St. Jerome School Weekly Newsletter
April 20th, 2022
"O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns."
St. John Chrysostom
From Mr. Merrick
Dear St. Jerome Families,
Happy Easter, and welcome back! I hope that you all had a joyous Easter and break.
As we resume classes, especially with Easter being so late in April, I always remind the students about how quickly this second half of the third trimester will go. With the warmer weather and all of the fun spring activities, it is important that our students still take time to study, complete assignments, have good attendance, and seek their teacher's help (especially in the older grades) if they don't understand something. Together, we will all be able to have a successful last few months of the school year.
This Thursday is about the mid-point of the third trimester. Below are instructions for you to be able to check your child's progress in 1st-8th grades by logging into OptionC. In the past, we would generate progress reports that would be posted to OptionC. However, these reports only reflected the grades at the exact moment that the reports were generated and did not reflect any changes made after generation (for example, if a student handed in an assignment or made up a test). From now on, at progress report time, we will remind you to check grades and reach out to your child's teacher if you have any questions. This will ensure that you get the most up-to-date information. Report cards will continue to be generated and posted at the end of each trimester.
Our Race for Education total currently stands at $9,240.68; please see below for donation information or donate on Venmo (@sjsphila). Information about the event is posted below. Also of note is that raffle tickets for the Race for Education baskets will be on sale through next Thursday; we will be pulling the winners next Friday, which is also the rain date for the event. There is a flyer below with a description of each basket.
As mentioned in the Weekly Reminders, this week we will have an is an Easter/Spring themed dress down day; I am going to change this day to tomorrow, Thursday (I made an announcement to the students today as well). I had written the reminders and set the date before confirming St. Lucy's visit (I was trying to stay ahead before the Easter break), and I do apologize for having to make the change. Donations from this dress down day will help us purchase a main curtain for our brand new stage as well as a side curtain (to cover the windows on the stage) and a back curtain. We initially thought this would be out of reach for now and was not in the project's original budget, but the estimates put this goal within sight between this dress down day, our dress down day in May, and proceeds from the Race for Education! Curtains on the stage will certainly get quite a bit of use by our school for years to come.
Sister Lisa, the teachers, and students of St. Lucy School will be visiting on Friday, April 22nd. The students in K-8th will have the opportunity to meet on another and do some activities together. They will arrive around 10:00 AM and depart at 1:30 PM.
Have a great rest of the week; St. Jerome, pray for us!
Third Trimester Progress Report
In the past, we would generate electronic progress reports that would be posted to OptionC. However, we are no longer going to do this as the best way to check grades is to follow this procedure:
- Click on the link on the school homepage or here and log into OptionC with your username and password.
- Under the "Student Menu" choose "Classes"
- The current grades for each class will be displayed on the screen. To the left of each class, there is a link to "Assignments" where you can see grades on individual assignments.
- If you have multiple students enrolled at St. Jerome, click on their names toward the top of the screen to switch between them.
- Note that some classes will not display a grade (for example, effort and study skills and some specials) until the end of the term.
- Please contact your child's teacher if you have any questions; we look forward to continuing to work as partners to help each one of our students succeed!
We appreciate your support from home as we work to help our students finish this school year strong and prepare for the next grade level.
St. Jerome School Yearbook
Celebrate all that we have accomplished at St. Jerome School this year: 64 full-color pages of memories of all of our classes.
Yearbooks must be preordered; all orders are due by Friday, April 29th to guarantee your order at $22.00 per book.
Please return orders and payment in an envelope marked “St. Jerome School Yearbook”
Checks may be made payable to St. Jerome School; Venmo is @sjsphila
Race for Education 2022
With your support and generosity, we hope to raise $20,000! All monies raised directly benefit the children of St. Jerome. We are proud of the improvements that have recently been made to our programs and facilities.
The Race is scheduled for Tuesday, April 26th at 10:00 AM. (Raindate is Friday, 4/29) Our students and faculty will walk a designated route through the Winchester Park neighborhood. Neighbors are encouraged to decorate windows and front yards with messages of encouragement for our walkers. The students will be permitted to wear the school gym uniform that day with the Race for Education t-shirt or any other St. Jerome shirt. The route map is also posted below.
Here’s how you can help:
Each family is also asked to post the donation St. Jerome School Race for Education link to your social media accounts. You can share the link directly from our school Facebook page “Saint Jerome School.” For those who prefer a paper flyer to distribute to family members, a PDF of the pledge request can be obtained on our school website: https://sjsphila.org/race-for-education.
The suggested fundraising goal per student is $100. Working together we achieve more! We kindly ask that all donations be submitted by Monday, April 25th so that our totals can be tallied.
Donation Payment Information:
Credit Cards and Paypal: St. Jerome School Race for Education
Venmo: @sjsphila (Business)
Cash or checks: Cash or checks made payable to St. Jerome School can be
sent into school with a student, dropped off at the main office, or handed in at the rectory scrip counter.
Home and School Clothing Drive
Date: April 27th and 28th
Time: 6:00 PM-8:00 PM
Location: St. Jerome School Yard
Just pull up and volunteers will unload your car for you!
We are collecting: Wearable and usable clothing, shoes, belts, hats, scarves, handbags, and linens. Small toys (2 ft or less), bikes, scooters, strollers and car seats (with the base) will also be accepted.
We DO NOT take electronic devices, cribs, sports equipment, board games or puzzles, books, pots/pans, furniture, large baby items/gear and anything glass. Our school will receive money for every pound we collect!!!!!
Please put all items that you are donating into tightly tied plastic bags!
Father/Daughter Dance
50’s Style Sock Hop!
When: Saturday, May 14th
Time: 6-9pm
Location: St. Jerome School Hall
Looking forward to a fun night of dinner and dancing! Donations of desserts or candy are greatly appreciated and can be dropped off at 4pm night of event or during set up Friday evening.
-Please RSVP with your daughter’s name and guest by Friday, May 6 in an envelope marked “Father-Daughter Dance.” There is no cost for this event, as this is included with your school activity fee.
This event is for our St. Jerome School daughters and fathers (father-figure) only. This is NOT a drop off event.
It is very important to RSVP to ensure we are ready for a fun-filled night for our girls and their special guy! Volunteers needed for set up, clean up, and during event. Please notate if you can help.
-Register online at: https://forms.gle/DPwd7LiX6FYVzFEU6