Thank you to everyone who has generously donated to our Annual Giving Fund! Please know, every penny is important to our School's Mission and will be put to great use to support our students and fine educators. The Mission, Values, and Five Gifts of St. John’s Parish Day School may be summarized by saying that we are here for you and we set out every day to educate the whole person to excellence, nurturing each child’s full potential. Your Annual Giving support will be allocated to help enhance technology for our students, support continued professional development for our multitalented faculty, and provide resources for the classrooms as well as help to balance our budget. We are over $33,000 and continuing to grow! THANK YOU!
With fall breaks, colder weather, and the Holidays approaching, we have updated our Safety, Health, and Wellness Reopening Plan on October 5th. For the safety of our community, we have edited our school calendar and expanded three important health areas.
In an effort to work with families gathering even in small groups for Thanksgiving we will be extending our Thanksgiving break by two days following the Holiday (Now closed: Monday, November 30th and Tuesday, December 1st). We hope this extension will allow families to assess their health and/or receive negative PCR COVID tests before returning to school on Wednesday, December 2nd. Unfortunately, we will need to cancel Grandparents/Special Friends Day scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, November 23rd & 24th. The 24th will become a full day of school with After School Care available. We will be recording a Thanksgiving Chapel to share and hope to offer a wonderful Grandparents/Special Friends Day in the spring.
Health Expansions:
1. We will monitor absenteeism and greatly appreciate the support of families to limit travel at this sensitive time. Please do your part to follow guidelines regarding health and wellness practices, including facial coverings, frequent hand washing, and consider the potential for St. John's community spread when attending or hosting social gatherings away from school. Additionally, St. John's community members should comply with all current public health and travel guidelines. Marylanders are strongly advised against traveling to states with COVID 19 positivity rates of 10% or more. Please contact our nurses (nurse@stjohnspds.org) if you have traveled to a high-risk area and/or participated in a large group gathering to arrange for a voluntary 14-day quarantine.
2. If your family has a returning college-age student from a high-risk area, he/she should self-quarantine from the rest of the family until a negative PCR COVID 19 test result has been received. Siblings may continue to come to school ONLY if proper quarantining measures are being implemented at home.
3. We request that SJPDS students do not participate in any indoor recreation teams/leagues and/or sports activities during the winter months that are not using proper face covers, and social distancing measures.
Please continue to actively include our dedicated Nurses in any health concerns and help everyone in our community by staying home if your child has a fever, cough, headache, GI issues or sore throat. It will be mandatory for your family to quarantine if anyone has been exposed to COVID 19. Please alert our Nurses immediately (410-465-7644 extension 308, nurse@stjohnspds.org).
Gentle Reminders: Please remember to wear masks in the carline, turn off your car heat when you enter the campus, roll down the window for your child(ren), and encourage your child(ren) to lean out slightly to get their temperature taken. Also, we discourage carpooling with any student not in the same class (family members and emergencies excluded) as we continue to keep our students in pods. As we approach the winter months, indoor playdates that will cross students over grade levels and/or classes is discouraged, as well.
We thank you for your continued cooperation, commitment, and support for our community. We truly are stronger together!
Warm regards,
Lori Dembo
Head of School
