Parent Letter 9/3/20

Dear Parents, 

We’re Back!

WE DID IT!  We reopened our school building this week for the new school year.  Our first days of the new school year have been terrific!  It is wonderful to have our students and faculty back in the school building or joining us virtually.  Everyone seems to be getting into the school routine.  I wish you could have heard the voices and laughter of children as I did from my office window and while on the playground supervising recess.  Beautiful!

The reopening of school was accomplished because of the commitment and support of our entire school community.  This was so evident during the summer months as school and parish administration, school faculty and parents worked together in preparation for reopening.  THANK YOU!  On behalf of the faculty and staff, THANK YOU!  On behalf of the students and their families, THANK YOU!  On behalf of members of the parish, THANK YOU!  We did it and we are looking forward to a tremendous school year.  St. Joseph, pray for us!  Go Jaguars!!

Mission
Even during a time of pandemic, the mission of St. Joseph’s School remains; 

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

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

  Our school community has identified faith formation, academic excellence, and the development of virtue as three pillars of our school.  We look forward to partnering with you to provide your children with a quality Catholic education.

St. Joseph’s School Enrollment Update
As the new school year begins, we invite you to welcome 45 new families and 81 new students to our St. Joseph’s School Community!  Currently, in grades K-8, 334 students are enrolled.  This is the largest number of K-8 students in five years.  In addition, we are excited to have our largest Kindergarten class in the past 12 years with 51 students. Our outstanding Preschool has 55 children enrolled in the programs.  We are so grateful to you for partnering with our faculty and entrusting your children to us this year. 

No School - Friday, September 4 and Monday, September 7 
There will be no school on Friday, September 4th and Monday September 7th.  Please enjoy the Labor Day holiday weekend with your family!  We look forward to seeing our students when they return on Tuesday, September 8.

St. Joseph’s Preschool Begins Next Week!
Please join us in welcoming our youngest Jaguars into the building next week!  Our Terrific 3’s and our 4 / 5’s classes will have their first day of school on Tuesday, September 8th and our 4’s class will have their first day on Wednesday, September 9th.  We are so happy to have them join us!

Believe and Read
Believe and Read is coming to St. Joseph’s School!  Powered by the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE) and in partnership with Groves Academy, a national leader in literacy instruction, Believe and Read is a three-year initiative that brings Groves Academy’s methodology to St. Joseph’s School through outstanding professional development and teacher coaching. Our goal is to ensure that every student at our school reads at or above grade level.

All students who participate in Believe and Read will benefit. Struggling readers become proficient, and good readers become great ones!  We look forward to implementing Believe and Read to support our continued efforts to create the best learning environment for our students!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!
It takes a village to open up a school during these unique times.  We are in awe of the amount of time and talent provided by so many people to get our school open.  We are overwhelmed with gratitude! 

St. Joseph’s School Faculty and Staff
This amazing group of exemplary educators and staff members have dedicated their lives to serving others.  In these uncertain times they have stepped up and have stood strong to provide an in person educational experience for our students.  Their unwavering dedication to our St. Joseph’s Community is commendable!  

St. Joseph’s School Families
We are so excited to have you back with us!  Whether you are in person or distance learning, we are together!  We are honored that you have chosen St. Joseph’s School to educate your child(ren).  We are blessed to have such a strong and loving community!

School Building Reopening Committee
For several weeks our SBRC Task Force worked hard to provide information and guidance to help create the procedures and protocols to provide us the opportunity to open our school.  What an outstanding success! The Task force was made up of these dedicated individuals: Justin Joyce, Matt Mollner, John Gainor, Natalie Mulrooney, Mike Ferguson, Bill Rascher, Mitzi Vitale, Sean Doyle, Julie Hamiel, Amy Milosch, Lori Bruce, Lisa Wrobel, Greg Wesely and Patrick Menke.

Church of St. Joseph
We would like to extend a very sincere thank you to Fr. Creagan and Fr. Wratkowski, Patrick Menke and Ann Osendorf for their amazing support and tremendous efforts as we planned to open our school. We are truly blessed to have such tremendous support from our Parish.  

Christina Mahady
Christina has done a tremendous job filming, editing and providing us with all of our school videos and our town hall meeting over the last several weeks.   What a gift to all of us!

Cheryl Weimer
We would like to thank Cheryl Weimer for the beautiful flowers out in front of our school and around our St. Joseph Statue!  St. Joseph, pray for us!

