruction depends on every member of the community following health guidelines. When members of our community do not adhere to recommended guidelines, our safety and on-campus experience is at risk. Until the pandemic and public health crisis subsides, we must all change our behavior and make sacrifices.

This has been an intense summer for educators. Working with Merion teachers, administrators, and staff has confirmed what I already knew to be true: teaching is a vocation.

Many of us are called not just to teach, but to teach in Catholic Schools and embrace the charism of Mercy. We find deep joy and satisfaction in helping your daughters on their journeys to become confident, engaged women who lead and serve others.

Since June, teachers have spent countless hours learning new methodologies and technologies to engage your daughters in a hybrid learning environment. They have done so without financial compensation often giving up precious vacation and family time. They stand ready to assume new responsibilities to monitor the health and wellness of our MMA students.

Administrators and staff members have worked long hours and six-day work weeks since early June to rethink every aspect of school operations and develop systems, policies, and procedures to operate school in a global pandemic.

Our MOST Team has stayed current with the latest research and policy recommendations and have become experts in meeting each challenge posed by this unprecedented environment.

I have been inspired by the collective creativity, professionalism and work ethic of the MMA faculty and staff. Their sense of humor, teamwork, and camaraderie has been inspiring to witness firsthand.

When I look at our hallways and classrooms, ready to welcome Merion students, I feel tremendous pride and gratitude for the work of the Merion faculty and staff and for that of the MOST Team who I have worked with on a daily basis throughout the summer. Thank you for your service to MMA students and for your compassion, generosity, and grace.

Please, use this Labor Day weekend to make good choices and live Mercy.

With warm regards,

Laura Farrell

Editor's Note

Please note that this is the last edition of the MOST updates. All campus reopening and COVID-19 information and updates can be found on our School Opening webpage. We will begin to deploy our school newsletter, the MMA Weekly, starting on Sunday, September 14. Should there be a need to reactivate the MOST newsletter, we will certainly do so.

Back-to-School

Health Forms

Because student health is our first and foremost priority, please note that students cannot be on campus until all health forms are complete.

OTC Medicine Permission Form (also found under MyMMA Resources on the "Student Health Center" resource board).
Physical Form required for all freshmen, transfer students, and juniors (also found under MyMMA Resources on the "Student Health Center" resource board). Once completed by your daughter's physician, this may be emailed to Mrs. Katie Horgan, School Nurse (khorgan@merion-mercy.com), or submitted to the campus Student Health Center as a hard copy.

Additional health-related forms can be found on MyMMA on the Student Health Center resource board. These include:

COVID-19 Acknowledgement of Risk and Family Agreement

All parents/guardians are being asked to sign a "COVID-19 Acknowledgement of Risk and Family Agreement" prior to the start of the school year. In two-parent households, this is to be signed by both parents. Each parent/guardian must sign in on their own unique MyMMA account to sign this document. It will not register as complete until both parents have signed.

If you have not yet accessed your MyMMA account, click below for a guide to logging into your account, completing profile setup, and navigating through the main areas of the MyMMA system. When you log in you will see an alert to review forms that have been assigned to you.

MyMMA First-Time Guide for Parents

If you have any questions please contact Mrs. Anne Gregg at agregg@merion-mercy.com.

Ruvna Reminder

Beginning on Tuesday, students will receive the health screening text message only on days they are scheduled to come to school with their cohorts.

Please click the link below for more details on the Ruvna platform.

Ruvna Information: Daily Screening for COVID-19

Food Services

The Servery will be open each day from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering pre-ordered lunches and snacks available for purchase. Lunches can be ordered for on-campus learning days (i.e. generally Mondays through Thursdays, unless there is a calendar change). Orders must be placed by Thursday for students to receive lunch the following week. Their meals will be delivered to them. Families will pre-order the lunches using the "My School Account" lunch ordering system online.

Please click the link below for detailed information on our food service program and how to order lunches using "My School Account."

Food Service Information

Academics

Blue and Gold Model/Schedule

Shift in Class Schedule/Calendar for Labor Day Week

Due to the Labor Day holiday on Monday, September 7, the first week of classes will take place as follows:

Blue Cohort: On campus Tuesday, September 8 and Wednesday September 9; asynchronous Thursday, September 10 and Friday, September 11
Gold Cohort: Asynchronous Tuesday, September 8 and Wednesday September 9; on campus Thursday, September 10 and Friday, September 11

MyMMA Student Orientation Video

MyMMA is our Learning Management System for this year. It will serve as a digital home base for students and parents, containing schedules, course materials, and assignments. All of the features will be turned on next week for students. Please have students watch the orientation video (link below) so that they can preview features.

MyMMA Orientation Video

Fully Remote Learner Materials Pickup

For students who will be starting the school year fully online, we will have a book and materials pickup next week on Thursday and Friday. Families will be contacted by our Remote Learning Coach, Rose Mary Gregitis, and will be able to select a convenient pickup time via Sign-Up Genius. If you have any questions, please reach out to Rose Mary Gregitis at rgregitis@merion-mercy.com.

Fall 2020 Standardized Testing Plan

In light of the closures of many test sites due to the pandemic, we are pleased to provide some on-campus testing sessions to our students.

Seniors were sent an email from College Counseling with registration details for the SAT and ACT sessions.

Juniors and sophomores do not need to pre-register for the PSAT.

Please note the following dates of on-campus standardized testing:

SAT: Wednesday,September 23, 2020 during the school day (limited number of seniors)
ACT: Tuesday, October 6, 2020 during the school day (limited number of seniors)
SAT: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 during the school day (limited number of seniors)
PSAT: Wednesday, October 14, 2020 during the school day (all juniors and sophomores)

Student Life

Reporting Absences

Please note a change in protocol for this year.

If your daughter will be absent due to illness, please report the absence to the school nurse by email: nurse@merion-mercy.com or phone: 610.664.6655, x113.

If your daughter will be absent for any other reason aside from illness, please report the absence to the Attendance Office by email: bfahy@merion-mercy.com or phone: 610.664.6655, x119.

Dress Code

Please click here for some dress code reminders as well to review a new section of modifications to the dress code. The following modifications have been made to the 2020-21 dress code to increase comfort, convenience, and alignment with best practices for health and safety during a pandemic:

Dismissals

Staggered dismissals starting at 3 p.m. will take place in categorical waves, depending on mode of transportation, up until about 3:15 p.m. The order of students dismissed will be: SEPTA riders; township bus riders; students who are picked up; students who drive themselves.

Transportation

Merion Mercy is awaiting updates from some school district transportation offices. Updates related to each district will be posted here as MMA receives them. If families have questions regarding bus transportation, they are encouraged to reach out directly to the school district's transportation office.

Transportation will not be provided for MMA Connects days (most Fridays). With only a few minor exceptions, transportation will be provided if Friday is a Gold cohort day. Please check the transportation updates link for some specific exceptions from certain districts.

Information on the Northwest Shuttle Bus routes was emailed to families last week.

The Prep Bus information was sent to families directly from Saint Joseph's Prep.

Riders of district buses must read carefully the parent letters that are being mailed home by the township in which they live; there are many that require the downloading of a parent portal app that enables and requires them to submit health symptoms in a daily screening before riding their vehicles.