Students who return to in person classes at St. James School in Biddeford Aug. 31 will see some modifications in the classroom and in procedures. Courtesy Photo

BIDDEFORD — Will it be Zoom or Room, or Meet and Seat?

As faculty and staff at St. James School prepare for the first day of classes Aug. 31, parents will have options.

They can send their youngsters to the school building, where staff has been working all summer to install safety modifications. Or, they can keep their children home where they will engage in distance learning.

“We understand that some students are compromised or live with elderly (family members),” said principal Nancy Naimey.

Inside the school, there have been changes.

“I watched a webinar with schools in Germany, Denmark, and South Korea that talked about reopening schools,” said Naimey. “When school ended, my entire staff watched a webinar from one of those schools in Hamburg, Germany, that had reopened. They showed pictures of what they had done to stay safe. They offered their suggestions and their insights as to what worked, what they should have done, and what they learned.”

St. James staff and some school families made suggestions too.

One of the changes will regard foot traffic. Stairways will be signed as one way, up or down, and guide traffic flow in the hallways, and Naimey said there will be colorful “footprints” to show a six-foot separation.

Each teacher will have a cloth mask and a face shield, an infrared thermometer to screen students, sanitizer, and the classrooms will have window fans to circulate air.

“There will be two staff members checking temperatures and having a sanitizing station upon arrival,” said Naimey. “Arrival and departure times will be staggered so there can be physical distancing.”

The main office, as well as the classrooms, at St. James School in Biddeford have been modified for the fall semester with safety in mind. Courtesy Photo

Motivation for safety has led to innovation, and class rooms will look different than they did a year ago.

Facilities manager Peter Lyons came up with the idea of putting clear dividers between desks that need them, the principal said. Student desks would be six feet apart in all other directions.

Steps like the dividers and small class sizes will enable students in their classrooms to, at times, not wear masks, but put them on again if they leave the classroom, she said.

As well as the classroom, the school office also sports shields, and cleaning supplies, including sanitizing spray to be used each evening.

To help meet the social and emotional learning needs of students, each classroom implements a program based on the principles of courage, gratitude, forgiveness, and compassion in action.

“We believe this will help students through this difficult time and always to choose happiness,” Naimey said.

And just for fun, depending on which online service they use, they’ll call distance and in person classes “Meet or Seat,” or ” Zoom and Room.”

When schools across Maine closed in mid-March as the coronavirus made its way to Maine, St. James quickly developed distance learning, where students “went to school” from home, for a regular school day.

“Our parents rated the remote-learning experience at 4.5 out of 5,” said Naimey.

This fall semester, children who learn from home will log on in the morning and hear and see their teacher exactly as if they were in the classroom, she said.

The Office of Maine Catholic Schools announced in June that schools will be open for in-school learning for the 2020-21 school year.

“Our Catholic schools continued to nurture the souls of our students while providing a comprehensive academic plan, building on their tradition of excellence,” said Marianne Pelletier, superintendent of Maine Catholic Schools. “The excellence was visible in both our attendance data and parent surveys after the remote learning experience. On average, 96 percent of our students participated daily in direct instruction offered virtually by their classroom teachers.”

In the school year that just wrapped up, 158 students attended St. James, which educates children from Pre-K through grade 8, from Biddeford, Saco and beyond, and offers before and after school programs.