Dear St. Jerome Families,

I hope that you all are having a pleasant week so far. Yesterday, Fr. Reilly celebrated our January School Liturgy with a focus on the respect for all life. Mrs. McConnell’s 6th grade class did a great job assisting as our readers, gift bearers, and altar servers.

After the Mass, we also recognized our students of the month for January; these students were chosen by their teachers for living the virtue of fortitude:

St. Jerome School: Amelia Santos-Rodriguez, Nicholas Stocklin, Jr., Sean Bascom, Jacquelyn Marks, Wyatt Flite, Margaret Hand, Aidan Moore, Kodi Preston, Tyler Czop, Erin Cannon, Gavin McDaniels, Kaitlyn Fitzhenry, Marcus Bittinger-Drakes, Marialene Aponte, Madalyn Edney, Jeremy Cannon, Matthew Sokolowski, Gabriella Holmes, Michael McKinney, Mikaela Velez, Liam Plattowski, Kierah Wisniewski, and Cole Yeager

St. Lucy School: Savannah Barrett, James Rutter, Jordan Jennings, Christian Straffe, and Kyla Carberry

For the month of February, we will be working on the virtue of prudence.

Today, we hosted the Staff of the Office of Catholic Education and the principals from the Philadelphia North Catholic Schools for our quarterly principal's District Meeting. Dr. McLaughlin, our superintendent, even was able to visit the trout as he did that program when he was a teacher!

The principals and OCE staff had a great meeting, and they were very impressed with out facility and hospitality. Thank you to Mrs. Carolan, Miss Labovitz, and Mr. Altomari who helped get everything ready for the event. I am also so grateful to our teachers and staff for being gracious with us using the faculty room for the day. It was great to be able to show our school's accomplishments while gathering with colleagues.

A limited number of pasta dinner tickets are still on sale for Friday, please send in orders to the school office.

Finally, next week is Catholic Schools Week. Please see the schedule below for all of the events. Everyone is invited to the 9:30 AM Mass on Sunday, followed by the Book Fair and raffles in the Narthex of Church as well as the Uniform Swap in the Faculty Room.

Also, as a reminder, the students may wear Eagles shirts on Friday in anticipation of the NFC Championship Game.

Have a great rest of the week; St. Jerome and St. Lucy, pray for us!

We want to make sure that we save seats for our current families and new siblings through the end of January 27th when new student registration will begin. Copies of all of this information are also below. You can also return the Continuous Enrollment form electronically here. Registration fees will be added to your tuition account, so there is no need to send anything back, except for the Continuous Enrollment Form (paper or electronic) at this time.

If you are registering a new sibling, please indicate that on the paper or electronic form. Then, an application will be sent home by Mrs. Bacanskas for you to fill out.

As one of our Catholic Schools Week service projects, each homeroom is going to assemble 2 birthday boxes --- one for a boy and one for a girl age-appropriate to their grade. We will have 2 bakery boxes to put the items inside, and the outside will be decorated by the students

All the birthday boxes will be donated to the Catholic Social Services Family Service Center. These birthday boxes will allow families in need, who come to Catholic Social Services for food and clothing, to provide for a special birthday for their child, especially in these challenging times.

Please click here for more information and the sign up sheet (you can sign up for multiple items and grades if you would like). Please note that all of the grades are on the sign up sheet, but you need to scroll to the bottom for Pre-K3 and Pre-K4. Please bring in all items by Monday, January 30th, so that we can assemble the boxes and deliver them to Catholic Social Services. If we have any extra items, we will assemble additional boxes. Thank you!

January 28th to February 5th

Church Narthex

• As part of our Catholic Schools Week celebration, we will be holding the Scholastic Book Fair in the school library. Visiting the Book Fair is like going to a bookstore set up in our school. Your child will have time during the school day to select books to purchase. The Book Fair Brochure is in the Wednesday folder. It is only a sampling of the many books that are available at the Book Fair.

• On the designated shopping day (see homeroom schedule on reverse side), children may bring money to shop and purchase books. They can pay cash, check or Scholastic eWallet (see directions below). Checks should be made payable to “St. Jerome School.” Please remember that 8% sales tax will be added to the total. All cash/checks should be brought to school in an envelope labeled with the child’s name.

• eWallet Information: As an alternate form of payment, you can set up an eWallet for your child. eWallet is an account that you create through Scholastic to preload an amount of money for your child to spend at the Book Fair. Please go to our Scholastic homepage at https://www.scholastic.com/bf/stjeromeschool for more information and to set up your child’s eWallet before their designated shopping day.

• Give the Gift of Reading! There will be a “Teacher Wish List” on display at the Book Fair. You can purchase a book to be donated to the classroom of your choice.

• Family and friends can visit our Book Fair. We will have community shopping hours on Sunday, January 29th from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM and Wednesday, February 1st from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. (It’s also Winchester Wednesday!) All are welcome!

• Our Book Fair is also available online from January 27th through February 9th at: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/stjeromeschool

• Thank you for your support and we look forward to a successful Book Fair! Please email Mrs. Carolan with any questions at acarolan@sjsphila.org.

DUE BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2023

REGISTRANTS MUST ATTEND ST. JEROME’S OR ST. LUCY’S OR BE A REGISTERED MEMBER OF ST. JEROME PARISH!

CADET BASKETBALL

Who: Boys and Girls in 3rd and 4th Grades

Cost: $65.00 (payment will be due by the end of February)

Link to Register: https://forms.gle/GPgUedTACBhTHbU4A

TRACK

Who: Boys and Girls in 4th through 8th Grades (or 3rd graders born in 2013)

Cost: $65.00 per child (payment will be collected in March)

Link to Register: https://forms.gle/nLNERgoiWB5xARsc9

GIRLS SOFTBALL

Who: Girls in 5th through 8th Grades

Cost: $100.00 per child (payment will be collected in March)

Link to Register: https://forms.gle/GNVuMzmv47UpsheN8

BOYS BASEBALL

Who: Boys in 5th through 8th Grades

Cost: $100.00 per child (payment will be collected in March)

Link to Register: https://forms.gle/agRiUTpHVhAkptjs9

REMINDER THAT SIGN-UP INFORMATION AND GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE POSTED ON OUR FACEBOOK PAGE: St Jerome CYO

Archbishop Ryan Musical Theater is holding auditions only for the role of Jojo, which can be played by either a girl or boy. They must prepare the song, “Alone in the Universe” and must be a 5th to 8th grader with theater experience. This audition will take place on Wednesday, February 1st from 3:30-4:30pm.

Grade schoolers should enter the back of the school at the North Café entrance and someone will be there to take them upstairs. PARENTS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO WATCH.

There will be a participation fee that will be paid later.

If you have any questions, please contact the Student Affairs Office.

Mrs. Kaitlin Freiling

215-637-1800, ext. 6041

Ms. Amanda Hill

215-637-1800, ext. 6042