Blue Jay Flyer
October 14, 2020
From the Principal's Desk...
The fruit of the Spirit is love
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We are in our seventh week of school since our reopening on September 3rd. Our students are continuing to work hard, to learn eagerly and to care for one another. Each day I am reminded of how resilient they are at making the adjustments to our “new normal.” Their willingness to do what is necessary inspires me to do my very best as well.
The end of the first trimester is just over four weeks away, and I am confident that many of the gaps that may have existed from last springs required school closing have been remediated. I am deeply grateful to our dedicated faculty and staff for their faith-filled commitment to our students.
Last week I was in another Zoom meeting with several other Catholic school principals. It was clear from discussing many of the issues with them that we are very fortunate in how we have managed the coronavirus. Quite a few of the other schools have had to quarantine an entire class. Our ability to provide more distance in classes, to have teachers move rather than students and to have effective dividers in the cafeteria are all strategies that are keeping everyone safe and healthy.
In the first reading for today (GAL 5:18-25), St. Paul reminds his followers and us of this; “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Our Mission is to recognize this Spirit of love and to be its herald in our world.
We are all called in these challenging times to choose how we will live and how we will treat those around us. The nine fruits that St. Paul identifies are perhaps more important than ever. May we model for our children and may we choose to know that the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Peace,
Dan Minelli
Calendar of Events
School Spectacular Nov. 14
We are hoping to introduce a new element, a Basket Raffle, to our 2nd Annual St. John’s Spectacular. We learned from the success of St. John's parish festival basket raffle how significant this can be if it is open to everyone well in advance of the event.
We need your help in gathering items to fill the Baskets and are asking for monetary and/or gift card donations. We are accepting Venmo (@SJB-School), checks (please put your child’s name and grade in the comment for Venmo or check), cash, and Amazon gift cards (purchase Amazon gift cards through our Shopping Cent$ program and the school earns extra money).
Please send donations no later than October 23, 2020. It is our hope that each grade will be willing to help provide a basket that will be raffled off online. Given the limited in person event due to COVID safety standards, you do not have to be in attendance at the Spectacular to enter, bid and win.
All donations are voluntary, and any student or family who contributes will be given an out of uniform pass no matter the amount of the donation. Together we can do great things. We recognize that much is asked of everyone during these challenging times. This year our goal for the Spectacular is to raise $100,000. Thank you for being a part of this critical event.
Please mark envelopes with donations “Spectacular Raffle Baskets”.
The Class with the highest participation percentage will win a special prize TBD by Mr. Minelli.
A few examples of some of the baskets we hope to put together:
Pampering Mom, Deck the Halls, Boy and Girl themed baskets, Staycation, Golf and more!
Thank you, and please let us know if you have any questions!
Athena Widner (athena.widner@gmail.com)
Shannon Memory (Shannon.m.memory@gmail.com)
Shopping Cents Orders Filled Thursday
*** Did you know that the new Colerain Speedway across from Lowe's is offering 10 cents off per gallon to celebrate their grand opening? Speedway gift cards are available in denominations of $25 or $100. Sounds like a WIN-WIN!!!
*** Did you also know that you can use the $25 or $100
Wal-Mart gift cards at SAMS Club? Be sure to stock up on those as we all know how easily the cart adds up!
***Purchase Amazon gift cards to donate for the School Spectacular Basket Raffle
Gift card orders will be filled tomorrow, Thursday, October 15. For your convenience, an order form is attached below. Please send order form and payment of cash or check (made payable to Shopping Cent$) to school with your student. Your gift cards will be sent home tomorrow afternoon unless they are from the special order column on the right hand side of the order form.
Thank you for your continued support of our Shopping Cent$ Program.
184,000 Rosaries!
For many years, Mr. Anthony Eichhold made blue and white rosaries and donated them to St. John's for our kindergarten students. Sadly, we recently discovered that Mr. Eichhold passed away over the summer. His wife and son generously decided to continue his passion for making rosaries and we received them last week for each of our kindergarteners.
We learned in talking to Mrs. Eichhold, that over the past 15 years, her husband made over 184,000 rosaries and donated them to various local catholic schools and other establishments.
