January 2022 Newsletter

Principal- Mrs. Mary Jo Sarff

A New Year's Prayer

Let's end this year with a thankful heart and start the new year with peace and faith. Let us release the bitterness and frustrations of the past year. Let us move into the next year knowing that God loves us and wants the best for us. Let's pray that the new year will be focused on healing ourselves through repentance and the renewing of our minds. We were not meant to do life alone! We can bring the light of hope into our own heart, home, and world. Amen
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Covid Updates


St. Joseph School will continue to follow the established protocols for the 2021 school year.

As many of you are aware testing is in high demand with many locations running out of testing

materials. At this time Tazewell County Health Department is recommending the Peoria Civic

Center for testing. Over Christmas break the CDC changed the quarantine time for direct

contacts to 5 days, however this rule does not apply to schools. Schools are still required to

follow the 10 day from exposure quarantine guidelines. The only exception to this rule is if

your student is 100% vaccinated at the time of the exposure. 100% vaccinated means your

student has received both shots and it has been 2 weeks since the last shot was given. If you

are contacted by the school that your student is a direct contact and has no symptoms in

order to avoid quarantine proof of vaccination is required.


For our Daily COVID numbers : https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/2a4b9877-d223-4972-b9f6-21a1263543eb/page/tgefB

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Empower Illinois Scholarship

Reservation Night 2022


As a reminder, reservations for a 2022-2023 Empower Illinois tax credit scholarship will open on Wednesday, January 12, 2022.

Like last year, the application process will include two steps: a reservation and an application.

Families should visit Empowerillinois.org to find the reservation page link. Families do not make their tax credit scholarship reservations by logging into their EmpowerXChange portal.

The reservation form will be available at 6:30pm
to give families time to enter their information before submission at 7pm. More information about preparing for reservation night can be found on our website under, "How Do I Apply."

Families who have previously completed a tax credit scholarship application through the EmpowerXChange portal should use the same email address when making their reservation.

Tax Information

St. Joseph School


An Illinois resident who is the parent or legal guardian of a student is eligible to take a tax credit for education expenses paid to an Illinois elementary or secondary school. To help you claim this credit, we have instructions below to help you print your statement from FACTS for calendar year 2020. You may not claim payments which were made by others on your behalf. Please consult your tax advisor to determine if you qualify for the IL K-12 Education Expense Credit.


How to print payment summary for calendar year 2020

Through ParentsWeb website:

1. Login to ParentsWeb (District code: SJS-IL)

2. Go to Financial (in menu on lefthand side)

3. Go to Financial Home (under Financial links)

4. Go to View Details under Payment Plan & Billing

5. Go to View Payment Summary

6. Click on down arrow and select 2020

7. Click Print at the top right of the page.

Through RenWeb app:

1. FACTS

2. FACTS Home

3. Select the over arrow (in gray) to the right of Payment Plan & Billing

4. Go to View Payment Summary]

5. Click on down arrow and select 2020


This report shows the total paid to St. Joseph School for the calendar year 2020 including Registration and Tuition.

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Before/ Aftercare

We are excited to welcome Mrs. Korissa Burns to our St. Joseph School Staff. Mrs. Burns will be leading both the before and aftercare program at our school. If you are interested in your student participating in our program please complete the following form. All students who are participating must complete the form to attend.


https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdXBjuIe5I03c4J3930gFWJi80-sgUyEj4aFBPZKxcxbg04dA/viewform


Before Care Hours : 6:30am - 8:15am

After Care Hours: 3:25pm - 5:30pm


To Contact Our Program Leader Email: kburns@stjosephschoolpekin.com

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School Closings Due To Weather

If the school is closing due to weather, you will receive notification from our Ren Web Parent Alert system. School closings will also be listed on WEEK news. Due to the change of our system which allows for remote learning every year we allow 1 snow day ( no work given) if we have additional snow days students will work remotely from home. Each classroom teacher will provide instructions on how they will provide instruction in that case.
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A Few Of Your Favorite Things About SJS

With Catholic Schools Week approaching Mrs. Bruner is working on our school bulletin board at the entrance of our school. She will be asking students to tell her their favorite thing about being at SJS. She would be thrilled to hear from parents, and alumni about their favorite thing about SJS. Please send Mrs. Bruner an email at dbruner@stjosephschoolpekin.com to participate in this wonderful display of our school support.
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Job Opportunities

St. Joseph School has the following positions open


Cafeteria assistance - Part time - 10am-1pm - Monday-Friday


Before/ Afterschool Leader- Part time- 6:30-8:15 am or 3:15-5:30pm - Monday-Friday


1st Grade Teacher - Full time- Requires Illinois Teaching License - 2022-2023 school year

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January Events

January 6th - Parents Club Canceled

January 14th - End of 2nd Quarter

January 17th - No School MLK Day

January 21st- Grade Posted to Ren Web

January 26th- Dismissal at 11:30 - Teachers Diocese Training

January 29th- Catholic Schools Week - Kick off Mass 5pm at Church

January 31st- February 4th - Catholic Schools Week