Principal’s Letter

Thank you all for being strong and committed community members as you enthusiastically participated in our Jog-a-thon and K-8 Curriculum Nights. It was such a pleasure seeing so many of you on campus. Both events benefit your students and our school in many different ways. I am missing the Middle School Curriculum Night, as I am at the Principals’ Retreat. Assistant Principal Kelley and the middle school teachers are well-prepared to lead you through the expectations for your children. 

Please be sure to go through the items in this NewsViews. There are two immediate action items that wrap up this weekend. 

  • Support our community through the Jog-a-thon; second grade is the lead with the most funds raised! Tomorrow is the last day for donations. Will second grade maintain its lead?  
  • Support the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank and the Broadview-Thompson K-8 Food Program by sending in food donations in children’s backpacks tomorrow for the annual Blessing of the Backpacks. And don’t forget the Blessing of the Backpacks Mass this Sunday at 10:30am.

I also invite Parish and non-Parish school families to come to Mass this weekend to hear about Partners in the Gospel. Partners in the Gospel is a strategic pastoral planning effort taking place across the Archdiocese of Seattle to re-invigorate and renew our local Catholic Church. The Seattle Archdiocese has extensive information and videos on its website about this process of re-envisioning parish life. Learn more. A major component of this plan calls for bringing parishes together into a new family structure. St. John Parish will be matched with two or more parishes. The pastor, parish leaders, parishioners, and you, school parents, will work together over the course of the next 3 years to help us determine how this new family will best join together to carry out the mission of the Church as one new parish.

While there are no predetermined outcomes for how this will work for Parish schools, the goal is to strengthen parish communities and Catholic schools together. Parish families, including school leaders, parents and parishioners, will discern the best approach for their particular schools and parish communities when they join as a new family. Our draft family will be announced at Mass this weekend. In early October the Parish will host “Listening Sessions” where you will be invited to share your thoughts, hopes, and concerns about this planning effort. Please mark the dates on your calendar and attend one of these sessions: October 2 at 7pm or October 8 at 11:45am, after the 10:30am Mass. 

Parents in the school community have alerted me to a handful of strongarm robberies that occurred last Friday in Ballard. It has been reported a group of miscreants have been targeting young students and demanding students turn over their iPhones. Please talk to your students about situational awareness, traveling together in the neighborhood and reporting suspicious activity.

At the Principals’ Retreat today we worked to prepare teachers for the October Christ in the Classroom In-service. This year’s CIC retreat centers on the task of catechesis focused on teaching prayer. At its most basic level, prayer invites us into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by talking with God. I will pray for you and the community, and I ask that you pray for our students, teachers and community as a whole.

God Bless,

Bernadette O’Leary