St. Jerome School Newsletter
Back to School Edition: August 29th, 2022
“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections but instantly set about remedying them—every day begin the task anew.”
St. Francis de Sales
From Mr. Merrick
Dear St. Jerome Families,
As we begin a new school year, this newsletter contains information to help you get started with our first week of school. Our faculty and staff have been working hard to prepare for the arrival of our students, and we look forward to a productive, pleasant, fun, and engaging school year for our entire community.
We are excited to welcome the St. Lucy School community which includes 30 students, their teachers and aides, and their principal Sister Lisa. We look forward to sharing spiritual, academic, and social experiences during the school year as our new partners.
In addition, we welcome 360 students to St. Jerome School. In addition, we have completed the air conditioning of all of our classrooms and shifted the middle school to the second floor of the St. Joseph building as well as the early childhood grades to the Blessed Mother building. This has allowed us to consolidate space for St. Lucy School as well as minimized the travel time between middle school classes. We also installed phones in every classroom to facilitate communication between our two schools as well as to be available in an emergency.
Our largest project this summer was the construction of a new school office and welcome center as well as a faculty room. By the end of September, we will be shifting the visitor's entrance to the stained glass doors by the side of the church. This will allow us to have a visitor's entrance with a double set of doors both for enhanced security as well as the convenience of our visitors. In addition, this has made space for a visitor and staff restroom on the first floor of the Blessed Mother Building. For now, visitors will still use the door by the short ramp of the Blessed Mother Building (this office now to the left instead of the right). Again, we anticipate all of these improvements to be completed by the end of September, allowing for delays of materials this summer.
We are excited about our St. Lucy partnership and increase of enrollment. With these exciting developments, I ask for your assistance and patience with implementing school procedures, especially morning arrival and dismissal. Please see the notes and diagrams below. We will make adjustments next week if any are necessary.
1st-8th grade begins classes tomorrow; all students should wear their regular uniforms. Gym uniforms on gym days will begin next week.
Members of our St. Jerome community are in need of prayers. Mrs. Blumenstein will be out for the first few days of school as her son and daughter-in-law were expecting twins. The twins were born prematurely in Florida, and unfortunately, they did not make it. We ask for your prayers for the entire Blumenstein family. She and her husband have traveled to Florida to be with them. We also ask for your patience the first week of school as we will be helping to fill Mrs. Blumenstein's many roles as business manager and supervisor of our lunch monitors.
I will be back with the next, weekly newsletter on Wednesday. In addition, we invite all of our families to attend the social this evening from 5:00 PM-7:00 PM. Please see the graphic below for more details.
Have a great week; St. Jerome and St. Lucy, pray for us!
Summer Assignments and Supply Lists
St. Jerome & St. Lucy School Social
Morning Arrival/Drop Off
Car: Beginning at 7:20 AM, cars will be directed to enter through the school yard. This year, there will be two lines in the school yard. Pre-K and Kindergarten will be directed to the left; 1st-8th grade families will be directed to the right. The cars will be stopped and the students will exit their cars and go directly into the buildings. Cars will then be sent out onto Holme Ave. If a child needs to cross, please have your child cross in front of your car. Drop off will continue until 7:35 AM.
Please make sure that your child is able to quickly and safely exit your vehicle to keep the line moving; we do also ask for your patience during the first week as students come to school with their supplies and new family adjust to the routine.
Families with 6th, 7th, & 8th graders may also use the second line for drop off; staff members will help direct the students into the building. Staff members will also help cross any siblings between the buildings. Please see the diagram below.
Walkers: Walkers enter the the doors on Stamford Street to avoid the cars in the school yard. Younger students will be crossed to the St. Joseph Building.
Afternoon Dismissal/Pick Up
Please note that cars will be stopped from exiting the parking lot while the Welsh Road line is leaving.
Walkers: Walkers will be called to line up in their buildings and proceed on one of our three walk lines:
Welsh Road: Staff will walk the students to the corner of Colfax Street and Welsh Road where the crossing guard will take them across Welsh Road. A teacher will also cross students at Weston Street for any students who live in that part of the neighborhood.
Colfax/Narvon: Staff will walk the students down Stamford Street and cross them at Narvon Street as well as Colfax Street.
Holme Avenue: Staff will walk the students to the corner of Holme Ave and Stamford Street where the crossing guard will take them across Holme Ave.
Bus: Bus riders will be called to the first floor of the Blessed Mother Building where staff members will load the buses.
CARES: Students staying for our extended day program (CARES) will be walked to the CARES Room. CARES will begin the second week of school.
Please make sure that your child and your child's teacher are familiar with your usual dismissal plan. If you need change your plans, please send a note or message to your child's teacher. If something comes up during the school day, you may also call the school office.
St. Jerome Spirit Wear Store
The St. Jerome Apparel Store through Sixsmith Sporting Goods is now available online here. Items include zip-up SJS sweatshirt that may be worn in school, the St. Jerome Festival t-shirt, and sweatpants (not for gym class but may be worn on announced spirit days)
All orders must be placed online by Sunday, September 11th. Orders will be packaged and delivered to school for us to send home.
First Day of School Signs
Pre-K & Kindergarten Orientation
CARES Information
St. Jerome Festival 2022
Notes From the Nurse: Required Health Exams
All physical exams need to be completed after June 1, 2022 and will be accepted until the end of the 2023 school year.
Kindergarten
Physical Exam
Dental Exam
Completed Immunization records
Third Grade
Dental Exam
Sixth Grade
Physical Exam
Completed Immunization records
Seventh Grade
Dental Exam
Tdap and MCV4 Immunizations
Forms for medications to be administered in school, forms needed to be completed by your doctor and returned to school before medications can be administered. Please contact the school nurse with any questions (bpaciti@sjsphila.org).
Request for Administration of Medication (MED-1)
Assessment tool
All Heath forms can be found on the school website under Admissions Tab
and the Philadelphia School District website under medical forms.