It is our hope that our students always keep the rosaries in their backpacks and use them throughout their nine years at St. John's.
We are grateful to the Eichhold family for carrying on this generous and meaningful family tradition and service.
High School Release of Records Due by Oct. 30
A release form is attached below for your convenience.
Continued e-mail Provider Issues
If you need to contact a teacher during the day for a time sensitive reason (sending homework home, change of transportation, etc.), it is best to call the school office and they will get the message to the teacher. Thank you.
COVID-19 Tracker
Click here to view this week's report. You can locate the COVID-19 Tracker information on our school website under the Parent Info/COVID-19 Resources. We will update the information weekly on Mondays.
Why Pink Shirts on Fridays?
Also in honor of Mrs. Argus, the Andrea Argus Scholarship is awarded to two eighth grade students, one boy and one girl, who will be attending catholic high schools. The scholarship is funded by St. John's faculty & staff members who pay $2 every Friday (or spirit wear day) to wear jeans and something pink. Winners of the scholarship are chosen based upon essay submissions expressing what a catholic education means to them.
In honor of October being National Breast Cancer Awareness month, we are introducing a new pink t-shirt style and a mask to the school spirit wear line. The new pink t-shirt will be a moisture wicking mesh fabric. Stay tuned for more details and pricing coming soon. As with our other pink shirts, $1 from every purchase will be donated to The American Cancer Society.
2019-20 Yearbooks Available
A limited number of extra copies are available to purchase for $18.00. If you would like to purchase a yearbook, please send check or cash in an envelope to the school office. Venmo payments are also accepted @SJB-School. We will send a yearbook home with your student upon receiving payment.
Blue Jay Gallery
Scarlet & Gray
Candy Backbones
Lunch with Ms. Wilmes
Praying the Rosary
October Lunch Menu
PTO News
Box Top Collection Friday
It's BOX TOP COLLECTION TIME!
Please send in any "old style" clipped Box Tops to school before Friday. We cannot use any clippings that look like the photo shown here. Those images are being printed on products during the packaging transition to remind customers to scan their receipts. For any products containing this image, you must scan your receipts in order for St. John's to receive credit.
We are still accepting the "old style" clipped Box Tops until they expire. In fact, we can "double dip" during the packaging transition by clipping the Box Top AND scanning your receipts.
St. John's Box Top Collection provides funds to purchase playground equipment for our students. If you haven't already downloaded the Box Tops app on your phone, it is easy to earn points for our school by scanning your receipts containing eligible purchases.
Please see attachment below for more details.
Join the PTO
High School Admissions News
Open House Calendar
Listed below are the dates and times for many of the high school open houses. Please check their websites or call the schools to find out if registration is required. Dates and times are subject to change.
Sunday, Oct. 25, 1:00-7:00pm, Registration Required
ELDER HIGH SCHOOL
Thursday, Nov. 12, 4:00-9:00 pm, Registration Required
LA SALLE HIGH SCHOOL
Sunday, Nov. 8, 1:00-4:00 pm
MERCY MCAULEY HIGH SCHOOL
Sunday, Nov. 8, 1:00-5:00 pm
MOELLER HIGH SCHOOL
Sunday, Nov 1, 1:00-6:00 pm
MOUNT NOTRE DAME HIGH SCHOOL
Sunday, Nov. 1, 11:00 am-4:00 pm
ROGER BACON HIGH SCHOOL
Sunday, Oct. 25, 1:00-5:00 pm
SETON HIGH SCHOOL
Thursday, Nov. 5, 4:30-7:30 pm, Registration Required
SAINT URSULA ACADEMY
Sunday,, Oct. 25, 1:00-4:30 pm
ST. XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL
Sunday, Nov. 17, 1:00-4:00 pm
URSULINE ACADEMY
Saturday, Oct. 31, 10:00-2:00 pm, Registration Required
Sunday, Nov. 1, Noon-4:00 pm
SJB Athletic Boosters
Congratulations Golf Teams
The St. John's Golf Team (grades 5-8) had another successful season! The Instructional and JV teams competed with many area teams at several golf courses. The JV team finished 3rd in the WAC Tournament at Robin's Nest. Great job, golfers!