Parent Bulletin
May 28, 2020

 MR. FITZ'S BLOG
The Graduation of our 8th grader Class of 2020 will take place as scheduled this Wednesday, June 3. What won't take place as planned is a packed church for Baccalaureate Mass and later that evening a packed church for Commencement. Instead, we will live-stream the Mass Wednesday morning at 9AM. We hope all school families, not just our 8th grade families, will tune in and watch Wednesday morning's Mass. The evening Commencement will be a "drive-up" ceremony in our school parking lot. This will allow our 8th grade families, in the safety of the vehicles, to participate in person, not virtually, and watch their children walk up to receive their diplomas. Because of the limited parking, this evening ceremony is only open to 8th grade families.

Thanks for saying a prayer that God will bless our graduates, and that these students will in turn move up into the bigger world and bless others with the knowledge and skills they have learned at St. Louise.

After Graduation on June 3, we sadly have to say farewell not only to our fine group of 14-year-olds, but also to some school parents who will have graduated their youngest or only children. So Wednesday will be their last time as St. Louise School parents. We want to thank these parents for their years of support - in volunteer hours and donations - and wish them well as they continue on as parents of high schoolers. Leaving us this year as school parents are:

George and Cecilia Baumann; Andy and Dana Matthews;   Eduardo Tovar and Maria Moreno; John and Thuy Yuen; Nat Maney and Gaby Gonzalez;   Hector and Cristina Sandino; Erik and Lorena Denny; Joe and Suzie Sollars; Kevin and Stasia Kehoe; John and Ana Garland; Brian and Rena Piercy; Michael and Esther Stapleton; Dave and Veronica Utz;   Joe and Shannon Wallis; Tom and Sharon Kussy; Kevin and Andria Kelly; Dan and Kim Stockwell

And the most veteran parents, finishing 13-15 year careers as St. Louise School parents, are:

Frank and Susie Buysee; Hung Thanh Do and VanHuong Dang; Michael and Ning Grisaffi; Chris and Joni Hoffman; Ed and Rayme Teders; Chinh Vu and Kristy Nguyen; John and Katie Barrows Rempe; John and Shiloh Gillespie.


+ + + + +


Many parents have asked me what school will "look like" for the upcoming 2020-21 school year. I wish I could tell you that school will resume as normal on September 8, with our annual Passport Day, followed in the succeeding days by kids in classrooms, back-to-school nights for parents, and our Mass of the Holy Spirit with people in the pews, and not just an empty church with a video camera in the aisle. Unfortunately, my hands are tied by the Governor, the Superintendent of Schools, and the Archdiocese. So, instead of St. Louise School making decisions for St. Louise students, we have to wait and see what plans others will mandate for school s.

If it sounds like I'm frustrated, I am. I understood March's initial concerns and worries about COVID. It has been horrible this spring to hear of so many nursing home deaths, and it is important that our senior citizens continue to be vigilant. Families who frequently visit 70+ year-old grandparents definitely have to make some changes in their manners of gathering. But as we head into summer, and definitely three months from now as autumn is ready to begin, to keep with a similar, massive, one-size-fits-all closure plan for schools in September would be nonsensical.

We have learned since March's initial reactions to shut down schools that COVID is not a children's disease (or even a healthy adult's disease for that matter). When 99.99% of deaths caused by COVID are NOT children, it is irrational to continue to shut down elementary schools. JAMA Pediatrics (a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association) reports that the risk of critical illness in children from COVID is far less than the risk from influenza (the seasonal flu). So when was the last time schools were mandated to close during the November through March flu season? (The answer is "never.")

To add to my frustration, we have always called upon God to help us in our trials, yet our churches are closed and the sacraments are denied. So, what we have is the "quarantine of God" during a time when He should be our focal point.


Okay....I'm stepping down from my soapbox now....I apologize if my rising blood pressure as I typed this caused your blood pressure to also rise....


If we are mandated to close or change school routines for the upcoming school year, we'll adjust our calendar and plans as required. The faculty will definitely spend time this summer improving our process and procedures for online-learning, in case we are forced to do distance learning again in 2020-21. The teachers have learned a lot about the best (and wor st) ways to teach virtually, including receiving feedback from parents in our recent surveys. Going into the fall, you can be assured we'll be ready for whatever is thrown at us.

