Dear St. Giles Families,
Happy New Year and welcome back! We are so happy to have our Lions in person and are so proud of how our students, families and staff are navigating our current COVID reality and doing everything they can to keep our in-person learning in place.
While the uptick in cases and the highly-contagious new variant are creating challenges, we are confident in our protocols and are pleased with how well our Lions follow them. This past week’s weather did not help with students remaining inside for recess, but, given the forecast, they should be outside again after Monday.
I know the ever-changing landscape of COVID, including the Archdiocese and Oak Park guidelines, is difficult to manage and understand. I truly appreciate your patience as we work together with both entities to align guidelines and maintain in-person learning. This will ALWAYS be our goal – a safe, in-person education for our students.
I have another call with the Oak Park Health Department on Monday and will share any changes in protocols with you as soon as possible.
In the meantime, please continue to monitor for any symptoms and keep your child(ren) home if they develop. Yes, tests are difficult to find and results can be slow, and I know how frustrating this can be. But please continue to take these critical steps – along with careful and consistent masking – to help prevent spread at St. Giles. Our teachers will work with families, gathering any missed work and partnering to ensure everyone stays on track.
As a final reminder, this is a short week of school! As was communicated previously, we have added this Friday, January 14, as a day off, resulting in a four-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. Enjoy the long weekend and please scroll down to see our MLK Acts of Service information for the week of January 18th!
Stay warm, safe, and well,
Meg
Staffing Update
Mr. Patterson has resigned as our technology teacher and will not complete the remainder of the school year. We are so grateful for all of his help, guidance and care for our tech program these last few years. He has brought our tech work with students to a new level that we aim to continue and grow further. We are actively interviewing candidates and hope to have a permanent replacement soon. We will notify you of our new teacher once finalized.
Reminders
Please remember our added days off on the school calendar: January 14th, March 21st and April 14th.
School Board Meeting
Tomorrow’s School Board meeting will be VIRTUAL, not in person in McDonough Hall. We welcome you to join us on Zoom at 7:00 pm. You can access the meeting here.
PTO Meeting
Tuesday’s PTO meeting will also be VIRTUAL and Tuesday MORNING, not evening as originally planned. Please join us at 8:30 am via Zoom. You can access the meeting here.
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2022-23 School Year Registration Reminder
All current students will be automatically re-registered for next year.
Now through January 9, 2022 - Priority registration for current families with NEW SIBLINGS that you wish to register. Beginning Jan. 10, all registrations will be a part of the general pool of all new registrations.
January 30, 2022 - deadline to email office@stgilesschool.org if you are NOT returning so that we do not charge you a registration fee.
February 1, 2022 - Registration fees will be posted to your FACTS account.
February 20, 2022 - $200 Registration Payment is Due. If you are set up on automatic withdrawal (ACH) in FACTS, there is no need to do anything and this will be deducted like all other payments. If you are set up with an invoice payment, you will need to log in to FACTS to pay.
2022-23 Scholarship Information
St. Giles Scholarship Application Opens - January 5 through April 15. Log on to your Facts account and click on Grant & Aid when available. All applications will be reviewed after the April 15 deadline. Awards will be assigned by May 20.
Empower Illinois Scholarship Application Opens - January 12, 7:00 pm. Additional information and links will be posted as soon as we have more information. Scholarships are first come, first served and usually fill up in the first 5 minutes.
Big Shoulders Scholarship Opens - January 13, 8:00 am. Additional information and links will be posted as soon as we have more information. Scholarships are first come, first served and usually fill up in the first 5 minutes.
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Upcoming Calendar Dates--note 2 additions!
The Archdiocese recently added January 3rd as an official holiday given the New Year's holiday falls on a Saturday. Since we have that scheduled as a staff development day, we will take this holiday on Friday, January 14th.
Additionally, the Archdiocese has granted mental health days for our schools to be added to the calendar for this year. We will add a day to our Easter vacation and take Thursday, April 14th as an additional non-school day.
Our original at-a-glance calendar listed March 14th as a day off school. That date was changed in August--please be sure your calendars reflect the correct date of Monday, March 21st as a school holiday.
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In acknowledgment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, St. Giles School has themed the week of January 17 as “Growing in Service”. Our students will have an opportunity to share in discussion the value of serving others. This dialogue will inspire compassion and kindness, characteristics that will serve them well.
Each homeroom will receive a plant to promote the theme of Growing in Service to remind students to continue in mindfulness of others.
Students will also write a personal reflection on Acts of Service that will be displayed.
We will close out the week with a sock and glove drive as St. Giles’ Act of Service to provide warm hands and feet for those that are less fortunate. Donations will be made to two local organizations that are in need of these supplies, your contributions would be greatly appreciated.
Additional details will be in next weekend's eNews.
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IN HONOR OF MLK DAY OF SERVICE
ST. GILES SCHOOL WILL BE HOSTING A 2-DAY
“WARM HANDS AND FEET” DRIVE
PLEASE JOIN US BY DONATING NEW SOCKS AND GLOVES FOR KIDS AND ADULTS
Send the items to school with your student on
Thursday, January 20, and Friday, January 21
Collection bins will be all homerooms
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2:1 Empower Illinois Tax Credit Scholarship
Matching Donation Program Began Dec. 1, 2021
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The Archdiocese of Chicago has once again secured matching donors for the Empower Illinois Scholarship Program. St. Giles will receive an additional $2 for every dollar that you contribute between Dec. 1, 2021 and Jan. 10, 2022 (when funds typically run out).
Here's how the program works:
1. REGISTER with the State of Illinois at mytax.illinois.gov, unless you already have an online account. It usually takes 10-14 days to receive a letter with the ID number required to set up an account, so click on the "Sign up Now!" button in the Login box to start the process as soon as possible.
2. RESERVE your tax credit for the current calendar year (2021 if you donate in Dec and 2022 if you donate in Jan.). Once your account is set up, log into your online account at mytax.illinois.gov (Empowerillinois.org will eventually take you to the same page.). Click on the link to your individual account under the "Accounts" tab. Then, under "I Want to" in the top right corner of the page, select "Contribute to Invest in Kids". Navigate through the form, selecting Cook County, Empower Illinois as the scholarship granting organization, and the amount you will be donating (to all schools). You will have the opportunity to select St. Giles when you make your donation. You will then receive your Contribution Authorization Certificate under your mytax.illinois.gov account correspondence tab almost immediately.
3. DONATE: Make your donation between Dec. 1, 2021 and Jan. 10, 2022 (So that we can get our 2:1 matching funds).
You will receive 75% of your donation that can be used as a tax credit on your Illinois tax bill. Last year, we were able to secure $50,000 in matching funds due to our generous donors which helped 17 children in need! Our goal this year is to secure the full $100,000 in matching funds available to each school. Here is a step by step guide to make your donation
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Mark Your Calendars: Black & Gold Pride Is Coming!
Looking for ways to be involved in this wonderful evening? Check out ways to volunteer here!
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PTO Fun Lunch
Fun Lunch ordering for the rest of the year (January through May) will be open until 1/20.
Place your orders for these local favorites here.
*For those of you that are newer to St. Giles, this is a return to the way things were pre-pandemic where ordering for the year was done all at once.
Because of uncertainty over school closures, we opted to have more frequent ordering periods since last school year. Now we will close ordering on January 20. So do it once and you're done and you should receive a reminder each week that you ordered.
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