October 22, 2021 Update:

We have decided to do the following with respect to replace our traditional Meet the Teacher Night this year:

Elementary

Each of our elementary homeroom teachers will be reaching out to their parents before the end of the month. Each teacher will be contacting their parents to explain the format. Due to the pandemic restrictions, these contacts will not be in-person.

Jr. High

Our Jr. High teachers will be attending the November 16, 2021 School Council Meeting at 7:00 pm to introduce themselves to the parent community. Details of the meeting will be shared in the regular School Council link to be sent out in November.

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Similar to last year, Parent-Teacher Interviews will be held by phone this year. Parent-Teacher Interviews will be on November 24 and 25 from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Parents will be able to schedule times using our Conference Management program. Details will be shared closer to the dates.

Elementary

Before school started, our elementary teachers decided to change the format of our traditional Meet the Teacher event.  Due to the possibility of large crowds in the school and the classroom, our elementary teachers will be creating a short video introducing themselves.  Once the video is ready, we will be sending it out to parents.

Jr. High

Before school started, our junior high teachers also decided to change the format of Meet the Teacher.  Our junior high teachers planned to open their classrooms on Wednesday, September 15, from 4:30 -5:30 pm.  They were hoping to be able to meet a variety of parents.  Due to the different nature of elementary and junior high classes, we thought we could manage the number of people. However, given the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in our province, particularly in Lethbridge, we believe it would be prudent to avoid a potentially large gathering.  Therefore, we are postponing the planned in-person Meet the Teacher event for our Jr. High.

I appreciate your understanding as we continue through the pandemic.

September 20, 2021 Update

Here is the update from our Superintendent regarding contact tracing:

September 17, 2021

Good afternoon Holy Spirit Catholic School Divison families:

Earlier this week, senior leaders and school-based administrators met to discuss whether, as a division, we should be sharing with our families and communities self-declared positive COVID cases which are brought to our attention by parents.  As you well know, there are many views on this which are extremely polarizing in nature.

While many would argue that passing this personal and private information to our public gets the word out about the seriousness of this dreadful disease, we are not a health authority and we no longer have Alberta Health Services (AHS) doing contact tracing, which took place during the entirety of last school year.  As such, and after careful consideration, we have decided that we would NOT be sharing this information, for many reasons, but to name a few:

• Not all parents are comfortable sharing this information with us and the absence of complete disclosure from everyone could present an inaccurate sense of what might actually be going on in the community, which might suggest a false sense of reality and safety;  
• There is a very heavy stigma associated with identifying as COVID positive;
• There will be significant unrest and increased anxiety if members of the community know of a positive case in a school that was not reported to us;
• There could be serious ramifications around false or inaccurate reporting;
• By the process of elimination, disclosure of a positive case in a classroom could lead to identification of an individual;
• Over communication of positive cases will send a message that may desensitize the issue;
• The public’s uncertainty of what a close contact is can cause people to gossip, especially when no specific information given; and
• As there are people who present without symptoms, individuals may not be aware that they are COVID positive.

The bottom line is that COVID-19 is real AND in our communities.  Each of us must be vigilant in how we protect ourselves in the choices we make around health measures (staying home when sick, masking, hand sanitizing, physical distancing, and doing the Alberta Health COVID-19 Self Assessment Tool on a daily basis for everyone attending or working in our schools).

As always, we are continuing to report to AHS absences of 10% or more at each school in our division.  Parents and guardians may receive a letter from AHS when this threshold is reached at respective schools.

I wish to thank all of you for your continued support in these very challenging and trying times.  

Gratefully yours,
​​​​​​​Ken Sampson, Superintendent of Schools

September 10, 2021

We want to take this opportunity to share with our FLVT community the current policy regarding COVID-19 Contact Tracing.  Many of you may remember the process last year of our school working with Alberta Health Services (AHS) to inform parents of a positive case in a classroom and identifying the students in the class cohort as close contacts.  Self-isolation and recommended COVID-19 testing followed.

Now, AHS does not require schools to contact trace; it is prohibited.  Contact tracing is the responsibility of the individual that has tested positive for COVID-19.  If we have a confirmed positive case at school, and to our knowledge, we have not, the school will not share information with parents, classmates, or staff.  Again, according to AHS, any contact tracing is the individual’s responsibility that has tested positive.  Although this process change may be difficult to understand, it is the process the school must follow.

For the most recent updates regarding COVID-19, please refer to the following: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/topics/Page17221.aspx

To summarize, we can no longer share with our community that a member has tested positive. Instead, it is incumbent upon the individual to connect with everyone who may have been in ‘close contact’ during the infectious period.

June 2022 Update:

Please join us for our last School Council meeting. Please join us at 7 pm in our school library on Tuesday, June 7.

Meet Your School Council Executive

Please open this pdf for introductions from our School Council Executive:

Thank you to our executives for their willingness to serve our FLVT community.

May 2022 Financials:

September 24, Update

Alberta Health Services is planning to administer COVID-19 immunizations to only those students who had previously submitted a signed consent form on Tuesday, September 28, 2021 at Father Leonard Van Tighem School. Immunizations will occur from approximately 9 am till noon. 

Again, this is only for those students who submitted signed consent forms.

September 9, 2021

Our government has a COVID-19 Vaccine Program for schools. The program is for Grade 7 to 12 students. Please see these documents for more information:

Parent Letter

COVID-19 School Immunization Consent and Information:

This program is voluntary and requires parental consent. Only if interested, please complete the consent form and return to the school office by Wednesday, September 15, 2021. If needed, the office has some paper forms that your child may pick-up to take home.

Currently, we do not know the exact date that the program will occur at FLVT.

Thank you,

FLVT School

Good afternoon everyone,

Please review this document, including a YouTube link, explaining our Fall Fundraiser that runs from today till September 15, 2021:

We expect most students to participate and sell our fundraising card using the MoneyDolly App.  Some key reasons to use the MoneyDolly App and not sell the physical card are:

• The card is on the device (phone) for ease of use;
• The card may get better as more stores are added to it;
• The card can be used in different cities;
• The payment of the card is made in the App;
• There are multiple ways to sell the card (texting, social media).

For a preview of our physical card and the pre-sale sheet (used if you are choosing not to use the MoneyDolly App) please view the following document (updated Sept. 2):

Thank you for supporting our Fall Fundraiser.