Principal’s Letter

Each Monday during our faculty meeting, we take a moment for staff “shout-outs”—an opportunity for colleagues to recognize one another for going above and beyond for a student, parent, or fellow staff member. It is one of my favorite parts of the week, hearing all the ways our team has gone the extra mile to create a welcoming and engaging learning environment for our community.

Later this month you will have the opportunity to sit down with one of these wonderful educators to learn more about your student’s school experience during our Family/Teacher Conferences. These conferences are an important part of how we partner together in creating a successful educational experience for our students, and we encourage you to make them a priority; you can find links to sign up in the Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences 2026 post below. Conferences are offered over three days to ensure we are providing ample time slots to accommodate family schedules, and we ask that you do not request a meeting time with your student’s teacher outside of the designated conference times.

Way to go St. John School! With your generous support we exceeded our goal and raisedover $107,000 and ran over 1100 miles. Thank you to all who supported this event by donating, volunteering and coming out to cheer on the runners! The school will celebrate on Friday, October 16.

Congratulations to 2nd Grade, who raised the most money and will have a Silly String Showdown against Principal Mansfield and Vice Principal Kelley. Congratulations to Ms. Baber’s PreK, Ms. Kuypers’ & Ms. Oines’ 2nd grades (tied!), Ms. Kelley’s 5th grade and Mr. Bretz’s 8th grade for running the most miles in each department. Celebration Day will include the Springfree Trampoline drawing, students may wear FREE DRESS, and ALL students will be able to participate in Cash Grabbin’ Gecko in celebration of their outstanding efforts.

Thank you to our 2026 Jog-a-thon team – Kalyn Gustafson, Ellen McLaughlin & Lauren Schiltz! 

Have you secured your ticket to Oktoberfest? This community event is not only a ton of fun, but all of the funds raised throughout the evening go to support the school’s Endowment Fund. Currently our Endowment is worth over $2.0 million dollars; you can learn more about the direct impact this fund has on our school budget on the Endowment page.

Tomorrow is our optional On Campus Vaccination Clinic. As a reminder, students participating in the Clinic must bring a copy of their insurance card. Please send it with your student in the morning to avoid an extra trip to school to drop it off. Thank you, Nurse Dora and our team of volunteers, for helping to bring this important health and safety event to our campus.

Wishing our St. Al/John Cross Country team the very best this Sunday at the CYO Championship Meet! Thank you to the coaches and volunteers for all of your effort and guidance this season.

We are rooted in God’s love, called to make a difference,

Principal Mansfield