Parent Letter 11/12/21

Dear Parents, 

Each school week continues to go by so quickly.  And as we read this week’s Friday Letter, we can anticipate that next week will be no different.  Next week there are several events scheduled for our students and school community.  These include; Lifetouch Studios Picture Day, our annual Thanksgiving Food Drive for Neighbors, Inc., and the performance of “Oh, I Love America” by our third, fourth, and fifth grade students to recognize Veterans.  Please continue to read this letter to keep updated on all of the happenings at school.  Thank you for your prayers and support.  St. Joseph, pray for us!

Lifetouch Picture Day
School pictures are scheduled for Monday,  November 15.   This will be an out-of-uniform day.   If you have already ordered your pictures online,  you do not need to re-order.  If you have not previously ordered, you may place your picture order online at mylifetouch.com and enter our Picture Day ID:  EVTXTZRKK 

School Leadership Team Update 
We are grateful that Mr. Tom Gagliardi has been onsite full-time this past week both assisting Mr. Wesely with administrative needs, but also starting to meet one-on-one with faculty and staff - in addition to various parents and groups, including the Home & School Association; this will continue.  Further background information on Mr. Gagliardi is forthcoming in the next update. 

A Faculty/Staff School Survey was developed and sent out this week; many have already completed this form.  A Parent School Survey is in its final stages of development and is scheduled to be released as early as next Monday.

Please look for a separate School Leadership Team Update on Monday with more details.

Any questions or comments can be directed to Patrick Menke (patrick.menke@churchofstjoseph.org), Greg Wesely (grwesely@stjosephwsp.org) or Tom Gagliardi (togagliardi@stjosephwsp.org).

Give to the Max 2021
Mark your calendars!  Give to the Max 2021 is on Thursday, November 18.  Give to the Max is a virtual, statewide giving event which St. Joseph’s School has participated in for many years.  We are grateful for the financial support provided by our community to our school through this annual event.  Please watch for a link to participate!

Thanksgiving Food Drive  “Do a good deed; help a neighbor in need!”
St. Joseph’s eighth grade class is sponsoring a canned goods / non perishable food collection to support the work of Neighbors, Inc.  Our collection will be Monday, November 15 - Friday, November 19.   Please consider helping people in need of food in our area by donating food items during the collection.  Thank you for your generosity.  Middle School students will be out collecting during morning drop off.  Please help us to surpass our total collected food last year of over 1,000 lbs!  All goods appreciated along with items in high need including: pancake mix, syrup, tuna, peanut butter and canned or packs of fruit.

COVID-19 Update 
St. Joseph’s School has had 5 lab confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 to report during this week of school.  To date we have had a total of 10 COVID-19 positive cases in our school.  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.  

Please be advised that in our count of lab confirmed positive cases, some of these cases happened while at home on quarantine and the student(s) were not in the building. 

Veterans Day Concert - Rescheduled for Thursday November 18                             
Thank you for your understanding as we were unable to have our Veterans Day Concert this past Thursday due to Covid exposures.  We are very grateful to provide a rescheduled Veterans Day Concert on Thursday, November 18th at 7:00p.m. in the Church.  A rehearsal of the concert will be held at 2:00p.m. in the Church.  Students in grades 3, 4, and 5, under the direction of Mrs. Bowe, have been preparing songs for this concert, “Oh, I Love America”.  We would like to invite all family and friends to attend the concert as we honor and thank our veterans.  All service men and women are encouraged to wear their uniform.  We hope you are able to attend.

St. Joseph’s School Gala 2021 - Saturday, December 4
The St. Joseph's Gala is our largest annual fundraising event of the school year.  Gala 2021 will be an in-person event held at the Intercontinental St. Paul Riverfront on Saturday, December 4, 2021.   Please start making your plans to attend and participate in this special event.  Please consider inviting family and friends to join you. 

Gala Seating:  Electronic invitations to our upcoming Gala have been sent out to school parents.  We hope that you will be able to join us for this fun night together.  As you make plans for attending, please make note of how seating has traditionally worked.  Those attending are able to purchase individual tickets or a full table of 10.  If a particular group of parents would like to sit together, we encourage you to consider having one of the parties purchase the table and make arrangements for (re)payment.  If you are purchasing individual tickets, we will simply assign you to a particular table; OR if there is a particular table or group that you would prefer being assigned to, please let us know by sending a preference request to Katherine.Walcher@gmail.com.  We especially encourage you to consider purchasing a table and inviting friends, family, alumni, and former parents to join you to support the great cause of Catholic education at St. Joseph School.

Ticket Sales are now open -please click here to purchase tickets. 

Our Gala Committee is now seeking auction donations.  ASign Up Genius has been created to help organize and coordinate the donations.  Please click here to view some of the requested items along with the opportunity to sign up!  Thank you for your support of our St. Joseph’s Gala!  

