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.
The COVID pandemic continues. Currently, VDH reports that over the last 7 days, Fairfax County has seen a significant increase in total case rate, now 1,301 cases per 100,000, (week ending 01/08/2022), and NAAT (PCR) test positivity ticking up further to 32.8%. Nearby Loudoun County has a current case rate, up to 1,428 per 100,000, (week ending 01/08/2022), and the COVID-19 positivity rate in Loudoun is up to 34.4%.
SJS families and staff report approximately 33 student cases of COVID-19 and 6 staff members. All cases were contracted between 12/20/2021 and 01/10/2022, and have no impact on the school, and are not reported as such, since the school was closed during that time period. SJS has always followed recommendations from VDH and CDC. With the significantly relaxed quarantine and isolation protocols that SJS now follows as recommended by VDH, please be attentive to symptoms in your children and please keep them home when in doubt.
With the increase in COVID infection, Father Tom, Father David and Father Matt have agreed to celebrate a second Mass each week so that students can be further apart and help mitigate the spread of illness. Students in K through 4th grade, will attend Mass on Thursdays and students grades 5-8 will attend on Fridays. Use of cantor and music is suspended during this time, and the schedule is in place through January. We will reevaluate our position for February.
I pray that none of our SJS families found themselves on I-95 Monday when the snowstorm began. I cannot begin to imagine the hardship for those who were stuck for many hours, particularly overnight in 11° temperatures. Nevertheless, the snowstorm and extended school closure was also difficult for not only our families, but for our teachers and staff, and me, too.
As a reminder, SJS follows FCPS for weather related closures and delays. Importantly, while we have already used more than our three built-in snow days, SJS exceeds the minimum 1038 instructional minutes required by VCEA. (See SJS Parent Handbook, p. 32). We will take the winter day by day, and deal with whatever comes our way. For further clarification, SJS does not follow FCPS with respect to COVID-19 protocols nor for any other scenarios such as lack of subs or other internal concerns.
Scantron testing is underway, and runs through February 4, the testing window extended due to the winter weather. 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.
As always, if I can be of assistance, or you have any questions, please let me know.
Pray to St. Joseph for all your needs! (St. Teresa of Avila)
Denise Rutledge
Principal
Building Wisdom and Faith Through Service to God
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Please be mindful of the daily temperatures and have your child dress for the weather when coming to school.
Students will go outside on days when it is cold!
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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!
Send or share videos to Ms. Bambino at g.bambino@sjschoolva.org no later than Friday January 28th 2022. If the video file is too large to send via email please upload it to Google drive and share it with Ms. Bambino’s email address listed above.
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Community service is an integral part of education at St. Joseph Catholic School. Our service to the community teaches students the importance of making service a lifelong practice, to become better citizens and to live out their faith. St. Joseph Catholic School has partnered with Catholic Charities St. Lucy Food Project to conduct service projects throughout the year and assist families experiencing food insecurity.
The January Canned Vegetables collection will start on January 11 and end on January 26.
Thank you for your support!
All Grades = Any canned vegetable is appreciated but corn and green beans are mostly requested.
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Re-enrollment for 2022-2023 |
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With our 93% retention rate, our streamlined re-enrollment process has proven to be successful. The process is structured so that current students will be automatically re-enrolled for the 2022-2023 school year. Enrollment fees of $300 per student will be charged on February 1, 2022 from the FACTS account on file. Families in need of an extension payment plan must also contact the Business Office by January 15, 2022. 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, 2022. If you have any questions, please contact Tisha Hilliard ( thilliard@sjcherndon.org or 703-880-4355) |
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What are the Top 14 Mitigation Strategies that St. Joseph Catholic School has had in place to keep our school safe?
1. Masks - all students, faculty and staff must wear a mask while indoors regardless of vaccination status, and until further notice.
2. 3 feet social distance with masking
3. Alternate day/limited use of cafeteria
4. Food service has been paused
5. Cohorts maintained at recess
6. We love our volunteers but volunteers are not able to help in the building at this time.
7. Continuous wipe down of high touch surfaces
8. Clorox 360 deep clean of classrooms after illness and during holiday breaks
9. Band and choir have been put on hold
10. Assemblies are on hold
11. Water fountains turned off - touchless bottle/cup dispensers are available
12. Windows open 10 minutes every hour
13. Staggered dismissal from multiple entries to limit congestion in halls
14. 3 feet social distance with mask at Mass - we look forward to inviting guests to attend school Mass at a later date.
