St. Joseph's School Parent Letter

A Message from Principal Rickbeil 

In this week’s video, Mr. Rickbeil talks about two recent events that he will remember for the rest of his life, including the birth of his fourth child and the election of the first American pope, Leo XIV.  Inspired by the experience of our students watching the white smoke last week, he shares how Catholic Schools show students the importance of big news events and big life events.  Enjoy!

Good News Regarding Per Pupil Aid for Catholic School Students

Yesterday, the Minnesota legislature and Governor Walz reached a bipartisan agreement on the state budget for the next two school years.  During the announcement, it was revealed that all nonpublic pupil aid programs were fully protected in the new budgets with no budget cuts to these programs.  Barring a sudden and unexpected change before the legislative session finishes in the next week, these funds will remain in place, which has an impact of over $100,000 on our school budget each year.  This is great news for Saint Joseph’s and all Catholic and nonpublic schools in the state of Minnesota, giving our students access to transportation, textbooks, nursing, and counseling services in schools.  Since the budget is reviewed every two years, this budget would be in place through the 2026-27 school year.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and advocacy in this matter, whether you were able to call, email or meet with your legislators.  Your advocacy clearly made a difference for our students, and was a great sign of the unity of our Catholic School system across the State of Minnesota.  Thank you!  

Staffing Transitions and Hires for the 2025-26 School Year

As we are in the final weeks of our school year, I want to give you an update on staffing transitions for next school year.

As with any school year, as we close the school year we say "thank you" to several faculty members that will be beginning a new chapter of their lives next year.  Lisa Taplin will be moving on from her 2nd grade post  after 40 years of dedicated service to our school; it's hard to fathom the number of students she has impacted positively over the year.  Following three years teaching religion at Saint Joseph's, Jacob Hornecker is beginning preparations for a Ph.D. program that he has recently been accepted to.  Following two years of serving as our Spanish teacher, Anna Haire will be home raising her family.  After many years of service in both our preschool and then returning to the front office, Carolyn Pilney has announced her retirement following this school year.  Additionally, following many years in education and two years as an aide in the full-day preschool, Cindy Sullivan is announcing her retirement at the end of the school year.  Thank you to all for your dedicated service!

At this time, we are pleased to welcome some new members to the team for 2025-26.  Although not a new hire, Hannah Hanson will be taking Lisa Taplin's position in 2nd grade.  To fill the kindergarten position, Mary Hafner has been hired to join our kindergarten team this next year.  Mary is a recent graduate from Benedictine College in Kansas, and has spent her year finishing her degree and student teaching in Kansas.  To fill our third 5th grade opening for next year, Mary Kate Kocourek has been hired for this position.  MaryKate is also a recent graduate from Benedictine, as has been prepared well through her experiences as our instructional aide this school year.   She will pair with Rod Cina and Suzie Kocourek to form our fifth grade team moving forward.  

In the Middle School, Gaby Quilan has been hired to be our religion teacher.  Gaby comes to us with a Masters degree from the Catholic Studies program at the University of Saint Thomas, and experience teaching middle school religion at Risen Christ in the past.   To assist us in the main office, Coral Chino will be making the move from the preschool to the main office.

Currently, we are still in the interview process for the positions of Spanish Teacher, Instructional Aide, and Preschool Aides.  We are really grateful and fortunate for the amount of interest in recent openings, and the caliber of applicants for such positions.  Please keep us in prayer as we continue to bring in candidates, and feel free to give a nudge to anyone you know who would be a good fit on our faculty and staff.

Spring Music Concert Grades 3-8

Congratulations to our 3-8 students for your wonderful spring concert performance on Thursday evening! Thank you to Mrs. Broberg for your great work with our students.   Thank you to the many families for joining us for this great event!

Spirit Wear Day - Friday, May 23

Our next spirit wear day will be Friday, May 23rd.  Students may come to school wearing spirit wear and following the dress code guidelines for out of uniform days.  If students do not wish to wear spirit wear, they may wear their school uniform.

Fitness Fun Day - Save the Date June 3

We are excited to be planning our annual Fitness Fun Day for our students during the school day on Tuesday, June 3rd.  Please watch for volunteer information coming out soon!

St. Joseph’s School Book Fair Began Today!

The book fair has started!  Thank you to those who have already signed up to volunteer your

time. There are still opportunities to volunteer to make our book fair a success. Please check out the sign-up genius to see if any of the times will work for you. 

Students will be attending the book fair during their regular library times with a few exceptions.  2nd grade classes are invited Monday morning.  Middle school classes are invited Tuesday morning. Students should plan to bring money if they would like to purchase books during their school day visit to the fair.

Students are also welcome to come with a parent after school until 4pm on book fair days.

Please remember a portion of all book sales will benefit the library to add new books.  Flyers with directions on how to order online have been sent home.   There is also a wish list flyer for the students, along with a preview pamphlet.  You can also preview what Ignatious books has to offer here https://store.ignatiusbookfairs.com/   

Shop online at https://store.ignatiusbookfairs.com/.  STJ families will have free shipping until the close of the book fair. 

The Book Fair will be

held in the Great Room: 

Friday, May 16th 9am-4pm

Saturday, May 17th

4:30pm-6:30pm

Sunday, May 18th

8:30am-12:30pm

Monday, May 19th 9am-4pm 

Tuesday, May 20th 9am-4pm

A Note from the School Nurse Team

If your child has any non-emergency medications in the Health Office, please feel free to stop by anytime during the last two weeks of school and pick them up. Or, let us know if we may send them home with your child. This will greatly help our nursing staff on the last day of school. Otherwise, medications will be sent home in your child’s backpack on the last day, with the exception of controlled medications (e.g. ADHD medications) that do need a direct hand off to a parent or guardian. If your child won't be taking their scheduled daily med on Wednesday June 4th, which is a half day, please come pick it up on Tuesday June 3rd. The Health Office now has a webpage to assist with any health-related questions or concerns and our contact information! https://stjosephwsp.org/health-office

Thank you!

Nurse Deb, Nurse Joey and Nurse Molly

St. Joseph’s School Summer Camp - Registration Closing Soon!

Registration for the Summer Programs at St. Joe's School will be closing very soon.  We have a variety of options for our students throughout the summer.  Please click here to view the selection.  Registration is on our school website under the parents tab or by clicking here.  A hard copy of the summer offerings went home today with students.

After Hour Kid Power Summer Care Camp - Registration Now Open!

Kid Power summer care registration is now open.  Hours are 7am-5pm during the weeks June 10th - August 1st (closed the week of July 4th).  Please click here to register!  

Home & School Association

Our Home & School Association works hard to help us coordinate volunteers.  Below you will find 2 SUG to help coordinate volunteers for recess helpers and lunchroom helpers!  Thank you all so much for coordinating this for our school!

Recess Helper Sign up

LunchRoom Helper Sign Up

Middle School Youth Group

Calling all 6th – 8th graders!  St. Joseph Middle School Youth Group meets twice a month for ALIVE Nights – at time for games, fellowship, formation, and prayer.  Maybe you are wanting even more time with your friends after Alive Nights.  If so, stay for Mass at 5:30pm and dinner at 6pm!  Learn more about middle school youth group by clicking here!

Event Dates:

Wednesdays at 4pm

May  21

EMMAUS

The Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus will be hosting a monthly Emmaus event at St. Joseph.  It will include a time of recreation, a holy hour (with childcare), and a shared meal and you will still be home by bedtime!  Please mark the dates, invite others to come along and join us!

Event Dates:

Sundays from 3:00-6:00pm

May 18