Eagle's Edge
St. Therese Newsletter - November 18, 2020
Taking time to pause...
This is a time of thanksgiving and reflection, and with the stress of daily life these days it's difficult to pause and think about all that we have accomplished. I'm proud of what we have been able to accomplish together at St. Therese this school year - and I'm especially proud of the efforts our families have made towards achieving that success.
In the absence of our LIP time we will double our efforts to build community with our students virtually, and support their online learning. We are at school - if you need us, please call!
I will be available to hear your questions and concerns during conferences next week - please reach out to me at any time. I'm happy to schedule a Zoom meeting with you, or speak with you on the phone. I'm confident that we will weather this storm, because as always Eagles go the distance, and we can do virtually anything!
God bless you all,
Rosemarie El Youssef
Principal, St. Therese School
We have PHONES!
Thank you for your patience!
Liturgy of the Word, 11/20 at 10 a.m.
Each Liturgy of the Word will have a new link to the livestream, so check your teacher's google classroom on Friday mornings for the link!
STAR Testing - late fall testing window open
Please refrain from assisting your child with answering the questions - the more accurate our assessment, the better we are able to meet your child's needs. You should help them get into the test and navigate technical difficulties, but you should not assist by reading the questions aloud, or helping with answers.
Thank you for your assistance with this!
DCS Teacher Inservice Day December 4th - NO SCHOOL
The office is open from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. as always.
Picture Re-takes December 4th
We encourage you to only come in for a retake if you haven't taken a photo yet. If you have more than one child, just use ONE slot to sign them all up - photos take only 2 minutes.
Signup link can be found in the newsletter sent by your teacher.
Auction Liquidation Sale was a SUCCESS!
Thank you to all who shopped!
Portland Rescue Mission - Food and Coat Drive!
Thank you all for your generous donations so far!
St. Therese School is collaborating with the Portland Rescue Mission to collect coats, hats, gloves, and scarves for those in need. Please bring your donations to the school anytime during regular office hours, or drop off during our drive-thru supply times on Fridays from 2-4:30.
We are also collecting food for them. Please check below for a list of items they would like.
If you, or someone you know, is in need of food assistance, please call Shasta Hatter at the SVDP office 503-253-7566.
Middle School Service: No-Sew Blanket Making Project
You can go to any fabric or craft store and purchase a 2-yard length of fleece. You can even purchase pre-cut sets. Any color, any pattern, as long as it is no pill fleece and there are two pieces. You can drop your donations off anytime!
We encourage each middle schooler to purchase two pieces of fleece, but will also be distributing the donated fleece to those interested in participating so they can make more than one. Because of the pause in LIP Learning, each middle school student is invited to participate at home during a live class on Google Meet with Mrs. El Youssef. Our goal is to have blankets made and brought back to the school by the December 11th drive-thru.
Donations needed by December 3rd.
Thank you!
Conferences November 23rd and 24th
Thank you to all who have signed up for a conference time!
Look for a link to sign-up for conferences in your emails on Monday - you can schedule a virtual conference, or an in-person conference. Thank you for your patience in this digital world!
Switching from SchoolSpeak to FACTS Management System
Starting next week, the newsletter will be sent directly from this new management system. You will see that the email is from Rosemarie El Youssef via RenWeb, or FACTS management system via RenWeb. Please open anything if the subject includes "St. Therese" as we are unsure what it will look like when it arrives in your inbox. Communication is even more important this school year than ever before - we appreciate your cooperation as we work to make it more streamlined.
All grade reporting for 5th - 8th grades will be transitioning to FACTS. There will be instructions for you at conferences to help you get your account set up. It is very user friendly!
BottleDrop Thursdays - UPDATE!
There is a special matching fundraiser coming up through BottleDrop. From NOW until November 15th, BottleDrop will give us a 20% match for every bag of cans/bottles or financial contribution made to our St. Therese Account. This special fundraiser will continue through December 1st.
If you usually take your own cans/bottles, consider donating them to us during this time. Eagle Student Leaders will use the extra funds raised from 11/15-12/1 to purchase perishable items for food boxes.
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, November 18th. The zoom link for this evening's meeting is below.
Here is the agenda for the 11/18 meeting:
- Auction Liquidation was a success!
- Guest speaker Tom Burns, Knights of Columbus
- Knights support of the school
- Long time commitment to Catholic Education
- Catholic Service Essay Awards
- Open floor
12/16
1/20
2/17
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.
Parents' Club Meeting LINK
Zoom link can be found in the newsletter link sent by teachers.
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!
SAFE & READY SCHOOLS UPDATE as of 11/18
Just as a reminder, all Catholic schools are required to follow the metrics and guidelines set forth by the state of Oregon and the Oregon Department of Education. There are no exceptions.
Our count in Multnomah County has increased since last week, now hovering at 346.2/100,000. Our two-week case count up 100/100,000 from last week. We need to be at 100 or less in order to reopen for K-6 students. In the image below, this is the yellow section of the chart. We need to be at 50 or less in order to return as a whole school, K-8. In the image below, this is the green section of the chart.
Thank you for your continued patience, and your partnership through this challenging time. The best we can do is keep our community healthy, and do our part to bring the case count down in our county. And keep the prayers coming!
ODE’s Ready Schools Safe Learners Page
School Office Hours - changes in procedure due to COVID-19 safety measures
Effective Monday, August 31st please call ahead if:
* You need to meet with a staff member (Rosemarie, Penny, teachers, etc.)
* You need to pick something up, or drop something off (materials, payment, etc.)
If you are in the parking lot, please just call us from your cell phone, if you can and we will accommodate you if we can safely do so. We will do our very best to meet your needs and appreciate your cooperation as we work to keep our students and staff safe.
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