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Library Bookmark Design Contest
Design a bookmark using the template provided. Bookmarks should be drawn in black and white so that when they are printed, they may be colored in by others.
All entries must be received no later than January 27, 2022.
The theme for grades 4-8: Reading is an Adventure!
The theme for grades k-3: Reading makes me happy!
Two winners will be chosen from the 4-8 and k-3 groups. Winners will receive a free paperback book. Winning bookmarks will be printed and available in the library to all who would like one!
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40 Hours Devotion
*New Dates*
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40 Hours Devotion
St. Joseph Catholic Church
March 3, 4, 5, 2022
After much prayer, discernment and discussions with the appropriate individuals, we have decided to postpone the SJC 40 Hours Devotion to March 3, 4, 5, 2022.
We will have a new SignUpGenius document online next week. We look forward to our celebration of 40 Hours Devotion in March 2022.
Pope Francis shared: “The rediscovery of prayer in various forms, and particularly Eucharistic Adoration, is a source of hope for the Church to grow and take root.”
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Revised Updates: Isolation/Quarantine/Sick policy
In alignment with the CDC, the Fairfax County Health Department is updating its recommendations. These updates include the following:
If You Test Positive for COVID-19 (Isolate) Day 1 starts the next day after you test positive
Everyone, regardless of vaccination status:
- Day 1 to 5:
- Stay home and away from others.
- Day 6 to 10:
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If you have no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving, you can leave your house. Continue to wear a well-fitting mask to reduce any risk of infecting others.
- If you have a fever, continue to stay home until 24 hours after your fever resolves.
If You Were Exposed to Someone with COVID-19 (Quarantine)
If you have been boosted OR received your second dose (and an additional dose if immunocompromised) of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine within the last 6 months OR received your first dose of J&J vaccine within the last two months:
- Day 1 to 10
- Wear a mask around others.
- Test on day 5, if possible.
- If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home.
- If you test positive for COVID-19 during this 10-day period, follow the isolation guidance above
If you received two doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines more than six months ago and are not boosted OR received one dose of the J&J vaccine more than two months ago and are not boosted OR are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated:
- Day 1 to 5:
- Stay home and away from others.
- Test on day 5 if possible. If you test positive for COVID-19, follow the isolation guidance above.
- Day 6 to 10:
- Continue to wear a mask around others.
- If you develop symptoms get a test and stay home. If you test positive for COVID-19, follow the isolation guidance above.
Please take note of the adjusted SJS sick policy:
With the emergence of more contagious variants, such as Omicron, and the ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases, it is important that everyone works together to help us minimize spread and illness in school as well as stay healthy so that we can continue with in-person learning.
The first option below will help your child return to school sooner. These apply to symptoms that are unusual for your child. They do not apply to symptoms that are because of a documented chronic illness. If your child has a sibling in the school, we ask that you keep everyone home until the sick child has a diagnosis for their symptoms OR has been medically cleared. Household contact is considered continuous transmission; this is an extra layer in place to help prevent the spread of illness to other students while waiting for a diagnosis for your sick child. We are permitted to accept both rapid antigen tests and the PCR covid test. Please keep your child home while you await their test results.
After 24 hours of illness, if your child is still sick, has a fever 100.4 or greater, has vomited and not improving without taking any over the counter medication:
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Have them evaluated by a healthcare professional with a diagnosis/clearance note prior to returning to school. Click HERE for a copy of the clearance note* You can also find this clearance note on the nurses’ page.
- If you choose not to take your child to see a healthcare professional, you may test them with:
A home covid test kit (please send a picture of the test result labelled with your child’s name and date of test). If your child tests negative but still has symptoms, keep them home and retest in 48 hours with a negative test prior to returning to school.
OR
Get your child tested at a testing site with a signed/stamped copy of test result
If you choose to do neither and your child is still symptomatic, please keep your child home until they are no longer symptomatic, is fever free, energy is back, vomit free for 24 hours without taking any over the counter medication to mask their symptoms/illness.
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Stay Connected!
SJS Mobile App, Twitter and Facebook
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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)
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750 Peachtree Street, Herndon, VA 20170
Tel: 703-880-4350 Fax: 703-880-4320
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