MADISON – No one expected the news.

The faculty and administrators, along with the students’ families, at St. John the Baptist Catholic School were surprised that instruction must change in drastic ways because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“On Friday, March 13, no one anticipated the transition to learning at home would begin on Monday, March 16. But at St. John’s Catholic School, that is exactly what happened,” Principal Sherry Lewis said.

School leaders notified families on March 15 that the school building was closed and learning would continue at home. “On Monday, March 16, families were given designated times, in order to ensure social distancing, to come to the school to retrieve student materials,” Lewis said.

St. John has named its transition procedures to online and home-based lessons as “Continued Academic and Spiritual Education” or CASE.

For the next nine days leading up to Spring Break, students continued learning and interacting with their teachers through a variety of platforms, Lewis said.

“Our faculty met three times during the week of March 9 … anticipating this might happen,” Lewis said. “While the timeline was accelerated, our students, teachers and parents have worked together to continue a strong faith-based, academic environment.”

Spring Break gave everyone a moment to breathe and adjust to this new situation. “On April 6, school began again, and the St. John’s community is working harder than ever to keep our children moving forward spiritually and academically,” Lewis said.

“Those first nine days provided valuable insights from parents, teachers and students, helping us to better plan an instructional approach that fits the needs of the community and provides a caring and personalized approach to virtual learning at St. John’s,” Lewis said.

Fortunately, a few days with fun factored in to help the transition: Wear Pajamas Day, Wear Your School Shirt Day and “Catch Up” Day. Those special days were all a part of the first two weeks of Continued Academic and Spiritual Education at St. John’s, Lewis said.

For more information, call 256-722-0772 or visit stjohnb.com.