Mass
Thank you to Mrs. Gamboa’s class for their leadership with liturgy and Mass today. Thank you to everyone who joined us for Mass. This week Fr. Jerry encourages us to grow and look for love and the Lord in others this Christmas Season. Please know all are welcome each week.
Advent Week 3: the Candle of Joy
Merry Christmas
We wish each of you and your families a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May everyone be blessed with moments of quality time with loved ones and time to see, reflect and grow in your own faith journeys.
Idaho Education Tax Credit
We are blessed to have a donor who will match the first 10 people who have not taken advantage of the Idaho Education Tax Credit yet in the 2018 calendar year. This means if we can get 10 people to donate $2,000, the donor will match each donation. This can lead to $40,000 for St. Joseph’s Catholic School. For those who itemize, a $2,000 donation could only end up costing between $300-$500.
We have had eight people donate to take advantage of the donor match. We are looking for five more.
The Idaho Education Tax Credit letter describes the Idaho State Tax Credit for donations to St. Joe’s. 50% of your donation comes back to you as a tax credit (50 %!) And, if you itemize, another 35% credit, depending on your tax situation.
Please consult your tax advisor and consider your tax donation contribution during this time before December 31st.
For those interested in taking advantage of the donation match, please email Anita Miller (millera@stjoes.com) or call 208-342-4909. Thank you for your consideration.
Counselor
Mrs. Porter is out on medical leave until January 7. While she is out, please reach out to Mr. Quilici for assistance, quilicit@stjoes.com .
St. Joseph’s Music Program
Thank you to everyone who attended the Christmas Concert Tuesday night. It was a wonderful event, and we had a packed house. Thank you for the love and support you have for our students.
Wednesday Wake Up: Stretching and Bending
Get Up and Get Going in the Morning With Mrs. Elwer: When we return in January, Mrs. Elwer will be offering the chance for students to come into the gym and get moving and stretching on Late Start Wednesday from 7:45-8:15 in January and February. This was popular last year. All ages are welcome. 1/9, 1/16/ 1/23, 1/30, 2/6, 2/13, 2/20, and 2/27
Friday, December 21: Christmas Spirit Wear
On Friday, December 21 students may wear (school appropriate) Christmas themed sweaters, shirts, and sweatshirts with their blue jeans, uniform pants, or uniform skirts. Students may still choose to wear the standard Friday Spirit Wear (Spirit Shirt with blue jeans, uniform pants, or uniform skirts) or standard uniform.
Catechesis at Home from Loyola Ministry
As we approach the upcoming Christmas break, I want to provide you with some free resources for families to utilize during the break from the classroom.
Finding God
Empowers families to continue catechesis at home with family friendly lesson plans, interactive study guides, and fun online games!
Holy Spirit Basketball Tournament
More information for this will come out in January, but some have been asking about the dates. The Holy Spirit Basketball Tournament is March 15-17 (This is the Friday leading into Spring Break.).
This tournament is for 5th and 6th grade boys and girls.
Vaping
Are you aware of the dangers of vaping? According to the American Psychiatric Assoc.: “About 13 percent of 8th graders, 24 percent of 10th graders, and nearly 28 percent of 12th graders at U.S. schools reported using a vaping device in the past year, according to data from the 2017 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey. The survey results, which were released in December 2017, found that while most of these students said they mostly vape flavoring liquids, 1 in 10 reported vaping nicotine, and 1 in 20 reported vaping marijuana.” Please talk with your student(s) to see what they know about vaping and to share the dangers of vaping.
SafeStudents Online
New Activation Method
To activate your account, please visit https://safestudentsonline.com/activate. Select our school from the dropdown list and type in the email address you have on file with our school (your SafeStudents Online account is linked to your email address). If you have any questions or trouble with the process, please reach out to customerservice@safestudentsonline.com.
Thank you for your participation. Our goal is to have as close to 100% activation as possible.
We ask those of you who have not signed up or have not completed signing up, please take time of the Holiday Break to do so. We would like as much participation as possible as we review the effectiveness of SafeStudents Online for St. Joseph’s. This is for our families with students in grades 5-8.
With the concerns regarding vaping and social media all so present, consider using this as a tool to open dialogue with your student(s). Thank you to those who have joined, and for those who have not, it is never too late. These accounts are per family, so if you have older students in high school, you can add these students as well. This will provide families feedback on topics including vaping.
This is to build trust between parents and students. The goal is to coach and provide students a safer and healthier online experience and provide open communication between parents and students. All you need to do is sit down with your student(s) and take less than 5 minutes to set it up.
If you still have questions, please feel free to view the video link below and call or email questions to myself (quilicit@stjoes.com) or our counselor Mrs. Porter (porterc@stjoes.com).
The following are pie charts comparing the percentage breakdown of the types of alerts parents are receiving. The types of alerts also demonstrate how incidents are categorized. The pie charts are only a comparison of percentage of types of alerts. The pie charts are not an indicator of volume. The first chart is the breakdown of alerts as of 12/5 from St. Joseph’s Catholic School students. The second chart is the breakdown of alerts from students at all schools using SafeStudents Online. For comparison, cyberbullying and and violence are less frequent with St. Joseph’s students so other portions are higher.
