Dear St. Giles Families,
This week we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with our Lions reflecting on Acts of Service. Tuesday morning we will begin our week with a special prayer from Fr. Carl and hold discussions throughout the week in classrooms. Our students will reflect on their own service as well and we will end the week with a sock and glove drive. Please scroll down for further details on how you can get involved.
I know that our return to school over the past two weeks has been more COVID-focused than we had hoped. Many families, including my own, were impacted by positive cases over the break, preventing them from returning on time, and other families are experiencing new cases after the holidays. Because I am no longer providing school-wide eNews blasts for individual cases, I will include a summary of our COVID numbers in my Sunday letters. I hope this update will help families understand where we are as a school as it relates to COVID. Since returning, we have had 19 cases reported, many traced back to known exposure. This amounts to 6% of our staff/students. We also fully quarantined one of our first grade classrooms on Tuesday after a third positive case was found.
This extended weekend is serving as a natural quarantine of sorts for everyone. We have seen both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases and know that testing with quick turnaround is difficult to find. But with the number of asymptomatic cases, while not required, we do encourage you to test your Lions, even using a home test, at some point this weekend. Our goal continues to be keeping our faculty, staff and students healthy and in-person.
I know that the various and conflicting information between the Archdiocese and Oak Park Department of Health has been frustrating. It has been difficult to navigate for all of us. However, late on Thursday the OPDH announced that they have aligned with the ISBE guidelines, reverting to a 5-day quarantine for positive cases and unvaccinated exposures with a return to school on the 6th day. Day 1 of symptoms or positive test within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms is day 0. This also aligns with the Archdiocese protocols.
However, there are several stipulations that occur with a return on day 6. These updated guidelines were shared by the Archdiocese last week and can be found here, January 10th Updated Isolation/Quarantine Guidance. Please take a moment to read about what this means for us at St. Giles, by reading the details here.
Finally, if your child(ren) is/are vaccinated but you have not yet shared their status with us, please do so as soon as possible via this FORM. By sharing their vaccination status with us, it simplifies communication and quarantine decisions on our end because vaccinated students do not need to quarantine due to exposure like unvaccinated students do. If you would rather submit vaccination status in person, feel free to bring the card(s) into the office.
I don’t have to tell you parents that absorbing the ever-changing information and protocols is challenging, so I thank you for taking the time to stay current on guidance and how it applies to St. Giles. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me directly.
Stay safe and well,
Meg
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New Family Referrals
Our 2022-23 Application is NOW OPEN! If you know of a family that would be interested in enrolling, please let them know about us! Here are some ways a new family can learn more:
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Check out the St. Giles School Website
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Complete an Inquiry Form
- Visit us at our upcoming Virtual Open House - January 30, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm (details below)
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Email the St. Giles School Office to request a private in person tour
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Complete a 2022-23 Application
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Spread the Word: Virtual Open House on Jan. 30
Know a family interested in St. Giles? Invite them to our virtual Open House on January 30! From 10:30 to 12:30 p.m., we'll have a variety of sessions to introduce prospective families to our school. Interested families can join for one, a few or all sessions of their choosing. They'll meet the administration and faculty, learn about curriculum and specials across grades, hear from parents about their experiences and even meet a few recent alums who will share how St. Giles prepared them for high school. If you know someone interested in learning more, encourage them to register to attend here or inquire for more information on stgilesschool.org.
Good news! Catholic schools were featured in a Chicago Tribune article about more Chicago families choosing Catholic schools. Stories like this shine a light on the good work happening at St. Giles and all Catholic schools.
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2022-23 School Year Registration Reminders
New Sibling Registration: Please complete this form for any new siblings you wish to register. Grades are beginning to fill up and acceptance is now based on availability in the grade.
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
The application is open and you are encouraged to apply, if needed. Log on to your FACTS account and click on Grant & Aid. All applications will be reviewed after the April 15 deadline. Awards will be assigned by May 20.
The application is open and you are encouraged to apply, if needed. Awards are given based on the order of application submission and need.
The application is open and you are encouraged to apply, if needed. Awards are given based on the order of application submission and need.
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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 the value of serving others through classroom discussions. 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 write a personal reflection during Religion and Advisory on Acts of Service. These reflections will be displayed in the hallways and lunchroom.
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.
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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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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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