St. Joseph's School Parent Letter 9/9/22

Principal Note
Thank you to everyone who attended the Curriculum Night events.  A lot of great information was shared.  We have had one fire drill and one lockdown drill this year of the required five.  We also have a police officer that is around the campus at morning drop off, so if you notice the officer, please don’t be alarmed.  We are grateful for their service to the school. 

Two Positions to Fill
St. Joe’s is looking to fill the Learning Specialist position that was created when we moved Mrs. Wagner into 2nd grade.  This position is focused on supporting our intermediate grade teachers and helping with recess duty or lunch duty.  If you know someone who is interested and has classroom experience, please have them send their information to givance@stjosephwsp.org.  While this is ideally a full-time position, we would be flexible. 

We are also in need of a part time TITLE 1 teacher for this school year. This position is being hired by District 197 and would be approximately 2 days a week for the full school day. Please indicate you are looking specifically for the TITLE 1 position at St. Joe’s.  Applications are being accepted by the district at by clicking here

Band Returns
Band is a great activity for your children as they learn how to play a musical instrument and improve their math skills.  Yes, students who participate in music and band do better in math!  Band begins on Tuesday, September 13 in the afternoon.  We'd love to have our band return to the pre-Covid numbers.  Contact Averyel Bachelani at abachelani@hill-murray.org with any questions.  

Lifetouch Picture Day
School pictures are scheduled for Monday, September 26.  This will be an out-of-uniform day. Please click here to order your pictures online.  Our picture day ID is EVT26NGQ7.

Just a couple of reminders for morning drop-off

1. Our goal at St. Joseph's is to keep your child safe during transitions.  Because there is no morning supervision until 8:25, we ask that you keep your child(ren) in your vehicle until you see a staff member present. Please do not drop your child off before 8:25 AM to stand by the building doors. 

2. When dropping your child(ren) off each morning, please be aware that your child does not need to be dropped off closest to the door in which they enter the school. We ask that cars stay in line and pull forward when it is their turn.  Once your child exits the car, please pull out and be on your way.

Students are capable of walking to their respective doors and we will make certain your child makes it safely into the building. This will help us move the line along and keep traffic on Butler Ave to a minimum. 

3. Students should be exiting the vehicle from the passenger side.  This is to prevent someone from getting hit or a door crashed into from a car in the passing lane.  

PC Donation Needed
If you are going to be replacing a PC laptop in the near future, we would like to have you consider donating your old one to St. Joe’s for the Makerspace.  We have a 3D printer that needs a PC to operate it.  We only need one, and are grateful for your consideration. 

ISD 197 Food Service
ISD 197 began providing hot lunch and milk options to our school on September 6th.   Please visit our school website under the Parents section for a monthly menu. New student ID’s have not been received yet, Lisa Wrobel will contact you once we have them from the district.  Please remind your children that they may not take things from the salad bar if they are not having hot lunch on that day. 

A Message from the School Nurse
As we enter into our new school year we would like to share with you our current plan for Covid related illnesses.  Please click here to review.  Please contact the school office if you have any questions.

St. Joseph’s Preschool
Congratulations to our preschooler students and teachers on their first week of school!  There are so many wonderful things happening in our preschool and we are so excited to be able to share it!

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”.

Spirit Wear - Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who stopped by our Spirit Wear Sales this week. The sale was such a success that unfortunately many sizes did sell out! If you were unable to purchase a shirt in a particular size, please contact Angie Hanzal to place an order. More Spirit Wear will also be available later in the fall. Go, Jaguars!

Current Volunteer Opportunities

• Our Recess Helper Sign-up is live! Have 20 minutes (or more!) to spare? Come say hi to your kids and offer our wonderful staff a little support during recess. Sign up here.

• Our Lunchroom Helper Sign-up is also live! Lunch is a busy time at St. Joe's, especially for our younger students and volunteers can help make this mealtime run smoothly. Sign up here.

• Our Gerten's Fall Mum Sale has closed and orders will be picked up on Thursday, Sept. 15 from the church parking lot. Volunteers are needed to both unload the truck and help with pick-ups in the afternoon and early evening. If you would like to help, please sign-up here.

Parent Volunteers - Virtus Requirement Prior to Volunteering
We are very excited to welcome our parents into the building to volunteer.  We have many opportunities throughout the year where we will invite parents and grandparents in to share their time and talents with us.  All Catholic Schools in MN require that all  employees, and volunteers who interact with minors, are required to complete and maintain safe environment credentials through the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.  The program through the Arch is called Virtus.  

If you are a new volunteer and have never completed your Virtus Training, please click here and follow the instructions.

If you are an existing volunteer and need to update your account (updates are required every 3 years), please click here for instructions.  

Some existing accounts have been placed in an inactive mode if you have not volunteered recently.  If that has happened and you are interested in becoming reactivated, or if you have any questions,  please contact  Lisa Wrobel liwrobel@stjosephwsp.org.  

To ensure successful completion of the requirements, follow the information below before creating your VIRTUS account. If you have an existing VIRTUS account, contact Lisa Wrobel liwrobel@stjosephwsp.org for assistance so your account can be updated prior to login. 

Famfare Kitchen - Home & School Fundraiser
Famfare Kitchen is partnering with us this Fall to give you a night off from cooking and support our school at the same time! Meal pick-ups right from school! Online ordering is currently open and the first meal pick-up is scheduled for Tuesday. Sept. 12 at 3:45 PM in the school parking lot right by the church entrance. Please click here to place your order or contact Christina Mahady, Home & School President, with any questions.

15% of all orders placed by our families will be donated back to the school!

Minted (online marketplace for art, stationary and gifts)
If you use Minted please consider using our code: FUNDRAISESTJOSEPHSSCH to get 20% off all Minted items, excluding fine art prints. 15% of the net sales from each purchase will be donated back to you at the end of the year.

• Friday, September 16 - Mass 9am 
• Friday, September 23 - Mass 9am
• Monday, September 26 - School Picture Day, Out of Uniform
• Friday, September 30 - Mass 9am
• Monday, October 3 - No Bus Transportation for Students (Parent Transportation Required)
• Wednesday, October 5 - Spiritwear Day
• Friday, October 7 - Mass 9am
• Saturday, October 8 - Teddy Bear Band 9:30am Front Lawn of School