We do plan on holding our Summer Camps in August. Maria Zambrano's team is coming up with sensible plans to hold four weeks of camp sessions on campus that will ensure a clean environment with plenty of hand washing and physical distancing, as well as lots of time outdoors. Camp is open to children entering grades K-5 in the fall, and each week's session will be limited to 15 children. Please go here for more information. Remember, you can sign up your child for a single week or multiple weeks.

Finally, I look forward to seeing you perhaps one last time this school year this Monday, June 1 (or on June 9-10 for grade 7), when you come to claim your yearbooks and children's desk supplies, pick up the summer learning assignments, and return your last batch of online-learning work. I look forward, with Father Gary, on proudly conferring diplomas to our terrific group of 8th graders this Wednesday, and on celebrating our end-of-year school Mass with your family (via live-stream) on Monday, June 8, at 11:00AM.

Blessings on your day,

MR. FITZ

p.s.
Please check out the article below about the required and/or recommended Summer Learning assignments we have for your children who will be entering grades K-8 this fall. This summer more than ever, it will be vital that your kids keep current on reading, math skills, and keyboarding skills, lest they return in the fall and have forgotten much of what they learned this school year. You will receive hard copies of the required/recommended Summer Learning assignments when you visit school for the last time this coming Monday, June 1. (Grade 7 parents are instead coming on June 9 or 10.) You may find soft copies here

p.p.s.
Last week in my blog I wrote about the dangers of kids having their own smart phones and about the negative effects of social media on your children. I appreciate the many parents who emailed me thanking me for the information. One parent shared this great video that is definitely worth watching, especially for parents of 5th-8th graders. After watching, you can go here for more information.

CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS

Saturday, May 30
  • Saturday Spruce-Up of the grounds from 8AM-12PM. (See the article below.)

Monday, June 1
  • Donations due from current school families for their 2020 Auction procurements.
  • Only specialists' lessons are on the schedule for today; homeroom teachers will not be sending any assignments or holding any online-lessons today; instead, this is a bonus day for specialist classes in computers, art, PE, and music; the specialists will be emailing families with today's lessons, and any assignments are to be worked on and completed today
  • The school is open today from 7:00AM-5:00PM; grade PK-6 families are asked to come to school to:
  • clean out desks or lockers;
  • find lost and found sweaters and jackets;
  • bring home PE shoes;
  • gather the summer-work packets the teachers have prepared for all current PreK-7th grade students;
  • pick up your Yearbook (if you ordered one);
  • drop off your CYO volleyball, basketball, soccer jerseys;
  • drop off a gift for your teacher (if you would like to gift him/her).

  • NOTE: Grade 7 families do not come to school today; they will sign-up for a check-out time on June 9 or 10; Grade 8 families only come to school today if they signed-up for a specific time

Wednesday, June 3
  • The Class of 2020 graduates today! Watch our live-streamed Baccalaureate Mass at 9:00AM on the parish website

Monday, June 8
  • End-of-Year Mass live-streamed at 11:00AM on the parish website; all families are asked to celebrate from home; immediately following the liturgy, watch for special awards and announcements
  • No online-lessons today

Tuesday and Wednesday, June 9 & 10
  • Final online-lessons in grades PK-6
  • Grade 7 families to come to school to return laptops, claim yearbooks and supplies, and clean out lockers; exact day and time to be signed-up with Mr. Gallant and Mr. Weiss
  • Official end to the 2019-20 school year is June 10

Monday, June 22
  • Report Cards mailed home

Tuesday, June 23
  • New School Parent Orientation, 6:30PM

Wednesday, June 24
  • School office closes for summer vacation; office to be open limited hours in July


CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE SCHOOL CALENDAR HERE
Way to Show Your Spirit, Chargers!
Thanks for everyone joining in the fun of the Walk-E-Thon, as you helped to raise spirits and raise funds!

