Blog

Click this — Online Pre-registration and Enrollment

 

Also, when you enroll, accomplish the Learner Enrollment and Survey Form (LESF) by going to SURVEY Page or by clicking this — Survey

Students of and visitors to the school may be required to wear face masks this coming school year, school officials said, despite Ticao’s four towns having successfully prevented the virus from seeping into its porous shorelines.

 

“We have to protect our gains. It would be a huge waste of our sacrifice and vigilance if after May 15, God forbid!, something goes wrong,” a San Jacinto-based ATF official told this website when asked about which health protocols would be eased.

 

Accordingly, school safety officer Manuel A. Capellan said that classroom sizes may have to be downsized to as low as 16 instead of the regular 35-40 students per class. Aside from that, added Capellan, “handwashing and hand disinfecting will be implemented as part of the school operating procedures.”

 

As of presstime, school officials led by Dr. Penelope B. Bagobe and Chief of Staff Noe Esparrago together with the department heads are exploring novel ways to comply with health protocols that would not unnecessarily rock the financial health of the school.

 

We have to reach a balance that would not compromise the two matters,” Esparrago offered, citing payroll and scheduling issues that would damper whatever solution is decided on.

 

“These measures pain us too, but by doing so, we will ensure that Liceo as an institution will make it, and in the end, jobs will be saved,” declared Dr. Francisco P. Altarejos, the newly named chair, who on the day of his appointment last January 6, 2020, was already raising the Covid crisis alarm to fellow trustees and officers in a meeting in Liceo.

 

 

— Joaquin O. Arevalo Jr.

A combined approach of teaching strategies may be employed to comply with health protocols and deal with internet issues in time for the school opening in Aug. 24, 2020, school officials said.

 

“It could be basically modular with internet use in connected areas, and where there will be minimal physical interaction among those involved,” announced Senior High School (SHS) principal Melina G. Bartolay, who has lately became a trustee of the foundation.

 

“This is the best way forward, as there far too many negative factors that make 100%  virtual learning difficult to implement, but then DepEd allowed us to explore blended learning and others, which would even include chat sessions on the phone,” added Bartolay.

 

The blended approach to be used in the secondary department may well find itself employed in college given that the situation is the same, offered school insiders.

 

The decision to adopt the blended tack followed a series of brainstorming sessions, formation of focus groups, and meetings attended by school officials, department heads, and long-time faculty.  A high school student mapping survey that accounted for smart phones and laptops, wi-fi availability, home to school distance, and other key factors were part of the extensive effort to determine capability.  

 

“Our approach was practical, and realistic given the constraints posed by physical distancing, and the spotty internet connectivity in the entire island of Ticao which had to be translated in terms of scheduling, class capacity, and session frequency,” said school president Dr. Penelope B. Bagobe.

 

For high school and college enrolees, the approach could mean a once-a-week attendance, take-home assignments and weekly checking of output, and class sizes of 16-20, depending on room dimensions.  A mobile phone load is also a given if meetings were weekly.

 

As of press time, school registrar Michelle Ternal is carefully preparing a schedule that will take into account all the known variables, and flesh out a schedule that would parse old class sizes into smaller ones to comply with health protocols despite the fact that Ticao has remained Covid-free.

 

For rooming houses, eateries, restaurants, motorcycle drivers, and computer shops who rely on Liceo’s growing enrolees, the coming months could prove very difficult for them.

 

“Nonetheless, things may still change given that Ticao is now only on general quarantine,” opined school chief-of-staff Noe Esparrago, who came on board for streamlining of Liceo.  

 

“ By  midnight of May 15, 2020 the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) under which Masbate, Ticao, and Burias islands have been placed, would have expired, and if the situation remains Covid-free, life could possibly return to normal,” school officials believe.

 

— Joaquin O. Arevalo Jr.

May 4

School gingerly opens its doors to unfinished business. Updates, transactions, schedules, and other minutiae left hanging last March 14 can now be given attention. An information desk manned by HR assistant by the gate shall direct you to the skeletal staff in the campus. Be sure to wear a mask.

 

May 12-15

Signing of clearances shall commence. Signatories to the clearance form shall be present to accommodate you. Remember that clearances are part and parcel of the process of slowly returning to the normality of the pre-pandemic era.

 

May 18-22

Four days allotted for students and instructors to wrap up the unresolved issues of final examinations, subject requirements, and other classroom matters left moldering since March 14 when everyone had to hastily decamp for hearth and home. UniFAST grantees are strongly advised to complete their requirements as soon as possible.

 

May 25

Kick-off of college entrance examinations. Tip: the plan to assess enrollees’ reading skills might be implemented this coming school year.

 

Date to remember: June 1, 2020

‘Mobilization’ of grade school and high school teachers as announced by Education Secretary Leonor Rivera.

 

— Joaquin O. Arevalo Jr.