Parent Letter 10/1/21

Dear Parents, 

Hello from St. Joseph's School!  As we complete the fifth week of school, our students and faculty have had another wonderful week of prayer, teaching, and learning.  Please continue to read and review this Friday Letter to keep updated on all of the happenings at school.  Thank you for your prayers and support as we continue through this school year. 

October - Month of the Rosary
The month of October is recognized as the Month of the Rosary.  The rosary is one of the most loved devotions in the Catholic Church and dates back to the Middle Ages when a practice developed of praying the Hail Mary on a set of beads.  During this month, we will be sharing information about the Rosary with our students and praying the Rosary on Thursday, October 7 (Memorial Our Lady of the Rosary) in the church.  Family members are invited to attend and pray the Rosary with us. 

We also encourage you and your family to consider taking the time to pray the Rosary as a family.  You may choose to join Father Rocky (Fr. Francis Hoffman), Executive Director of Relevant Radio, as he leads the praying of the Rosary each evening from 7:00-7:30 pm during the “Rosary Across America”.  This may be heard on 1330 AM radio, online at relevantradio.com, and /or the Relevant Radio app.  Mary, Queen of the Rosary, pray for us!

Bishop Andrew Cozzens visits St. Joseph’s School
As we shared last week, today Bishop Andrew Cozzens, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul Minneapolis visited our school.  During his visit he presided at our school Mass as well as stopped at several of our classrooms to see and visit with our students and teachers. We thank all of the parents and family members who attended the Mass and joined us in prayer.

During his classroom visits, Bishop Cozzens asked the students questions about our school.  Our students responded very well.  In addition, he shared some interesting information with the students.  Some examples include;

• Eight years ago today (October 1), Bishop Cozzens was called by Pope Francis to be the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul Minneapolis.
• St. Therese of Lisieux is one of his favorite saints.
• His favorite animal is a horse because he rode horses as a child.
• The tall hat a bishop wears is called a mitre.  The small skull cap a bishop wears is called a zucchetto.  The bishops’ colors are magenta.
• He is not allowed to sit in the cathedra, the chair designated for Archbishop Hebda.

We thank Bishop Cozzens for leading us in prayer and visiting our students in their classrooms.

Lifetouch Picture Day - Rescheduled for November
Lifetouch contacted our school this week and shared that unfortunately,  due to staffing shortages, they are not able to come to our school on October 4th for our scheduled picture day.  We will be working with Lifetouch to reschedule our school picture day for a date in November.   Students should come to school in their school uniform on October 4th.

We will notify you once we have a scheduled picture date.  Lifetouch will be providing us with new picture day materials and order forms.  If you have ordered your picture package online, Lifetouch will hold these orders for our new picture date.

St. Joseph’s School Band - Maestro Music 
St. Joseph’s School works with Maestro Music to provide a wonderful band program for our students.  Maestro music will be closing their fall registration on October 8th.  If you have a student in grades 4-8 that is interested in participating in the band program, we encourage you to get them registered before October 8th.  Click here for more information.

St. Joseph’s School Gala 2021
The St. Joseph's Gala is our largest annual fundraising event of the school year.  It's an opportunity for our community (parents, staff, parishioners, alumni, friends and supporters) to come together and celebrate the legacy of our school and raise the funds necessary for its continued success in educating our children.

Gala 2021 will be an in-person event held at the Intercontinental Hotel in St. Paul MN on Saturday, December 4, 2021.   Please start making your plans to attend and participate in this special event.  Please also start spreading the word among family and friends regarding this fun event.  Ticket sales and table reservation information will be forthcoming.  

We would like to thank Katie Sullivan for chairing this very important event!  If you are interested in learning more about this event or if you would like to volunteer, please contact Katie: Katherine.Walcher@gmail.com .

At this time, our Gala Committee is seeking sponsors for the event to help us meet our fundraising goals.  If you are interested in sponsoring this event or know of businesses that might be interested, please email Sophia Paramo at sophia.rodriguez.2012@gmail.com

Please note that our annual School Raffle will still occur this year, but will not be tied directly to the Gala.  This event over the past few years has been a positive and fun way for students to actively demonstrate their support of the school.  We are fortunate to have had another new vehicle donated for this year’s raffle.  More details will be forthcoming!

Respect Life Month
October is Respect Life Month.  St. Joseph’s School will recognize the sanctity of life by participating in a special service project.  Our school is having a Layette (baby item) Collection during this month.  The collection will be Monday, October 25-Friday, October 29.  Please consider donating Diapers size 5-6, Pull Ups,  Wipes, Baby wash and Shampoo, Socks-infant size, Infant toys & books, Pacifiers, and Bottles to benefit and support the work of Wakota-a Guiding Star Center in West St. Paul.

COVID-19 Update
St. Joseph’s School has no lab confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 to report during the first five weeks of school (as of October 1)..  State law requires our school to continue to report to the Minnesota Department of Health any cases of lab confirmed COVID-19 that occur among students or staff in our building.  In addition, the Archdiocese of St. Paul Minneapolis requires Catholic schools to report a lab-confirmed case of COVID-19 in a student or employee associated with our school each week.  For more information please review our past parent letter for reference.

THANK YOU to our school families for your continued diligence in following our school mitigation strategies by keeping your children home when they are sick, calling our health office with questions and information, along with testing for COVID and other infectious illnesses.  The amount of transparent and timely communication between our school nurse and families has been a critical part of our success thus far.  Thank you! 