As of yesterday, $33,000 was donated by parents, friends, and family members - which will go to the Parents' Club to pay for enrichment grants and emergency preparedness supplies. The 6th grade class ended up being our top donating/collecting grade level - garnering $6K for St. Louise. Thanks to them and all our donors!

There will be prizes given in the coming days for:
❖ Most Creative School Spirit (from those who submitted photos and videos)
❖ Most Active Student (per minutes of activity in each grade level)
❖ Most Money Raised (of all the students in the school)
❖ Most Active Grade (highest percentage of students in a grade level who completed at least 180 minutes of activity)

If you have questions regarding the Walk-E-Thon, please contact the chairs, Ann/Eugene/Jim/Cari . And even if you don't have questions, how about contacting these parents to thank them for being given lemons this spring and turning them into lemonade?!
Grading Scale Altered for Third Trimester
Because we undertook this 3rd trimester in an online-learning environment due to the COVID-situation closing schools, we all realize that much of the teaching, learning, and assessing has not been comparable to the 1st and 2nd trimesters. Furthermore, it’s been difficult for teachers to gauge their students’ knowledge and efforts compared to “typical” school, since the teachers cannot be there in person to observe the child working independently on assignments and tests. Thus, the grade 4-8 teachers and school administration have decided to alter the typical way we create final grades for the essential subjects of Religion, Reading/Language Arts, Science, Math , and Social Studies .

For report cards this 3rd trimester, overall grades for these five subjects will not be designated by percentages but instead will be shown with a 4-to-1 grading scale. This is similar to how the specialists’ subjects are always graded. Here is the grading key the 4th through 8th grade teachers will use for these five essential subjects:
4 = 100-98%
3 = 97-80%
2 = 79-64%
1 = 63% or below
 
This change on the 3rd trimester report cards will not affect our 8th graders for high school admission. Grades K-3 will continue grading on this trimester's report cards as usual, using their own 1-4 scale for all subjects. Report cards will be mailed home on June 22. 
Expect a Letter from Charger Cards
On Monday, the Charger Cards team postal mailed each school family with their contribution/rebate status. This will help you know what amount you will need to please pay to fulfill your 2019-20 Charger Cards commitment.
(If you do not receive a letter by today, or if after receiving this mailing, you have questions, please email Marsha at chargercards@stlouiseschool.org .)

As you know, each school family has a required minimum $125 contribution/rebate to make by June. (The exception is for a family who opted-out of participating in Charger Cards on their participation form , and instead paid cash.)
 
When you receive your personal contribution/rebate status letter in the mail, you will know if your family will need to pay a fee to make up the difference between the $250 opt-out payment and how much in contribution/rebate you’ve already earned. For example, if a family’s purchases of Charger Cards so far has earned the school a contribution of $50, and the family can’t foresee buying enough cards by June 1, to earn another $75 in contribution/rebate, they would need to pay $200 cash. 
Mia joyfully working from home on her distance-learning assignment.
Thank You for Fulfilling Your Commitments
Thank you during this unique time we find ourselves in this spring to still make sure you are fulfilling your commitments to St. Louise School. Families are expected by June to:


1) VOLUNTEER 40 hours or pay a $19.50 per-hour fee in lieu of hours less than 40; please read the next article below for more information on completing your volunteer hours;


2) Donate to the 2020 AUCTION with a minimum $225-value donation or procurement (for returning families only); see the Auction article above for more information;


3) Purchase CHARGER CARDS so to accumulate a minimum $125 profit/rebate to the school or pay $250 cash to buy-out of participating; please go HERE to remind yourself of what you committed to;


4) Participate in the WALK-A-THON with cash donations (no minimum amount required this year for our transformed "Walk-E-Thon"); please click HERE for Walk-A-Thon info;


5) Donate to the 2020 ANNUAL SCHOOL GIFT CAMPAIGN HERE ; please contact Cindy Wagner if you have questions;


6) Be consistent financial STEWARDS of your Catholic parish if paying the contributing-parishioner tuition rate; more information on St. Louise Parish may be found HERE .


