Principal’s Letter
We are entering the season of endings and new beginnings. We are just two weeks away from 8th grade graduation where we will say goodbye to 29 families who have their last or only child finishing school at St. John. Tonight we welcomed 47 families, the newest members of the St. John Community during our New Family Welcome Happy Hour. We also said goodbye to several of our longstanding school commission members: Shane Richards, Michael Arnette, Lee Rolfe, and PA chair Maile Sullivan. We are grateful for their years of service on this integral advisory board: your wisdom, questions, and sense of humor will be missed. We will welcome several new Commission members next Fall. We are also reaching the end of John Eberly’s tenure running our amazing hot lunch portal. This project was a labor of love and a testament to the Fair Share philosophy – thank you, John, for the countless hours you spent ensuring our students received their amazing hot lunch each day. Stepping up to take over the helm is another St. John parent, Jon Grover, and we look forward to launching our new hot lunch portal, LunchTray, this fall.
While not a true ‘good-bye’, we say ‘see you soon’ to kindergarten teacher Chrissy Murray, who will be on maternity leave for most of next year. We wish Ms. Murray and her husband well as they prepare to welcome a new addition into their family. Filling her shoes while she is away is our own St. John graduate, Mae Skokan. Ms. Skokan graduated in education from Gonzaga University and has been working as a teaching assistant in 2nd grade this year.
Our student information system (SIS), Powerschool, is up and running again. You can expect to receive a trimester 3 report card, hand-carried home by your child, on the last day of school, June 12. Note: due to the PowerSchool malware ransom, final report cards will only show grades earned for trimester 3. Teachers will update permanent records to reflect all grades earned in the 2025-26 school year. These permanent records cards are the information we share with the high schools, and or if a student is transferring to a new school. Before the conclusion of the school year, parents of students in grade PreK-4 will receive an access code and password to create a new PowerSchool parent account. This will allow you to view current student and grade information for your child(ren). Parents of students in grades 5-8, information about creating a PowerSchool parent account was sent home two weeks ago – check those backpacks. Come August 28, you will want to have those parent accounts created so you can see your child’s homeroom placement for the 2026-27 school year.
This year, in correlation with the 250th anniversary of the United States, Archbishop Etienne is calling us all to rediscover the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which, as he states in his recent pastoral letter, is “nothing else than an exercise of love. Love is its object, love is its motive and principle, and it is love that ought to be its end.” He goes on to ask, “What would it look like for us as a nation to live this consecration – mutual love, respect for persons, loving the neighbor, and working for peace?” As we move into summer, I encourage all of us to ask that question: how can we add ripples of love, respect, peace, and justice into this world? Now, more than ever, we all have something this world needs, and collectively we can make a difference.
Abby Mansfield
Principal
