Bernie's Bark
01.12.2021
Dear Parents-
 
As we celebrated the Baptism of Our Lord last Sunday, we also brought to a close the glorious Christmas Season! Our Lord’s baptism reminds us to keep Christ alive with us during the whole year and emulate His good works. We emulate Jesus Christ when we adhere to His truths, and do so with compassion and love for all. Events of last week bring into sharp focus our responsibility to the children to teach them and model for them truth, integrity and good works.

Our COVID update this week starts with the report of more than 2 million new Covid-19 cases and 24,000 deaths in the US in the first nine days of 2021. Fairfax County has not updated the COVID dashboard since December 27, so I can not report a current 7-day moving average positivity rate; neighboring Loudoun County has a positivity rate of 17.6%, and Prince William County is at 21% positivity rate. The actual case count in Fairfax County for residents ages 0-17 has topped 6,000.

Fairfax Health district has moved into phase 1B for vaccinations, and included in that group are K-12 educators and school staff. With respect to our students, there is no vaccine authorized for use on children, yet, so it remains unclear how schools will change, if at all. However, we are excited for this news and the impact that will have on our ability to serve our students! We have to remind ourselves that the vaccination process is two-part and takes about 6 weeks from first shot to immunity.

Scantron testing is underway, and runs through January 29. Students in grades 3-7 will test in the areas of Math, Reading and Language Arts. Please make sure your children are in school during this time to ensure adequate opportunity to complete the tests. If you have specific scheduling questions or conflicts, please contact your child’s teacher. Distance Learners must sign-up to take the test. Only DL students who completed the sign up will be allowed in the building.

Mrs. Carson and I invite you to join our parent book club. The first book we will read and discuss is recommended by the Intentional Catholic Parent community and is titled The Power of Showing Up by Daniel Siegel, M.D., and Tina Bryson, Ph.D. See below for additional information.

Please let me know if you have any questions, or if I can be of any assistance.

Go to Joseph
                              (Gen 41:55)

Denise Rutledge
Principal
 
 Building Wisdom and Faith Through Service to God
Talent Show
Got Talent?

We are excited to showcase the talents of students virtually! Each performance is limited to a 30 second time frame. Talent videos will be shown on the SJS morning news throughout Catholic Schools Week!

Have fun recording your special talent and send your videos to Mrs. Hatley at c.hatley@sjschoolva.org no later than January 25, 2021!
School Pictures - Last Call!!
Did your child have their school picture
taken this year?

Any student (distance learners or in-person) that did not have their school picture taken should send a hi-resolution headshot to Astri Wee at astriwee@gmail.com

Remember, these pictures will be used for the yearbook! If we do not receive a picture, only the students name will be noted in the yearbook. All headshots should be sent to Astri Wee by 3:00pm on Friday, January 15.
March for Life Prayer Service
St. Joseph Catholic Church and the Knights of Columbus will lead a
prayer service on the day of the
March for Life.
Where: The Church
           When: Friday, January 29, 2021
           Time: 11:00 a.m.
           Prayer: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Scripture reading
Rosary for Life
Benediction and closing prayer at noon

Please join us for any amount of time that you can spare to pray for a culture of life.
No School: January 18, 2021




NO SCHOOL = Monday, January 18, 2021
St. Lucy Winter Food Collection
St Lucy Winter Food Collection

A food collection for the benefit of the St Lucy Project will take place on
Saturday January 16 from 10 AM to 2 PM

Once again this will be a “No Contact” collection. After you enter the parking lot, you will be directed to the collection location where volunteers from the Knights of Columbus and the St Joseph’s Youth Group will take your donations from the truck or hatch of your car. Your gifts of non perishable food will be used to help those in our diocese who are facing food challenges, particularly children and the elderly. Thank you in advance for your continuing support of this ministry.


Thank you for your donations last month to help stock the shelves at the warehouse and Leesburg Pantry for the St. Lucy Project! We collected over 800 lbs. of food! A great example of the Corporal Works of Mercy! Thank you for your generosity in responding to the food insecure and hunger in our Diocese.
Cameras On!


Parents and students - please remember that during distance learning, cameras must be on and the student must be visible!
Book Club
Mrs. Rutledge and Mrs. Carson invite you to read along and discuss the key elements detailed in
The Power of Showing Up.

First meeting planned for Wednesday, February 3, at 7:00PM...zoom link will be provided closer to that date.

Topic: Chapter 1 What It Means to Show Up
Parents should not seek to be perfect when raising children. It is more important to be present; it makes a child feel safe, seen, secure and soothed.

The goal of the book club is building community and helping each other through a pandemic. It is not intended to be therapy or family counseling. Please seek the assistance of licensed practitioners if needed.
Re-enrollment for 2021-2022 School Year
**Time Sensitive**
With our 93% retention rate, it is reasonable to streamline our re-enrollment processes. The process is restructured so that current students will be automatically re-enrolled for the 2021-2022 school year. Enrollment fees of $300 per student will be charged on February 1, 2021 from the FACTS account on file. Families in need of an extension payment plan must also contact the Business Office by January 15. Re-enrollment fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. If, for some reason, your student will not be returning to St. Joseph Catholic School, notification in writing is needed by January 15, 2021. We are confident that you will find this expedited and recurring re-enrollment process helpful. If you have any questions, please contact Debbie Millon (dmillon@sjcherndon.orgor 703-880-4355) in the Business Office.
Nurse's Corner
Due to the nature of the pandemic, information and guidelines are frequently updated. Please take a moment and review the following guidelines.
Middle School Girls Group
Stay Connected!
SJS Mobile App, Twitter and Facebook


Don't forget to follow the official St. Joseph Catholic School Facebook page (sjschoolva), Twitter account (@sjschoolva), and download the mobile app from the App Store (St. Joseph Catholic School, VA)
Weekly Saints Quote
750 Peachtree Street, Herndon, VA 20170
Tel: 703-880-4350 Fax: 703-880-4320