If you have questions, please direct them to the head of each program/event or to Mr. Fitzpatrick. Thank you for fulfilling your commitments in support of St. Louise!
Final Call for Volunteer Hours and/or Volunteer Fee
We really appreciate the volunteering of St. Louise parents! As you know, the minimum amount of volunteering we ask of each school family is 40 hours. If it looks like you'll be falling short of 40, you have two options:

1. Donate a fee in lieu of hours, by giving $19.50 per hour for every hour you'll be under the minimum 40. (So if you have 30 hours completed, you would pay $195.00). You may pay for your volunteer hours in lieu of volunteering by going HERE .

2. Get in those final hours of volunteering by helping with some of the following needs (or with other jobs you know your teacher or a staff member needs help with)....


We could use more Mentor families - current school families who would be assigned a newly enrolled school family to contact from May to August to answer their questions, such as how to purchase school uniforms or what volunteer opportunities you suggest. Once it's okay to get together later this summer, as a Mentor family you would find a time to set up a playdate with your child and other kids in the class with the new family, as you would be assigned a newly enrolled family to mentor who has kids your same age. This is a great act of service, and we could use more Mentors! Please contact Daisy Mendes or Laura Bonner , our Mentor program co-chairs, if you would be able to mentor a new school family this summer. Note: The hours you foresee putting in to mentor over the summer can be applied to this 2019-20 year if you need more hours in order to fulfill this school year's 40 hour commitment.


Look at the article below for two outdoor volunteer opportunities. We need help this Saturday at our Spruce-Up event (8AM-12PM). We also have ongoing needs for parents to join the Adopt-a-Garden program. You can find out about these opportunities in the next article below.
Note: The hours you foresee putting in to do Adopt-a-Garden work over the summer can be applied to this 2019-20 year if you need more hours in order to fulfill this school year's 40 hour commitment.


Another way to earn volunteer hours while staying away from others physically is to help us promote St. Louise School admissions. If you have a friend or coworker whom you think would be interested in enrolling their children in a Catholic school, tell them that St. Louise is still accepting applications for admissions for the upcoming school year. You can also promote us by tagging St. Louise in your posts about distance learning and by sharing
our school posts. You'll find our school posts HERE and HERE . Figure out the time it took you to email/text friends and/or to tag/post and count this as volunteer hours. We figure that connecting personally with a specific friend/coworker to discuss the benefits of enrolling at St. Louise can count as at least 1 volunteer hour, depending on how much time you spend with them. Also, each time you tag a post about our school on Facebook/Instagram, you can count this as 1 volunteer hour. So get your social media promotions going please, to help out your school and to earn some hours!


Finally, how would you like to earn one volunteer hour for simply typing a few sentences about why you love St. Louise School?! We would appreciate having parents write positive reviews about our school on the various sites prospective parents check-out when deciding on choosing a school. If you love St. Louise School and would be willing to write a few sentences about what makes our school special, please contact Cindy Wagner in the development office. Cindy will send you the link to the review sites that need your positive comments.
Show Up This Saturday or Choose Whatever Day Works for You
Volunteering can't be any easier than our Adopt-a-Garden program. You are assigned a small area on the parish and school grounds, you come on an approximately monthly basis at whatever time works for you - weekend or weekday; evening, afternoon, or morning. You keep your "adopted garden" looking nice throughout the year with your weeding, raking, and pruning. If you'd like to learn more, please contact our Adopt-a-Garden overseer, Jonathan Taasan .

Note: The hours you foresee putting in to do Adopt-a-Garden work over the summer can be applied to this 2019-20 year if you need more hours in order to fulfill this school year's 40 hour volunteer commitment.

And if you can't commit to this year-round volunteering, you can join our Saturday Spruce-Ups. The final Spruce-Up of the year is this Saturday, May 30, at 8AM. You simply come for the morning with your yard tools to complete a landscape project under the direction of our volunteer head-landscaper, Jeffrey Hummer . If you can attend on the 30th, please email Jeffrey now.

