St. Joseph's School Parent Letter 1/28/22

Dear St. Joseph’s School Parents,  

Catholic Schools Week January 30 - February 5, 2022
We look forward to celebrating Catholic Education and St. Joseph’s School with special theme dress days and activities. Please click here to view our theme day schedule and click here for our daily activities.  

During Catholic Schools Week, we celebrate Catholic education and St. Joseph’s School.  Thank you to all of the members of our school community for choosing Catholic education for your students!  Please pray for our school as we work together to carry out the responsibility of educating our students.  

Note:  Students are encouraged to wear their St. Joseph’s school uniforms to Mass this weekend as part of kicking off Catholic Schools Week.  Students attending Mass in uniform will receive an out of uniform pass.

St. Joseph, pray for us!  Go Jaguars!!

St. Joseph’s School Gala  - Same Dates / New Venue
We are pleased to announce that the St. Joseph Gala scheduled for February 25, 2022 has changed locations and will be held at the new Omni Viking Hotel in Eagan!  We are grateful for the Omni’s assistance in helping make our event a success.  We hope that this change will provide our guests with greater space, security and convenience.  Please click here if you have not already purchased your tickets.  Please consider inviting guests, grandparents or others to a fun night of celebration, as we both support St. Joseph Catholic School and honor Ed & Suzie Kocourek with the Spirit of St. Joseph award.  

School Raffle - 2021 Ford Escape AWD $31,940 MSRP! 
After four weeks, our students have sold $50,360 toward our goal of $75,000. We are proud of their efforts but we still have work to do!   Please encourage your child to meet their goal of $200.  If your child needs additional tickets sent home, please email Lisa Wrobel liwrobel@stjosephwsp.org.  We still have some work to do!   If parents are able to help sell tickets after Mass on weekends, please sign up here; students (in full uniform) that assist their parents at weekend Mass sales will receive an out of uniform pass.  

Ticket sales will continue through February 25th!  

2022-2023 Tuition
In coordination with the School Advisory Council and Parish Finance Council, St. Joseph’s School is pleased to announce the following 2022-23 tuition rates:

Preschool 3’s: $1,575 ( 0% increase)   K-8: $5,650 (currently $5,550 - 1.8% increase)
Preschool 4’s: $2,115 (2.2% increase)   Annual Family Re-enrollment Fee:  $200
Preschool 4 / 5’s: $2,430 (2.2% increase)    

These limited increases reflect a sensitivity to the impact of inflation affecting each of our families. With the real cost of educating a K-8 student closer to $8,000 - we are grateful for the continued support of the parish, in addition to the ongoing success of our various development efforts (Gala, Raffle, GiveMN, other).  These efforts and partners help us both fill the budget gap, while also providing a just wage to our faculty and staff.

Welcome Mr. Brandon Garcia
It is our pleasure to introduce to you Mr. Brandon Garcia.  Mr. Garcia joined our school faculty this week as a full time Instructional Assistant.  He will be supporting our teachers and working with and supervising our students.  Mr. Garcia graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and from the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity with a Masters of Arts in Pastoral Leadership.  His previous teaching and ministry experience includes being a Catechist for elementary and middle school students at local Catholic parishes as well as leading high school retreats and mission trips.

Prayers for a New Principal
As we continue to cultivate and receive applications for the principal position, we ask our school families to offer prayers and sacrifices that God will send us a new principal to make the name of Jesus known and loved, and continue the tradition of academic excellence and faith formation that have been the cornerstone of Catholic education at St. Joseph for nearly 80 years.

We specifically invite you to consider saying the attached prayer as a family each day during the month of February for a successful principal search.  In addition, a signup has been created by the Home & School Association where families can specifically choose a day to say some additional prayers for this same purpose- perhaps a rosary or holy hour, or other additional prayers.  

Mitten and Hat Collection is Underway!
The fifth grade students are sponsoring their annual mittens, hats, gloves, and scarves collection for the Hats and Mittens of Minnesota.  The items may be brought to school between Tuesday, January 24 and Friday, February 4, 2022.  Students may place the hats and mittens in the baskets and boxes across from the school office.  Thank you so much for your participation in this special work of mercy.  

St. Joseph’s School - Middle School Variety Show March 10-11
We are excited to announce our first ever Middle School Variety Show!  Please read more about this opportunity.  Thank you Mrs. Bowe for organizing this for our students.

A Note from The School Nurse- Updated Covid -19 Mitigation & Quarantine Policy
Please click here to view St. Joseph’s School Updated Quarantine Policy as of January 25, 2022.. 

The most important practice we can continue is to please keep kids home each day if they are sick.   Rapid tests are available for students upon request ammilosch@stjosephwsp.org.

Our current positive caseload for this week  is 2, effecting the following grades: Pk (0), K (0), 1(0), 2(0), 3(0), 4(0), 5(2), 6(0), 7(2), 8(0).

Chipotle Restaurant Night - January 31 5-9pm
Join us for our next restaurant night at Chipotle in West St. Paul  Please click here to view the flyer for instructions.  Thank you!

Important Links
Middle School Jaguar Buzz
Home & School Association Information
January/February Recess Volunteers
February Lunch Menu
Church of St. Joseph
St. Joseph Church Bulletin

January / February  Look Ahead

• Monday, January 31 - Restaurant Night - Chipotle
• Sunday, January 30 - Friday, February 5 - Catholic Schools Week
• Friday, February 4 - Mass 9:00 am Church
• Friday, February 11 - Mass 9:00 am Church
• Thursday, February 17 - No School; Parent Teacher Conferences
• Friday, February 18 - No School
• Monday, February 21 - No School Presidents Day
• Friday, February 25 - Mass 9:00 am Church

INTERIM ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM
Greg Wesely (Principal); grwesely@stjosephwsp.org
Patrick Menke (Advisor); patrick.menke@churchofstjoseph.org
Lisa Wrobel (School Operations); liwrobel@stjosephwsp.org
Lori Bruce (Interim Dean of Students); lobruce@stjosephwsp.org
Sandy Knudson (Preschool Coordinator); saknudson@stjosephwsp.org