SJCS Family Newsletter
Back-to-School 2021
Eagle Families -
It is with great excitement that I write to you this afternoon. We are right around the corner to getting our year started! Our staff have worked tirelessly to prepare our building to welcome our students and we want you to know that we are ready to love on them, to guide them, and to prepare them for their futures.
As we begin this year under new leadership, I want you to be familiar with the theme for our year: Cultivating our Creative Courage. As a community of learners, we will cultivate our brilliances, creatively adapt in our arena, and grow in faithful courage.
Additionally, we will drill down to focus on our Big Five – the foundations of our school: faith, culture, instruction, systems, and wellness. In each of these areas, we will address:
- our personal faith & time in adoration of our Lord (faith),
- Emergenetics & communication (culture),
- differentiation & curriculum review (instruction),
- strategic planning (systems), and
- setting boundaries and taking breaks (wellness).
One of our goals with school culture is to focus on streamlining our communication. It is my desire to provide a monthly family newsletter that will include all the information you need to stay connected as our Eagle families. While it will be of longer length to include information for elementary and secondary events, my hope is that information will be easier to access over time.
There is already such an energy in our building and we cannot wait to see the amazing things we accomplish at St. Joseph Catholic School. We know we could not do it without your support – thank you for trusting us with your students each day.
God bless & Go Eagles!
P.S. I hope to see all our Eagle families tomorrow at our Back-to-School Mass at Christ the Good Shepherd Chapel at 11:00 AM!
Need to Get in Touch With Us?
Our goal as an administrative team - made up of myself, Mrs. Lavender (Elementary Assistant Principal) and Mrs. Rayburn (Secondary Assistant Principal) - is to have a pulse on our campus activities; the best way for us to do that is to be in classrooms and hallways where the teaching and learning is happening.
As a result of being in classes so often, we may not always be immediately available to you. In order to provide you with a focused ear for important matters, we ask that you contact our respective Administrative Assistants to schedule a time for us to visit with you in person. Their emails are as follows:
- Elementary: Diane Svatek - dsvatek@stjosephbcs.org
- Junior High: Claude White - cwhite@stjosephbcs.org
- High School/Principal: Margaret Tietjen - mtietjen@stjosephbcs.org
Feeling sick? Please stay home!
With the nature of COVID and the precautions we take at school with illness, we ask that you please DO NOT send your student to school if they do not feel well before they leave the house in the morning. We understand the desire to not miss instruction, however, we want to err on the side of caution because the health and safety of our students, staff, and families is more important!
When a student gets to school and is then sent home with COVID-like symptoms, we have to displace each class to a new location so we can disinfect each room they previously visited that day. This creates quite a distraction to the learning environment and causes learning to not take place.
Based on the nature of the symptoms, we may need to review additional information with each family so it is important that we are able to communicate next steps specific to each case.
Additionally, please wait for acknowledgement of receipt for doctor's notes or a negative COVID test from Mrs. Mishler before sending your student back to school so we can relay this information to all the staff who interact with your student each day.
Ethics & Integrity in Ministry (EIM) Training
St. Joseph is hosting an in-person training on Tuesday, August 17th from 1:00-3:00 PM at the Parish Activity Center (PAC). Please contact Mrs. Pat Wiederhold for questions about this training (pwiederhold@stjosephbcs.org).
As of January 1, 2021 and extending through the duration of the pandemic, persons who are updating/renewing their compliance (every three years) will be allowed to take an online training course. Visit www.austindiocese.org/workshop#EIMOnline for more details.
First Day is Non-Dress Uniform
Littles Lunches Ordering
The lunch menu for the next few weeks is shown below. We will update the image as the meals for upcoming weeks become available.
Pricing: Elementary meals are $4.75 and Secondary meals are $6.25.
To pay for lunches, click HERE.