Speaking of Jeffrey, after more than two-dozen years overseeing our landscaping, Jeffrey will be ending this volunteer position. If you saw what our grounds looked like prior to 2000, compared to what they look like now, you can credit much of the transitions and additions to Jeffrey's vision and hard work. He has given so much to St. Louise Parish and School, and we are so appreciative! (Jeffrey is a past recipient of our Volunteer Extraordinaire Award .)

With the news of Jeffrey's "retirement" from this volunteer position, St. Louise is looking for a new person to help us with our Saturday Spruce-Ups. This person would work with Mr. Fuerte and Mr. Fitzpatrick, along with parish administrator, Jonathan Taasan, to come up with projects that can be accomplished on four select Saturdays during the school year (September/October/April/May). You don't need to have professional landscaping credentials, but just a love for working in the yard and an ability to help serve as a leader on these Saturdays, directing volunteers to various yardwork/landscaping tasks. If you are interested, please talk to Mr. Fitz .
If you haven't yet had your kids view Mrs. Samson's "Counselor's Corner" videos, you can go HERE to watch them. Mrs. Samson, who is getting a school counseling degree next year, has some suggestions to help children get through the stress of today's unsettled times.
Auction News

Just FIVE days left to commit to your auction donation for SKYBALL!

All donation commitments are due by this Monday, June 1st.

Wow! I'm so happy you all enjoyed the Vesper Martinis so much! For those of you who arrived later in the day and found the table empty, not to worry, it is full again and ready for you to pick up a Vesper Martini bag this Monday! Be sure to post your cocktail hour on Instagram and Facebook and tag St. Louise School!
 
Also, because all of our parents have been such lifesavers this spring, working with your kiddos at home, we have some little Lifesaver candy bags for you to enjoy! Please be sure to take one when you come through the lobby this Monday!
 
Speaking of June 1st, that is your last day to commit to your auction donation for SKYBALL! Thank you so much for your incredibly generous support! We still have about 95 families who have not made their commitment yet. If you are one of those families, please do the following before June 1st:
 
1.        Make a Cash Donation by clicking here .
2.        Commit to donating and item, certificate, wish or gift list by filling out your procurement form here .
 
The minimum donation required is $225, and if you'd like your kiddos to receive the coveted benefit of Free Dress for a date TBD in September, you'll want to donate $400 in cash or item value.
 
Physical items and gift certificates are not due to the auction office until September 18. For more information about our November 14th event, visit our website ! You'll find info on gift registries, sponsorships, etc.
 
I'll be in the Auction Office all day this Monday, so stop by and say, "Hi"! Or you can just drop off your auction procurement outside my door if you are more comfortable doing that! The auction office is in the old school building, in the north wing, next to Pre-K! I would love to see everyone!
 
Thank you so much for all you do !

St. Louise Parent & Auction Director
School Accessible this Monday for Grade PK-6 Parents
All PreK through 6th grade parents are asked to come to school on Monday, June 1, between 7:00AM-5:00PM, to complete the following tasks:
  • Final opportunity to drop-off and/or pick-up assignments;
  • Claim your school Yearbook if you purchased one;
  • Pick up the Required Summer Work information that your child needs for June through August schoolwork to complete at home;
  • Last chance to find your Lost and Found sweaters, jackets, etc.;
  • Last chance to grab your child's PE shoes;
  • Clean out your child's desk and bring home school supplies;
  • Return any school-owned books and library books;
  • Return any CYO volleyball/basketball/soccer uniforms.


Grade 7 families are NOT to come on June 1. Your date to come and complete the following - plus return your child's laptop - is June 9 or 10. (Please sign up for your specific day and time with Mr. Weiss and Mr. Gallant.)

Grade 8 families are only to come on June 1, if that is the specific time you signed up via Mrs. Herridge.
Summer Learning for Your Children Is Either Recommended or Required
Parents and teachers often worry about the perils of “summer slump.” Students spend 10 weeks away from school over the summer and then come back in September seeming behind where they left off in June. To try and combat this, St. Louise School expects students to do some “homework” over the summer, to keep children out of a slump in math and reading so too much time doesn’t have to be spent on review in the fall. We also need our students to practice keyboarding in the summer, as the only way to get faster with typing is to type with the proper keyboard-finger-positions.

