St. Joseph School, affiliated with the Dominican Sisters and an integral part of St. Joseph Parish in historic Mission San Jose, is dedicated to providing a strong Catholic religious formation and an excellent academic education for transitional kindergarten through 8th grade students. Partners in this endeavor, students, parents, educators, and parish community strive to live Christ’s message, empowering service-minded future leaders for Church and community.

Dear St. Joseph Families,

As the month of August begins, we know the new school year is fast approaching. It is with great excitement that we welcome you for the start of the 2020-2021 school year in just two weeks. This summer has been very similar to the end of the last school year: unprecedented, uncertain, and unusual. But, it is my true hope that you had some time to find your happy place. It is my wish that you were able to get some rest, to enjoy time with your loved ones, and to be able to recharge.

The SJS teachers, staff and members of the SSPC have been devoting an incredible amount of time and energy preparing for a safe and successful virtual start of the school year. Although teachers and staff are off contract, they have been working all summer preparing and developing plans for both distance and in-person instruction. It goes without saying that we collectively agree that we look forward to the day that we can all be back on campus together as one faith community. Until that day, we are committed to providing a rigorous and robust curriculum for all of our students.

Thank you for attending last week's Virtual Parent Meetings. I appreciate the questions submitted prior and the questions posed at the meetings. We hope these evenings provided you with the “picture” of how the distance learning platform will look as we begin the new school year. If you were unable to attend, the slide deck presented and the recorded meetings are below. Please feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions or concerns.

Thank you for your continued patience, flexibility and support. Together, we are the strongest!

With gratitude,

Patti Calton

SJS Principal

If you were unable to attend one of our virtual parent meetings last week, click below to access the recordings of both meetings. We are also including the slide presentation from both nights. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please contact Mrs. Calton directly, pcalton@sjsmsj.org. She will respond to emails ASAP. She understands that these are uncertain times and she wants you to know that she is available and here for you.

Please mark your calendars for the NEW reopening dates for the 20-21 school year. The dates have been changed to provide parents and students time to connect with their teacher and to understand how the classes will function directly from the teachers during virtual distance learning.

The Virtual Back to School Night schedule is below. Parents are asked to attend a session corresponding to your child’s grade. Two sessions have been scheduled for TK - 5th for those families that have multiple children in those grades. All middle school parents are asked to attend Session #3. A link to these sessions will be included in next week’s Smore newsletter.

• Session #1: TK -5th: 5:00pm - 5:45pm

• Session #2: TK -5th: 6:00pm - 6:45pm

• Session #3: Middle School 6th - 8th: 7:00pm - 7:45pm

Parents are asked to sign up for a time to visit the school, meet the teacher and drop-off or pick-up needed supplies or devices. Since we are starting the school year virtually, it is important to make this connection with the teachers.

(Please note that we are using the same program used for our Parent/Teacher conferences to schedule these appointments. However, these days are not for conferences and appointment times must be adhered to in order to maintain safety protocols. Also, everyone coming onto campus will need to complete a health questionnaire and have their temperature checked.)

More information coming in next week's Smore newsletter.

For many reasons, we have decided to not have August packets this year. All beginning of the year paperwork and forms will be distributed on our Teacher Meet and Greet days. You may then either drop the completed forms by the office, mail them in or scan them and email them to Mrs. Marron. If you have any questions, please let Mrs. Marron know, cmarron@sjsmsj.org. Thank you,

We know that Clorox/Lysol type wipes are very difficult to find right now. If you are unable to purchase something on the student supply list, please contact the teacher and let them know. We do not want you spending too much time trying to find items that are in high demand and difficult to find. If and when they become more readily available, you may bring those missing items in at that time. Thank you so much!

It is more important than ever to find ways to financially support our school during these uncertain times. Scrip is an easy way to generate much needed income to help our school. Even though we need to continue with Sustained Distance Learning, our Scrip program continues. Please see the flyer below for more information on how your regular shopping can help. Contact Mrs. Shuflin with any Scrip related questions, dshuflin@sjsmsj.org. Thank you for your support!

Please visit the link below to find out about the new Scrip app that makes supporting our Scrip a breeze.