St. Jerome School Weekly Newsletter
October 6th, 2021
Think well. Speak well. Do well.
St. Camillus de Lellis
From Mr. Merrick
Dear St. Jerome Families,
Thank you to everyone who supported last weekend's Movie Night and St. Jerome Festival- we appreciate everyone: our volunteers, vendors, and attendees, who made for such outstanding events. We also appreciate our faculty and staff who gave of their time working shifts to help ensure the success of the event. A special thanks to Mrs. Carolan and the Festival Committee for their many hours of hard work, to Mrs. Cerruti for coordinating our new Little Lion's Area, and to Miss Labovitz who captured the entire day in pictures.
Last Thursday, we gathered as a school community for our September Liturgy for the Feast of St. Jerome. Our Student Council Officers did a great job serving as our readers and gift bearers.
After the Mass, Fr. Reilly blessed and installed our Student Council Officers and Representatives for the 2021-2022 school year: President Emma Parkinson ; Officers Basia Brady, Camryn Brescia, Olivia Czapla, Isabella Jenkins, Emanuel Kamara, Jamie O'Donnell, Ariella Profka, Caiden Rivera; and Representatives Stephen Palinkas, Meghan Stewart, Matthew Canceliere, Colin Schultz, Mya Applebaum, Lucas Barber, Hannah Grogan, Liam Plattowski, Jacob Brescia, Patrick O'Donnell, and Suzanna Rhoads.
We look forward to these students sharing their time and talents with the St. Jerome School community to make for a fun and exciting year.
In addition, we also recognized our Students of the Month for August & September; these students were chosen for their living out the virtue of hope: Jacquelyn Marks, Nicholas Stocklin, Eva Mathew, Elijah King, Lily Banas, Jordan Twegby, Destenee Fallas-Espinoza, Layla Paone, Lucas Brescia, Aiden Spiker, Finley Bush, Julianna Donohue, Liam Drab, Cole Kelly, Rayiona Smith, Noah Crooks, Camryn Williams, Sarah Harmon, Luke Murphy, Gianna Raggio, and Yarwlley Damata.
For the month of October, we will be focusing on the virtue of studiousness, which is seeking knowledge to grow closer to truth.
Progress Reports will be posted to OptionC this Thursday for 2nd-8th grades (1st grades will be delayed a week as they settle back into in-person learning). Please contact your child's teacher if you have any questions about grades or assessments. Please contact the main office if you need help accessing OptionC. We will also have an opportunity for parent/teacher conferences on October 20th and October 21st. We will send out more information regarding scheduling conferences next week (we will be using OptionC like we did last year).
This Friday, we have a St. Jerome Spirit Day. All proceeds raised will go to A Call to Kindness Day, which is an initiative of the Foundation for Catholic Education to support special education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Last week, we raised 385.50, which will go to the "Feed a Pig" event this evening, and the donation will be more than matched by TrueMark.
Hot lunch orders for the month of November are due by Thursday, October 14th. The form is included below and is also in the Wednesday Folder.
Altar server contracts are due back to Fr. Reilly by Friday.
There is no school this coming Monday; we have a faculty meeting where we will be working on our Middle States Reaccreditation for the 2022-2023 school year.
Next week, I will be attending the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's administrator conference; this is an opportunity to meet many of the new principals and attend professional development that we have not been able to have during the past two school years. During that time, our school will be in the very capable hands of Fr. Reilly, our faculty, and staff.
Have a great rest of the week; St. Jerome, pray for us!
Trunk or Treat
Meet Mrs. Shinkle
I am Barbara Shinkle and excited to join the St. Jerome community as the librarian for our school. I have a bachelor's degree in Communications from Temple University. I have worked as a reporter for the Associated Press at the Statehouse in Trenton, NJ and have worked in journalism for many years. I look forward to teaching study skills, research basics and test prep techniques as well as expanding our students' desire to read and comprehend all kinds of books! I love drama and theatre and look forward to infusing all our learning with an ardent love of God and the Catholic faith. I was a classroom aide last year in Eighth Grade and have loved meeting all their siblings in the various grade levels this year!
CYO Basketball
5th through 8th Grade Basketball Registration
If your son or daughter is in 5th through 8th grades and is interested in playing CYO basketball, we need to collect information ASAP! Please fill out the Google Form here by FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15th.
**Note: there may be try-outs depending on how many kids show interest; the number of teams at each age level is TBD.
**Attention 3rd and 4th Grade Boys and Girls: CYO Region 1 often runs a cadet league in February/March. While there are no guarantees for a cadet league, we will be offering sign-ups in December to get an idea of numbers and figure out coaches. Please, if any parents are interested in coaching, make sure all your clearances are on file at the rectory!
Hamilton Tickets
Children's Scholarship Foundation of Philadelphia
Children's Scholarship Fund Philadelphia's K-8 scholarship application for the 2022-2023 school year is now OPEN! They're awarding more scholarships than ever this year to under-resourced Philly families who want to send their kids to a safe, quality school like St. Jerome.
You can apply at csfphiladelphia.org/apply. It's free to apply and takes just a few minutes. They accept applications through March 1, but families should apply by November 15 for their best chance at getting selected in our random scholarship lottery.
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.