The Principal’s October Newsletter

The mission of St. Joseph Catholic School is to use the knowledge of God’s love to educate the whole child by instilling strong moral values, respecting and serving our diverse community, and achieving academic excellence for future success.

Greetings School Families,
It was a pleasure having many of you at the school for Curriculum Night on September 20th. It was nice to come together as teachers, staff, and parents, in partnership, to best serve our students in their religious, moral, and educational formation.
At Curriculum Night we discussed the hope of establishing middle school at St. Joe’s in the near future. The School Advisory Commission (SAC) and Finance Committee are working hard to complete preliminary planning that will be presented to Bishop Tyson and Doug Rich (superintendent of Catholic Schools in the diocese) on October 22nd. If we are given permission from Bishop Tyson, we would like to establish 6th grade next year (2024-25), utilizing our current building. We would plan to add one grade per year through 8th, over the next three years. We will keep the community updated on any news around this exciting possibility!
The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary, and we celebrate The Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary this coming Saturday, 10/7. This is a special month to offer to our Mother Mary and to enter into the peaceful meditative prayer of the Rosary. Here are some resources for you to use and to use at home over the month:
https://hallow.com/blog/how-to-pray-the-rosary/
https://www.looktohimandberadiant.com/2020/09/month-of-rosary-editable-and-sharable.html?m=1
https://www.loyolapress.com/search/?keyword=rosary
Our virtue of study this month is Reverence, showing your deepest respect for things of God. Please help your children practice this virtue outside of school as well. Here is a PARENT GUIDE with resources for you to use.
This year our faculty will be attending ongoing professional development in order to further develop best teaching practices that meet the needs of all of our students. We will be continuing with GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) sessions as well as professional development around data assessment and cycles of reflection and goal setting. At St. Joe’s, we have a commitment to our mission and to continuous improvement in all areas. Parent feedback is very important to us in this process. If you have not done so already, please take a moment (survey closes on Thursday, 10/5), to offer your input HERE.
We have several upcoming events later this month. We will have a school sponsored Sunday Mass at 9:00 a.m. on October 22nd. It will be great to have as many families present to represent our school on that day! We will host our annual Trunk or Treat on Friday, October 27th, from 5:30-7:30 pm. This is always a very fun community building event! If you would like to decorate a trunk, please sign up HERE. We will also have Parent/ Teacher conferences Monday-Wednesday (10/30-11/1), sign-up opportunities will be going out soon. We will return to school on Thursday, 11/2 and will host our annual Saint Fair that evening in the gym. Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns that you may have.
Blessings-Lisa Martinez