Our mission is to create a place to encounter Jesus. Steeped in love and Catholic teachings, we provide strong academics to foster continual learning in mind and spirit.
Dear St. John's Families,
This week we begin our final full week of distance learning. Please check the SJB Distance Learning Site for this week's Distance Learning Calendars.
THANK YOU for your partnership in helping us to continue to deliver lessons that strengthen the mind and promote growth. I keep thinking about how much our kids have learned through this experience. Through this unusual time, they have developed resiliency, patience, and empathy in a way that no classroom experience could ever deliver.
This week teachers will finish up delivering new content, and next Tuesday and Wednesday will be used for final assessments and make-up work. The final day of the 2019-2020 school year is May 27th. Teachers will finalize report cards on Thursday, the 28th and Friday, the 29th so that they will be available on our pick-up/drop off day on June 3rd. Sixth-grade materials will be available on June 2nd if we are allowed to have an in-person graduation Mass. We have a general outline of what that could look like but are waiting on further information from the governor and the archdiocese to determine what will be possible. Expect to hear more on this later in the week.
Also later this week, we will send out detailed plans for our pick-up/drop off day scheduled for June 3rd. In general, teachers will pack up students' belongings in bags (generously donated by Rademacher's). These bags will be available for pick up in the parking lot or the Gather Space in case of rain. Students will also need to drop off their materials (textbooks & devices) belonging to the school. This will be facilitated in the parking lot too. Again, we will communicate a detailed plan for this later in the week.
I'd also like to bring you up to date on our hiring progress for the first grade and fifth/sixth-grade teaching positions as well as some updated enrollment information.
We have been blessed by some terrific candidates for our two open teaching positions. We began interviews last week and will continue interviews this week. We know we will find the perfect fit for both classrooms!
Enrollment for next year is looking fantastic! At this point, we anticipate growing enrollment by at least 8%!
The LORD is at work at Saint John's! I am so blessed to have been apart of this family!
Have a blessed week! Courtney Bierlein
Please remember to check the Spanish, Art, PhyEd, and Music pages this week, and to fill out the PhyEd activity log.
FROM THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
Catholic education has played an important role in lifting many from poverty to a more hopeful future. This mission is in danger as a result of the economic devastation facing many families across the country. Abrupt unemployment and lost income has meant that families suddenly find themselves unable to make the tuition payments that sustain our schools.
Additionally, our parishes which normally provide financial support to the schools to keep tuition within financial reach for families have lost their Sunday collections with the halt to the public celebration of Masses.
Please take a moment to contact your Members of Congress to ask for emergency aid to Catholic schools and our families in the next Covid-19 Legislation package. Our requests include: equitable access to K12 federal funds for Catholic schools, direct funding to families for tuition aid and tax breaks for K12 tuition payments.
We encourage you to add your own personal story in the message as well.
Catholic schools urgently need help in this time of uncertainty. By speaking with one voice, we can amplify this problem with Congress and provide help for our families.
Welcome, Mr. Carson!
We are excited to announce the hiring of Brian Carson as our new Director of Sacred Music and School Music Teacher. Brian has tremendous experience in developing a music program at a parish, and we are thrilled he is with us Not only will Brian be directing the parish choirs and cantors, but he will also be our school music teacher. Brian and his wife Cathy have two children, one who just completed college and another just entering. Brian worked for the past 18 years at Saint Louis King of France parish in downtown St Paul.
A MESSAGE FROM FR. NEIL
Dear Saint John’s Families,
I want to provide you an update on the principal hiring process. Over the past year the leadership at Saint John’s has been engaged with a staff development consultant from Lighthouse Strategic Solutions (Lisa Sammon), paid for by a generous grant from CSCOE. Lisa has helped us as a leadership team to grow together, and to do many great things. We still have her for a few more months and we thought her time would be best spent on helping us find the very best leader for our school. Lisa has helped us implement a search process, and I want to outline that process for you here.
As we receive candidate applications, they will be processed through a search committee composed of parishioners and school families. Zach Haller, Eric Serbus, Deb Pauly, Becky Gavin, and Troy Mahoney will review applications, select candidates for initial interviews, and conduct the first round of interviews. They will then pass along their recommendations to be interviewed by subcommittees focused on conversations around education, leadership, and advancement. From there, finalists will be considered by parish trustees and myself. This will all occur throughout the month of May and June.
At the same time, Lisa will be holding focus group meetings with staff and school parents to learn from our community what is needed in the next leader. They will be asked questions like, “what needs to start happening at Saint Johns? What needs to stop happening? What needs to continue going on? What is the greatest attribute needed in the next leader of our school?” This will all be taken into consideration as we review finalists.
Our goal is to learn from the community as we embark on this leadership transition to identify the very best principal to lead our School on the continued path towards ever greater excellence. I am very thankful for the willingness of the search committee to participate in this important process. I’m also looking forward to the results of the focus groups.
If you have any recommendations or suggestions that you’d like to pass along, please feel free to send them directly to me. I’m open to all input you can give, and I want you all to know you are part of this important moment at Saint John’s school. To that end, I encourage you all to earnestly pray for our new principal, whom God is calling to join in our mission. I’ve written a prayer for us all to pray during this time:
Heavenly Father, you guide all creation with your loving hand
and give to each of us what we most need.
Thank you for the tremendous blessing of
Saint John the Baptist Catholic School,
and for entrusting to us the care and education of our children.
Be with us as we search for a new leader for our school.
Open the heart of the one whom you are inviting,
that they may hear your call to join Saint John’s in our mission
to create a place of encounter with Jesus.
Embolden our confidence in your providential plan,
that we may one day rejoice with You, and all the Saints in Heaven.
We ask this all through the powerful name of
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Watch daily mass at St. John's via live streaming on sjbjordan.org.
During this uncertain time, we would like you to join us in a power spiritual response to the effects of COVID-19. Archbishop Hebda and Bishop Cozzensare urging all Catholic school students, their families, teachers, and the entire Catholic school community to join them in praying daily the Litany in Time Need.
You may click on the link above to access this prayer, or click here to reach a pdf form of the prayer.
This litany will also be carried daily on Relevant Radio around 11:05 a.m. each day. Please tune-in and join us on AM 1330 or at www.relevantradio.com. You can also pray this Litany at any time of the day.
MAY 27LAST DAY OF DISTANCE LEARNING June 2 Tentative Date for 6th Grade Graduation Celebration - stay tuned! June 3 Student pick up/drop of materials day - stay tuned for further details
