Letter from Headmaster 4/21/20

     I write to provide an update on events currently scheduled for May and June.  As you are all aware, we are proceeding on an almost week to week basis as we reevaluate conditions in our city and our community.  The uncertainties make long-range planning extremely difficult and require a near-constant review of our status. Even with the broad outlines of a phased re-opening of our society, a specific timeline remains elusive due to so many factors beyond our control or our ability to predict accurately.  These are certainly unusual times, and I pray that everyone is healthy and being prudent.

     Here at Cascia, we continue to have to postpone or cancel events.  The following upcoming events are canceled:

9th through 11th Grade scholastic awards will be published in lieu of an actual gathering to recognize these achievements. Senior scholastic awards will also be published on May 21 with a link to the senior video. While I know these decisions are hard for us, current restrictions and even the proposed phased resumption of activities do not allow us to gather as a community for these events, yet. Tulsa Public Schools remain closed until the end of the academic year and most campuses for local private schools and colleges until the end of June.

     Our seniors have lost so much, and I am particularly attentive to them.  We are currently examining a few alternative possibilities for commencement, the most viable one as of now entails postponing graduation to the summer when, hopefully, restrictions from the health department and Mayor’s office might be modified to allow large groups to gather again.

     We are also developing procedures for textbook returns (probably the week of May 11th) and locker clean-out. Details will follow soon.

     I am extremely grateful to all our faculty/staff, students, and families for your patience, flexibility, and understanding.  Cascia has always been a community which supports one another in times of crisis or difficulty, and it humbles me to see everyone working together, even at a distance, to make the best of a very strange situation.  Thank you, too, to all who have donated to our food drive benefiting those in the wider community in need. Please continue to drop off non-perishables at the side door of the chapel between 7:30-4:00 each day. We will deliver them to Catholic Charities and other service agencies.

     Let us continue to pray for each other and for our country.  We may be turning a corner now, and with continued care, we may be on the road to recovery.

Sincerely,

Fr. Philip C. Cook, OSA, PhD

Headmaster