When you come to school for the final time the school building will be accessible ( on June 1st for grades PK-6 and on June 9th or 10th for grade 7) , your child’s desk will have hard copies of the keyboarding, math, and reading summer assignments we expect of students in various grade levels. The soft copies may be found HERE .

Here is a summary of what we are asking of your kids, which of course will need parents’ supervision and motivation:

SUMMER KEYBOARDING

Keyboarding skills are essential in today's technology-dependent learning environment, and without proper frequent practice, many children develop poor habits which will end up slowing them down. Just as learning to play a sport or an instrument with correct form is vital, it’s also essential that students use the correct finger positions on the keyboard to build accurate muscle memory. While students are practicing, parents are encouraged to observe and guide their children.

We are REQUIRING that every St. Louise student ENTERING grades 3-7 put in a minimum number of minutes of keyboarding practice at least five days a week, using the online keyboarding programs we will give you. Students have log-in credentials on the keyboarding programs, and each student’s progress will be tracked by their computer teacher during the summer.


SUMMER MATH

St. Louise students ENTERING grades 1-8 in the fall will have RECOMMENDED math work that can be done in various ways:
  • Complete free online math lessons on the Khan Academy website;
  • Complete the math packets your child’s teacher sends home on June 1, and/or complete the unfinished math workbook pages your teacher sends home at the end of the school year;
  • Current 6th and 7th graders should complete their current online books, which will be accessible for summer practice;
  • Consider purchasing a math workbook and have your child complete one page every day or two.


SUMMER READING

Our plans at St. Louise School for summer reading this June through August is to have students ENTERING grades K-5 do daily summer reading of any kind, while student ENTERING grades 6-8 are REQUIRED to do summer reading of specific novels and complete specific written assignments.
 
For students entering grades K-5, we’re giving you suggestions for summer reading, including recommended books, authors, and online resources. Your teachers suggest you read 20 minutes every day this summer. For students entering grades 6-8, Mrs. Patterson and Mr. Gallant will have for you lists of specific novels from which you must choose for summer reading. The teachers have also developed written assignments, to be completed after the reading and due on the first day of language arts class in September.

Finally, if you have children who need to improve their reading skills, please consider enrolling them in the Summer Reading Skills Program offered through Seattle University, College of Education. This summer, they are offering it online for grades PreK – 8. Some of our students have attended this program, and their parents have nothing but positive feedback. For detailed information, by grade level, visit:  https://seattleu.readingclasses.org/  

Be Aware of Phishing Attempt Using a Fake Skyward Login Screen
Parents and students are asked to please be vigilant for fake Skyward emails requesting you to click on a link and change your information. We have learned that school districts who use the Skyward Student Management System were recently hit with phishing campaigns targeting their school staff with emails coming from very legitimate looking sources in an effort to steal credentials and personal information.

While we have not experienced this yet at St. Louise, we are sharing this warning to all staff and families.
 
In the phishing email case, the end-user is sent an email to change their Skyward password. If they click on the link within the email, a fake Skyward Login screen appears. This screen asks the user for their username, password, and Social Security Number (SSN). The fake Skyward Login screen looks almost identical to the real screen.

As a precaution, always enter Skyward (Family Access) through our school-provided link , not through a URL link sent in an e-mail. And please realize you will never be asked for your Social Security Number through Skyward.
Keeping Your and Your Family's Faith Strong Is Now So Much Easier
St. Louise Parish has a group subscription for Formed.org , and that means all of you now have a free subscription, too!  Formed provides the very best Catholic content from more than 60 organizations to help families and individuals explore their faith anywhere. Formed contains thousands of movies, children’s programs, e-books, audio, parish programs and studies direct to your browser, mobile or connected device. You can now watch Catholic movies and children’s programming, listen to audio dramas and books, study the Bible and grown in your faith.

To set up your new account, follow these instructions.  

1.     Go to formed.org/signup
2.     Select your parish: St. Louise
3.     Register with your name and email address

If you have questions or need help setting up your account please visit: https://watch.formed.org/help .  
Saint of the Week
please read this with your kids
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