St. Jerome School Weekly Newsletter
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020
“Nothing great is achieved without much enduring”
St. Catherine of Siena
From Mr. Merrick
Fr. Reilly, the faculty, staff, and I are excited to have your children here at St. Jerome School (both in-person and virtually). We are all grateful to our students and families for your cooperation and support this week. We are happy to have the life of school back in our school! I look forward to continuing to get to know everyone over the course of the fall.
Please remember to fill out the emergency card and return it to the school office; we appreciate you providing us with this information as soon as possible.
Tomorrow, we welcome our PreK and kindergartners for their first day of school. I also wish to remind you that there is no school on Friday (September 4th) and Monday (September 7th) for Labor Day.
I want to close with expressing my sincere appreciation for all that our faculty and staff members have done to begin school. Everyone has been willing to go above and beyond to prepare for our students and welcome them back to school. I feel so blessed to work with such a dedicated and professional group of people.
I hope that you all have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend!
Just a Few Reminders: Arrival/Dismissal
-Please see the map below for morning drop off procedures. Starting on Thursday, cars with PreK and Kindergarten students will enter the parking lot through the second driveway and drop off near the ramp of the St. Joseph building. Teachers and assistants will be there to guide the children. Siblings in 1st-8th graders will be crossed by the teachers to the Blessed Mother building.
-Please make sure that your child has all belongings and is ready to get out the car when you stop. This will help us keep the line moving.
-If your child needs to be picked up early for an appointment or will be going home a different way than usual, please send in a note or email to his or her teacher. If you have a change of plans during the day, please call the school office. We want to make sure that each of our students gets home safely in the way you intended.
-Thank you for your cooperation and patience as we fine-tune our procedures. We are grateful for your support.
Virtual Learning (Virtual Lions Academy)
Meet Mr. Altomari
My name is Jim Altomari, and I’m excited to be joining the St. Jerome School faculty this year, returning to my alma mater to teach Physical Education and Health. My background includes 15 years of teaching, at all grade levels. Aside from my teaching background, my graduate work has been mainly focused in Occupational therapy. Im a life long parishioner at St. Jerome and am blessed to have a child of my own attending SJS Pre-K 4. I hope this letter finds your family doing well and feeling optimistic about the start of the school year.
Physical education class, at SJS, will engage students in activities and games that promote active and healthy lifestyles. We will address how decisions and behaviors affect students’ physical health, mental and emotional health, and social health. One of the goals of Health and Physical Education, at every grade level, will include learning about COVID-19. This will be done via formal lessons, and, through your child’s participation in classroom-gym class procedures. The larger picture of the goals for Health and Physical Education class, is to help students gain knowledge and skills that will support their efforts to create and maintain balanced levels of the areas of health, & wellness.
Please support the efforts of our PE program by discussing with your son or daughter topics related to their own health and wellness. Here are a few suggested topics that will be covered during the school year:
• Ask your child to list-explain the areas of health
. Discuss how everyday behaviors affect the different areas of the health & overall wellness.
• Encourage your child to generate health-related questions she or he hopes to have answered during this course.
• Discuss health and fitness resources, both, from the internet and, within your community.
I hope this year, SJS PE/Health classes will prove to be fun and informative for you and your St. Jerome’s child. Thank you for supporting our PE program, and feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss your child’s PE or health education.
Science Explorers (Virtual for Now)
Student Health
Our reopening plan calls on every member of the school community to support our values of mutual respect, integrity, willingness to sacrifice for the common good and foster community bonds across generations. Commitment to the policies will assist in protecting the health and welfare of all members of our school community.
In an effort to keep all children safe, we ask that Parents monitor their children’s Health daily. Below are the expectations related to the health monitoring.
I attest to :
Fever of 100.4 or above,
chills,
Cough,
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing,
Fatigue,
Muscle or body aches,
Headache,
New loss of taste or smell,
Sore throat,
Congestion or runny nose,
Nausea or vomiting,
Diarrhea,
My child has not had any contact with anyone with COVID
My child has not traveled a location designated as a “Hot Spot
I am following all CDC recommended guidelines and limiting my/my child’s exposure to risks such as above
If any of these symptoms please keep your child from school and contact the school any of the symptoms. If the symptoms are serious please seek immediate medical attention. Always call before visiting your doctor or health facility.
We will keep you informed if the list of symptoms listed above changes in any way.