We are in the process of securing take home COVID Tests for our students and staff .  The government provides a limited amount of rapid tests at no cost to schools.  The MDE is also exploring other types of reimbursement for testing options for families within private schools.  We are also in the process of securing additional Vault PCR Tests and are grateful to our Parish Leadership for their financial support in purchasing these tests.  This will provide us with yet another layer of mitigation.  

NWEA MAP Assessments
This week our students in grades 2-8  completed the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) assessments in Reading.  Students in grades 2-8 who may have missed an assessment will complete their assessments next week.  Thank you to our students and teachers along with Mrs. Budge and Mrs. Bruce for your cooperation in completing the assessments.  The MAP assessments will also be administered in the Spring.

Uniform School Dress Code - Reminder
As we begin the second month of school, please remember these uniform dress code requirements; 
Skirts/Jumpers: Girl’s skirt lengths are to be no more than 2 inches above the knee in order to reflect a more modest appearance.  Skirts waistbands are not to be rolled. 

New this year:  Girls in grades 4 - 5 may wear either the plaid skirt or the plaid jumper.

Shorts: Navy blue uniform short only.  Uniform shorts are to be no more than 2 inches above the knee in order to reflect a more modest appearance.

Socks/Shoes: White or navy blue crew socks.  Low-riding/no show golf sock styles are not allowed.  White or navy blue tights.  Navy blue leggings may be worn under skirts or jumpers, not intended to be worn as pants only.  No open toe or open back sandals/shoes, flip flops, or clogs.  Tennis shoes are required for physical education classes.

Belts: All uniform pants and shorts must be worn with a belt; solid dark colored (black, blue, brown).

General Appearance  
Please make note of the following General Appearance requirements;

• Hair style and color should not district or draw undue attention to the student.
• Hair is not to be dyed a color that cannot be grown naturally.
• Boys hair styles shall not exceed below the top of the ear on the side, and should not touch the collar in back nor extend below the eyebrows.
• Jewelry should not distract or draw undue attention.  Small earrings may be worn.  (No other body piercing is allowed.)
• Hats and bandanas are not worn inside during the school day, except on designated “theme” days.
• Body ink: henna designs (or something similar), excessive ink writing are prohibited.
• Shirts must be tucked into skirts, pants, shorts.

Volunteers Needed for Recess Duty 
We need help for recess duty for the remaining months of school.  Whether our students are outside or inside because of the weather, volunteers offer tremendous assistance in providing supervision of students.  Please click here to volunteer in September or October.

As a reminder, all volunteers must have completed their Virtus Essential 3’s.  If you need to update your current Virtus account, please click here.  If you are doing Virtus for the first time, please click here.

Trading Cards - Please leave at home
Recently, several of our students have been bringing a variety of trading cards to school.  School administration requests that our students leave those items at home and not bring them to school.  Thank you for your cooperation with this expectation.

Parent Letters and Attendance Communication
All non-emergency communications will come electronically through this Parent Letter.   Parent letters will only be sent out by email every Friday (or the last day of the school week.)  Friday Letters may be found on the school website, www.stjosephwsp.org.   Our Attendance Hotline is 651-457-3031.  If your child is going to be absent or late due to a morning appointment, please leave a message on the “Hotline”. 

Hot Lunch Menu
October Menu

Mission

“St. Joseph’s Catholic School educates students through faith formation, academic excellence,

and the development of virtue to be disciples of Christ.”

For Your Information
St. Joseph’s School is an important ministry of the Church of St. Joseph.  Some of our school families are not members of the parish.  In our efforts to serve all school families, our Friday Letter may at times include information about activities and events that are taking place at the Church of St. Joseph. 

Middle School Youth Group
This year the parish will have a middle school youth event once a month.  On Thursday, October 7, the Youth Group will have pizza as well as go on a rosary walk to Dairy Queen.  Students should bring rosaries and money to purchase anything from Dairy Queen. (Dinner will be at 5:00 pm and we will leave for DQ at 5:30 pm.)

We are looking for Adult volunteers- If you are interested, please email Jake Debolt jake.debolt@churchofstjoseph.org.  

• Thurs, Oct 7 - Kick-off: 4 to 7 PM
• Thurs, Nov 11 - NET Night: 3:30 to 7:30 PM
• Tues, Dec 21 - Christmas Party: 4 to 7 PM
• Tues, Jan 11 - New Year Celebration: 4 to 7 PM
• Tues, Feb 15 - TOB Night: 4 to 7 PM
• Tues, Mar 15 - Service Night: 4 to 7 PM
• Tues, Apr 12 - NET Night: 3:30 to 7:30 PM
• Tues, May 10 - Summer Kickoff: 4 to 7 PM

Archdiocese Synod
Members of the parish and school community are invited to support the important work of our Archdiocese and our Parish by participating in the Synod Small Groups at St. Joseph’s this Fall.

The Synod Small Groups will be held on Tuesdays at 8:30-10:30 a.m. or at 6:30-8:30 p.m.  You may register online at churchofstjoseph.org/small-group-registration.  Please contact the Parish Office for more information; 651-789-8350.

St. Joseph Church Bulletin

October Look Ahead:

• Monday, October 4 
• Thursday, October 7 - Memorial Our Lady of the Rosary; 9:00am  Rosary - all school
• Friday, October 8 -  Mass 9:00am
• Friday, October 15 -  Mass 9:00am
• Thursday, October 21 & Friday, October 22 - No School MEA
• Tuesday, October 26 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 4:30-7:30pm
• Thursday, October 28 - Parent Teacher Conferences - 4:30-7:30pm
• Friday, October 29 -  Mass 9:00am - Middle School Parent Teacher Conferences 9am-3pm