St. Jerome School Weekly Newsletter
November 24th, 2021
“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”
St. Ambrose
From Mr. Merrick
Dear St. Jerome Families,
This morning, Fr. Reilly celebrated our November school Mass this morning. We appreciate the efforts of Mrs. Collins's 7th graders who assisted with the readings. We also were pleased to recognize our students of the month for November, who were chosen by their homeroom teachers for living the virtue of humility: Sophia Peralta, Damian Fallas Espinoza, Bryant Su, Margaret Hand, Nicholas Halbherr, Scarlett Gordon, Evan Spiker, Ava Reyes, James O’Connell, Emily O’Donnell, Owen Dudzek, Ava Pospiech, Keith Hunter, Kayla Kramer, Sean Hunter, Kaitlyn Berry, William Rhoads, Erik Schafer, Anthony Correa, Samantha DeOliveira, and Linton Zheng. Our virtue for December is patience.
Today, we bid farewell to Miss McGilloway in 1st grade who is leaving is for family reasons. We thank her for her efforts this year and for serving as a long term substitute last year. Next week, we welcome Mrs. Margaret Badman who will be teaching first grade for the remainder of the school year. Mrs. Badman has three sons and taught both 2nd & 3rd grades as well as high school science before taking time to raise her boys. She was active in her sons' schools as a volunteer. Most recently, she was a long term sub in kindergarten, from February 2020 until the end of that school year. Therefore, she is not only familiar with taking over a class mid-year but also the experience of teaching virtually. She is looking forward to guiding our first graders and having a successful second and third trimester.
I am pleased to announce that St. Jerome School has been selected by the Office of Catholic Education (OCE) to participate in a virtue based restorative discipline program that aims to help schools not only promote good classroom behavior in light of our Catholic faith but also build virtue. This two year program is fully funded by a grant, and we are joining nineteen other schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. As a part of this program, we will be having a training session on Friday, January 14th. We will be having the training here at St. Jerome and will be collaborating with the other schools in the program. Therefore, Fr. Reilly has granted a pastor's holiday for the day, and there will be no school for students on Friday, January 14th. This is a change from the original calendar; while I don't like to change the school calendar once it is published, this is an outstanding opportunity for our school and an honor to be chosen by OCE. I wanted to let you know with as much notice as possible. The revised calendar is also posted below (this is the only change as well as the only change I anticipate having to make this year).
On behalf of Fr. Reilly, the faculty, and the staff of St. Jerome School, I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. We are grateful for your support and for entrusting your children to St. Jerome School. We all hope that you have a restful break, and we look forward to welcoming everyone back on Monday when classes resume.
Have a great rest of the week; St. Jerome, pray for us!
Christmas Giveaway Raffle
Picture Retake Day
Open House for Prospective Families
Executive Board of Elementary Education (EBEE) Survey
Under the direction of Bishop Fitzgerald, a Strategic Planning Task Force for the Executive Board of Elementary Education (EBEE) has been established with co-chairs Sr. Carroll Isselmann and Chris Dezzi for Catholic elementary education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
In an effort to gain a broad perspective on how the EBEE can best support Catholic elementary education, the attached survey seeks your input. If you fill multiple roles within the school system, you may be receiving multiple surveys; it would be most helpful if you would respond from the perspective indicated in the survey. It should take about 15 minutes to complete the survey. The survey link to the survey is pasted here: https://forms.gle/4dyeozUYpHpweKXf8
Thank you for your support of this important endeavor which will assist in planning for the future of Catholic elementary education. The survey will remain open until December 3, 2021.
Toys for Tots
St. Jerome Scrip Program
Support St. Jerome on Amazon Smile:
Student Health Reminders
If your child tests positive for COVID-19 or is a close contact to a person who tests positive for COVID-19, please contact us. We will seek advisement from the Philadelphia Department of Health and give you direction.
Our reopening plan calls on every member of the school community to support our values of mutual respect, integrity, willingness to sacrifice for the common good and foster community bonds across generations. Commitment to the policies will assist in protecting the health and welfare of all members of our school community.
In an effort to keep all children safe, we ask that Parents monitor their children’s Health daily. Below are the expectations related to the health monitoring.
I attest to :
Fever of 100.4 or above,
chills,
Cough,
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing,
Fatigue,
Muscle or body aches,
Headache,
New loss of taste or smell,
Sore throat,
Congestion or runny nose,
Nausea or vomiting,
Diarrhea,
My child has not had any contact with anyone with COVID
I am following all CDC recommended guidelines and limiting my/my child’s exposure to risks such as above
If any of these symptoms present, please keep your child from school and contact the school. If the symptoms are serious please seek immediate medical attention.
We will keep you informed if the list of symptoms, listed above, changes in any way.