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4832 Highland Ave.

Downers Grove, IL 60515

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM

Monday to Friday

St. Joseph School successfully and safely continues in-person, full-day instruction five days a week

February 19, 2021

St. Joseph School, which serves students in preschool through eighth grade, is proud of its hard work in creating a safe environment for learning during a pandemic in a faith-based, academically challenging, supportive environment.

St. Joseph School is one of few local schools that offers in-person, full-day five days a week instruction along with livestreaming for its remote learners. It has been able to do so by constantly reevaluating the guidelines and procedures set forth by the health organizations and the school’s reopening committee. The goal is to have in-person learning for the entire school year, with the safety of all students, teachers, and staff of the utmost importance.

Preparation for this unique school year began in the summer when the school assembled an impressive reopening committee consisting of medical professionals (specializing in pulmonology, internal medicine, pediatrics and neonatal/perinatal), parents and teachers to develop a plan that they believe is the safest for students, teachers, and staff. Staff members also spent the summer preparing classrooms for physical distancing and procuring necessary disinfectants for proper cleaning throughout the school. The school’s technology committee ensured the students and staff would be supplied with the necessary equipment for successful learning, whether in-person or remote.

“The teachers and staff have done an amazing job at keeping our kids healthy and happy. I’m so grateful that my daughter is able to go to school every day,” said Adria Neverauskas, a St. Joseph School parent. “I am thankful for the tireless effort by all to get us back to school safely.”

At the start of the school year, each student in Kindergarten through eighth grade was issued take-home electronic devices. This ensures that students have access to all school-related programs and applications and are subject to the school’s state-of-the-art Internet safety protocols and firewall, whether learning in-person or remote. Classrooms are arranged for necessary physical distancing of desks and equipped with interactive Promethean panels, webcams, and document cameras to facilitate on-premises and at-home learning. For increased safety, students remain in their classrooms within a cohort and the teachers move to their classrooms rather than students moving through the building throughout the day. Standard protocol is that students and staff pass a routine screening before entering the building each day.

“The fact that we’ve made it over 100 days of full-day, five days a week, in-person with the option of livestreaming is hugely important,” said Meghan Tamosaitis, St. Joseph School parent. “It’s important to realize the livestreaming option helps those that aren’t in person still feel connected with his or her own peers, classroom, and teachers. If the hope is to get them back in school, they need to feel like they’ve been part of it!”


We invite you to visit our school in-person or virtually to experience what makes St. Joseph School the #1 voted preschool and grade school in DuPage County!

Click here for a virtual open house!