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Katie Sullivan Katherine.Walcher@gmail.com or Sophia Paramo sophia.rodriguez.2012@gmail.com

New Altar Server Training 
A special training for new Altar Servers is scheduled for Sunday, November 14, at 1:30pm in the Church.  Any student, grades 4 and above, who would like to Serve the Altar of the Lord for daily and weekend Masses are invited to attend.  Families may contact Kristi DeReuil at serverscheduler@churchofstjoseph.org for more information or with any questions.

2022-2023 St. Joseph’s School Kindergarten - Class of 2031
Hello from St. Joseph's School!  For the last two years, our school has had two of the largest Kindergarten classes in recent memory.  We want to make sure that we have a seat for your future kindergartener next year!  Please let us know if you have a child who is age eligible for kindergarten for the 2022-2023 school year.  Please reply even if you are not sure whether your child will start kindergarten next year, or where your child will attend kindergarten.  Our school administration is planning for next year! 

Click here 

PLEASE NOTE, this is not an actual application for our kindergarten. We'll let you know as soon as that application is open! This is just for our planning purposes. 

St. Joseph Award - Middle School
Congratulations to our first recipients of the St. Joseph Award for this school year!  TJ Abbott, grade 6, Francesc McSherry, grade 7, and Kathryn Howard, grade 8.  This award recognizes Middle School students that are following the example given by St. Joseph of living a faith-filled life and being a hard worker.  The award is presented to Middle School students at the mid-trimester and at the end of the trimester.

School Mass
Our next school Mass will be on Friday, November 19 at 9:00 a.m. in the Church.  This will be our Thanksgiving Mass. Parents, grandparents, family members are always welcome to attend our school Masses and prayer devotions during the school year.

Pianist Requested
Do you or someone you know have experience playing the piano?  Mrs. Bowe is seeking individuals who may be interested in assisting at our school Masses by playing the piano.  The pianist would allow Mrs. Bowe to support our student cantors singing the prayers and parts of the Mass.  Please contact Mrs. Bowe at bebowe@stjosephwsp.org if you would like more information about assisting at Mass.  Thank you for your consideration and/or sharing this opportunity with others.

Volunteers Needed for Recess Supervision & Home and School Association Information
Our school is looking for assistance with supervising our students during their recess 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 November & December.

Thank you to the many volunteers who make up our H & S Association!  Please click here to view the minutes from the October meeting. 

Attendance Communication
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
November Menu

Artsonia – artsonia.com
We are pleased to share with you that St. Joseph’s School is now registered with Artsonia.  Artsonia is an online student art portfolio used by over 50,000 K-12 schools in the United States.  It is a free, safe, educational program for students and families, as well as a comprehensive resource for art educators.  Artsonia brings communities together to celebrate children's artistic expression.

Artsonia is an excellent way to organize online student art portfolios in one place.   Student art projects are posted on the Artsonia website and shared with parents, family, and friends.  Parents are able to provide private feedback on their students' work, visible only to students and their parents.

St. Joseph’s School students’ art work has been placed on the Artsonia website and may be viewed by visiting artsonia.com.  We thank Mrs. Lamusga, St. Joseph’s School Art Teacher and several parent volunteers for preparing our students’ art work and uploading it to the website.  

Please take time to visit St. Joseph's School virtual art gallery soon!

Restaurant Night - Thank You!
We would like to thank our school families for attending the most recent St. Joseph’s School Restaurant Night at Culvers.  We hope your Butterburger and Concrete Mixer were delicious.  Please watch for additional Restaurant Nights throughout the remainder of the school year. 

The Weather is Changing
As fall weather is here with winter right around the corner, it is a good time to start sending your children to school with sweaters, sweatshirts, and jackets. Once snow falls students will need their winter boots and snow pants to play on the playground and field during recess.  

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. 

LECTIO DIVINA
Reading, Praying, Studying, Sharing the Word of God
Tuesday, November 16, 23 and December 7
Msgr. Foran Great Room
Two Sessions Available: 8:30-10:30 AM and 6:30-8:30PM
No pre registration required.  Join us as you are able to encounter Jesus in Holy Scripture.
Douglas Bushman, Director of Parish Mission and Formation, will lead this beautiful series.

St. Joseph Church Bulletin

November Look Ahead:

• Monday, November 15 - School Picture Day (Students may be out of Uniform)
• Thursday, November 18 - Give to the Max Day!
• Friday, November 19 - Thanksgiving Mass 9:00am 
• Tuesday, November 23 - End of Trimester 1  Mass 9:00 a.m.
• Wednesday November 24 - Friday November 26 - No School, Happy Thanksgiving!
• Monday, November 29 - Trimester 2 Begins