St. Joseph’s Home and School Association  
Your Home and School Association exists to support our faculty, students, and families by coordinating volunteers, organizing community events, and providing enrichment opportunities for our classes. Did you know that YOU are a part of the St. Joseph’s Home and School Association? Every family is a member, and all members are represented by two class representatives and an executive committee. Everyone is welcome to learn more about Home and School by attending meetings or talking with your committee members, listed below. 

If you have comments, questions, or suggestions for our committee or school leadership, please feel free to contact any committee member below, or join us for our monthly meetings! We are currently meeting on Zoom, so to be given access to an upcoming meeting, reach out to your Grade Reps or Betsy Joyce (betsybjoyce@gmail.com) for the link. Meetings are typically held the first Wednesday of each month at 7 pm. If you are unable to attend, you can also send your ideas to your class rep. We will soon have a page up on the school website that will have meeting schedules as well as our minutes from past meetings so you can keep up to date on what is happening around the school.

 We are looking forward to a somewhat different but GREAT year at St. Joseph’s!

 Your H&S Committee Members

 Executive Committee

President – Betsy Joyce                            Vice President – Hilary Lamusga

Secretary - Sara Rogers                             Treasurer – Anne Novak

Steering Committee

Preschool: Katie Mahoney and Shannon Campbell
Kindergarten: Alex Fitzer and Jenny Wilson
1st Grade: Shannon Kroon and Anna Beery
2nd Grade: Jenna Dwyer and Breanna Lynn
3rd Grade: Julie Smith and Leslie Miller
4th Grade: Laura Cashill and Jolene Owens
5th Grade: Bri Brekke and Marie Bitzer
6th Grade: Cheryl Weimer and Christy Frost
7th Grade: Michelle Benish and Emily Gainor
8th Grade: Katie Becker and Stephanie Auran

Used Uniform Sale                                                                                                                                 Thank you to Bri Brekke and Sara Rogers for organizing the Used Uniform Sale on August 10^th. The Sale brought in over $400 dollars for our school. Thank you to the following volunteers for giving your time to make the sale a success: Marie Bitzer, Shannon Kroon, Hilary Lamusga, Eryn McQuillan, Leslie Miller and Sarah Norton.

Book Covering Fundraiser                                                                                                          Michelle Benish and Betsy Joyce led the Book Covering Fundraiser toward the end of August. Thank you to all teachers grades 4 – 8 for helping to streamline the process this year with having the books ready and waiting to be covered! Thank you, families, for purchasing the covering service this year, we raised $1,680! All proceeds will help fund the St. Joe’s annual Gala. Thank you to the following volunteers who donated some of their last hours of summer to help cover books: Ana Mule-Bacouros and Constantino Bacouros, Emily and Joey Gainor, Jill Jaeger, Kathy Budge (grandparent), Kirsten Abbott, Caleb Hoffman, Clare Lasure, Therese Hoffman (grandparent), Natalie and Ellen Kipka, Katie and Maria Becker, Jenny Wilson, Kelly Griffin, Marie Bitzer, Bri Brekke, and Sara Rogers. Many hands truly made light work this year!

Thank you to Dads: Chad Abbott, Joe Fitzgerald, Chris Kroon, Matt Mollner and Justin Joyce for helping with final classroom preparations the weekend before school started.

Thank you to the Wonderful Morning Dropoff Traffic Directors: St. Joe’s Staff, Nikki Foley, Edward Kocourek, Chad Abbott and Joe Fitzgerald for helping guide the morning drop off traffic. They did an outstanding job keeping the line moving and ensuring students were safe.

Kindergarten Completed Assessments on Monday and Tuesday. Parent volunteers, Matt and Katy Lasure, Jenna Dwyer, Krista Abbott, Leslie Miller, Shannon Kroon and Colleen Nava managed temperature checks and helped to guide Kindergarten families to their new classroom. Thank you for giving your time to our community!

Uniform Dress Code
Everyone looked great in his or her uniform as we all returned to school. Thank you for assisting your child with getting back into the school routine.  Please remember that our uniform policy requires white or navy socks that extend well above the top of the shoes.  Low-riding/no show golf sock styles are not allowed.  Belts are to be worn with pants/ shorts.

ISD 197 Food Service
ISD 197 will begin providing hot lunch and milk options to our school on September 14th.  Please watch for more information next week.

ISD 197 Transportation
We are happy to announce that ISD 197 informed us today that they will be providing transportation to and from our school beginning on Tuesday, September 8th.  Students that live within the ISD 197 district that re-registered with district transportation in August received their bus cards today.  If you have questions regarding bus transportation please contact ISD Transportation directly:  651-403-8320 or transportation@isd197.org .  

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.st josephwsp.org.  Teachers may be reached  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”. 

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.