Eagle's Edge
St. Therese Family Newsletter - February 4th
After the first few days together in Crazytown...
We are still here! The difference? Huge smiles on every face.
Our students are so happy to be here together again and our staff are thrilled to have them. Mr. Robb commented that the best part of this week has been the noise - the sound of student voices and movement in the building, and the sound of them at play on the playground. We feel whole again - thank you!
We continue to sanitize bathrooms and door handles throughout the day, as well as other high touch surfaces. I've been supervising lunches in 3rd and 5th grade this week and students did a tremendous job being safe in their seats while they eat. I'm so proud of them and how they've adapted to this new way of doing school. I'm so proud of all of us!
What could be better than this week? NEXT WEEK! We can't wait to welcome back the rest of our Eagle family and show them how to do school in this new and strange way. 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th graders we are waiting for you!
Take care and please continue hold your St. Therese community in prayer.
Warmly,
Rosemarie El Youssef
Principal, St. Therese School
Return to In-Person Survey
If you haven't let us know your plans yet, please click the link to the survey below. This is especially important if you do NOT plan to return. We want to be prepared with materials for your child. Please call the office and speak with Mrs. El Youssef to make this arrangement.
Updated Case Rates 1/30/21
This is beyond encouraging to us - if the case rate in Multnomah County continues to drop at this rate, we will be in the yellow by spring break (and dare we hope for green?). Masks work! Please continue to be safe!
We will watch the data and keep you informed as things change.
Re-enrollment/Registration Portal OPEN
The earlier you enroll, the better prepared we are to discuss next year's budget and make plans for school staffing. You can pay your $200 registration fee now, or just wait and pay before May 1, 2021.
Please give us a call if we can help you in any way!
FACTS Financial Aid - APPLY NOW!
https://online.factsmgt.com/SignIn.aspx
Our school may be eligible for additional financial aid from outside grants, but only based on the applications submitted by Monday, February 1st. PLEASE complete your application prior to that date.
The deadline for completing financial aid applications is March 1, 2021 in order to be considered for financial aid.
Photo Release Authorization - REMINDER
Thank you to all who have filled out this form so far!
We would love to include photos of our students on our website, newsletter, and on social media. Please complete the photo release letting us know if this is OK or NOT OK. We will keep these permissions on file for the rest of the school year and renew each fall. Please know that this also includes the YEARBOOK - we need your permission for students to be pictured there as well.
Look for our school in the Catholic Schools edition of the Sentinel - we are so proud of our community!
Click here to complete the Photo Release Authorization Form for 2020-2021 school year.
St. Vincent de Paul - UPDATES
Our items of the month for February is:
Fresh potatoes
Baked beans
Pork and beans
Eagle Student Leadership is collecting food for St. Vincent de Paul for Catholic Schools Week and that is our greatest need. You can bring bags of potatoes or cans of beans by the school ANYTIME and our ES Leadership kiddos will deliver to the pantry.
Volunteer opportunity: St Vincent de Paul is in need of delivery drivers. We need substitute drivers for Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Drivers on a rotating basis are needed for Saturday morning. Usual start time is around 9 am and shifts are 1 1//2 to 2 hours. Training provided. Must be able to carry 25 pound boxes up stairs. Please call Shasta Hatter at 503-253-7566 for more information or to volunteer.
If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please contact Shasta Hatter at the SVdP office 503-253-7566.
Friday, February 5th NO SCHOOL - Faith Formation Day
Catholic Schools Week - UPDATE!
If students are NOT participating in the dress up days, they should wear their uniform.
Sunday 1/31: Celebrating Your Parish
* Come join us at mass!
Monday 2/1: Celebrating Your Community
* Wear your Distance Learning shirt to school
* Any pants are ok - just not sweats
* Food collection for St. Vincent de Paul
Tuesday 2/2: Celebrating Your Students
* Surprise fun activity!
* Disney Day
Wednesday 2/3: Celebrating the Nation
* Show and tell - share photos of your family in different parts of the city, state, country
* Red, White, & Blue Day - or souvenir day. Wear something from somewhere around the United States (maybe a sweatshirt from the University of Portland? Seaside? Yellowstone Park?)
Thursday 2/4: Celebrating Vocations
* Make special cards to send to our parish priests!
* Career Day! Dress up like your future career.
Friday 2/5: Celebrating Faculty, Staff, and Volunteers
* Special treats for our staff to enjoy during our Faith Formation Day (no school)
* Please consider making a card to thank a St. Therese staff member!
* NO SCHOOL - take the day off :)
Saturday 2/6: Celebrating Families
* Do something special as a family - enjoy a family tradition, or have a family game night
What about the kids coming Feb. 8th? WELCOME BACK WEEK!
Monday 2/8 - Distance Learning t-shirt (any pants, no sweats)
Tuesday 2/9 - Crazy hair and hat day (wear your uniform)
Wednesday 2/10 - College Day!
Thursday 2/11 - Sports Day!
Friday 2/12 - Free Dress (you're learning at home, anyway!)
Remember, if your student isn't participating they should just wear a uniform.
Go Eagles!
BottleDrop Thursdays
We are so grateful for your generosity! With your donations we purchased a Distance Learning T-shirt for each student and staff member to wear on Fridays, prizes for spirit week, and the pumpkins for our St. Therese Pumpkin Patch. We recently purchased an eagle mascot costume and our new mascot will soon be visiting classrooms to learn what it means to be a St. Therese Eagle!
The school budget is tight this year, but there are some things that we believe students shouldn't go without - your can and bottle donations make this happen!
Parents' Club Corner
Here is the Parents' Club schedule of meetings for the rest of the school year. We will meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month from 6-7pm via Zoom. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, February 10 (CHANGE - 2/17 is Ash Wednesday).
3/17
4/21
5/19
Please contact Melanie Reyna at 503-467-1805 or via email at melanie.reyna@usbank.com with any questions.
Please see the attachment below for the meeting minutes from 11/18.
Parent Obligations for the Year - Fair Share and Fundraising
If we all work together, we can make this happen!
Rather than having MANY events with specific obligations, we have one financial obligation for each family.
Dual-parent household - $500 (fundraised or donated)
Single-parent household - $300 (fundraised or donated)
This replaces the auction basket obligation, auction project obligation, jog-a-thon, and raffle.
If we make our goal of $36,000 and everyone pitches in, there is no reason to bill people for what they aren't able to fundraise.
Our goal is to have one BIG fundraiser in the spring - if we can generate enough money to fulfill our obligation to the school our tuition won't go up. Jog-a-thon seems doable with the changing of the metrics and there are MANY ways we can get creative to make it happen.
The key to making this happen is ALL of us working together!
You are not expected to figure out how to fundraise on your own - but come to Parents' Club meetings and share your ideas. We are always better together! Our next PC meeting on January 20th will be focused on brainstorming ideas for fundraisers.
School Office Hours 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
St. Therese Catholic School
Email: elyoussefr@stthereseschool.org
Website: stthereseschool.org
Location: 1260 Northeast 132nd Avenue, Portland, OR, USA
Phone: (503) 253-9400
Facebook: Facebook.com/StThereseSchoolPortlandOrFamilyPage
Twitter: @sttherese_pdx