Download the RenWeb App
RenWeb Home features include:
Student:
- Grades, Homework assignments, Lesson plans, Attendance, Behavior, Report cards
School:
- Announcements, Calendar items, Directory listings, Resources
Lunch:
- Lunch menus, Online lunch ordering, Listings of prior lunch purchases
Payment Processing:
- Online payments for lunch orders, miscellaneous charges and tuition fees
Other Features:
- Always-logged-in instant access to ParentsWeb information – anytime, anywhere.
- Tap and Send capability for sending an email or placing a phone call by simply tapping on a School Directory listing
- Import capability from school calendars and directories to Smartphone calendars and contacts.
To download the RenWeb Home Android App:
- Click the Play Store icon on the Android phone screen and tap Search.
- Type "RenWeb Home" into the search bar. The RenWeb Home App will appear in the search results.
- Tap it, and then tap "Install" in the right-hand corner.
To download the RenWeb Home iPhone App:
- Click the App Store icon on the iPhone screen and tap Search.
- Type "RenWeb Home" into the search bar.
- When he RenWeb Home App, tap the iCloud icon in the right-hand corner.
Our school code is SJP-TX.
Eagle Pride Night
Upcoming Events
Aug. 15 - Holy Day of Obligation - Feast of the Assumption
Aug. 16 - Open House @ Elementary/Secondary, 4-6 PM
Aug. 17 - Volleyball vs. Richards, 5:00 PM
Aug. 18 - First Day of School
Aug. 24 - Yearbook Picture Day
Aug. 25 - Senior Composite Pictures
Aug. 25 - Eagle Pride Night @ The Complex, 6-8 PM
Aug. 27 - Pack the Nest-Volleyball Spirit Night, 5:00 PM
Sep. 3 - Elementary Night @ The Complex, 7-9 PM
Sep. 6 - School Holiday
Sep. 7-10 - Elementary Book Fair
Sep. 10 - Grandparents Day
Construction Update
We anticipate being able to move furniture in mid-to-late next week (August 18-20) with Pre-K and Kindergarten students transitioning to their normal classrooms for the start of the first full week of school (August 23-27). In the meantime, we have made arrangements with our librarian, Mrs. Sweeney, and our Spanish teacher, Mrs. Barrera to borrow their classrooms/space until the regular classrooms are ready.
If you need to come to school prior to us completing the construction, please call the school first and we will give provide instructions for how to proceed. The elementary phone number is (979) 822-6643.
Due to the construction, we will have some altered plans for Open House and the first few days of school that will apply to all families. Please read below for those details.
Open House
All other grades will proceed to their normal classrooms to meet the teacher and drop off personal supplies.
The general office supplies for all grades (reams of paper, wipes, hand sanitizer, etc) will be dropped off at the Resource Room.
First Week Procedures
Lunch: Students will eat lunch in their classrooms or outside (weather permitting). We are not able to microwave meals for students for the foreseeable future. Note: We will not have any lunch visitors until move-in is complete.
After School Care (ASC): Students who will attend ASC will be walked over to the PAC by staff members at the end of the day. ASC pick-up will occur at the PAC.
Elementary Mass
Welcome New Elementary Teachers
Mrs. Kehlenbeck
Ms. McCoy
Ms. Mutz
Families Welcome for Secondary Weekly Masses
Break & Lunch Times
Junior High Drop Off/Pick Up
Please enter the Junior High Parking Lot at the entrance nearest the gym and continue one-way through the lane to drop off in the morning and pick up in the afternoon. Click the image to zoom in.
Mrs. Geesling
Ms. Bain
Ms. Wesson
2021-22 COVID Guidelines
Masks are optional and highly supported. Our Eagle staff members are dedicated to ensuring that our students who choose to wear a mask or choose to get vaccinated are supported in these decisions.
Seating charts are required in each class with seating at least 3' apart when available.
Visitors & volunteers will be required to check in at the front office of each campus. They will complete a digital screening prior to being allowed to move throughout the building.
In the event of a lab-confirmed case on campus, appropriate communication will be sent out to all families. After conducting contact-tracing, additional emails will be sent to families of those deemed as a close contact with specific details and instructions.
If you have additional concerns, please reach out to a campus administrator so we can make a plan together.