Dear Parents,
What a week it has been! We hope you enjoyed the snow days as much as your children did. They came back so excited with many stories of their adventures. Thank you for opting into the emergency text message and for your cooperation with the slushy drop-off and pick-up. I also want to thank the students, teachers, and parents who turned up to the shoveling party to help clear an area so you could drop off your children. Once again, the St. John community showed its spirit.
Make-up dates:
- Facilitation will take place on Sunday, February 24, from noon-4pm and Monday, February 25, from 5-9pm. If possible, we ask that you keep the same appointment times you selected for 2/10 and 2/11 and transfer those times to corresponding Sunday, 2/24 and Monday 2/25. If you are unable to keep the same appointment time as previously scheduled, you can attend as a “walk-in” during the above times on 2/24 or 2/25. If you are unable to attend on the new dates, you will need to facilitate with a member of the school administration during school hours.
- Some of you have asked about how the snow days will impact our school calendar. We will open for students on March 15, to make up some time lost. The date was originally a professional development day for teachers. Fortunately, even with the snow days and an additional day off in the fall for construction, we are on schedule to maintain our current June end-of-year closing date and finish well beyond the minimum 1000 hours of direct instruction time.
- Valentine’s Day is a good day to announce that the Sweetheart Dance will take place on March 16.
Today, we woke up to a new challenge. The radiator in Ms. Martin’s fourth-grade classroom leaked during the night. The water spread over the classroom floor and down into the area under construction below. Our maintenance team spent most of the night here mopping up, working with the mechanical engineers to repair the radiator and make sure that we had heat today. We have dehumidifiers and fans in all the areas and Chinn Construction is inspecting the ground floor and ceiling for any potential water damage. To their delight, we moved Ms. Martin’s students to the brand new space in the Quigley building for the day.
Faculty News
As you know, Michele Thornquist will retire in August. At that time, Jonna Skokan will take over as the new Development and Admissions Director. She will also continue in the role of Athletic Director. She has prior experience working in development and admissions and although she loves working with the students, she is eagerly looking forward to advancing the mission of St. John School. I am very grateful to all the applicants who applied for the position. We are blessed to have many people who are passionate about the future of the school. It was not an easy decision to make. I will advertise for the new PE teacher in the coming weeks.
The faculty and staff started a retreat for Catechetical Certification this afternoon and we will continue tomorrow. We will look forward to seeing the students back on campus Wednesday, February 20. Enjoy your holiday weekend.
Blessings,
Bernadette O’Leary
