Parent Bulletin
January 14, 2021
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King County Public Health has updated the protocol for when students and staff can and cannot go to school, due to COVID-19 symptoms and/or positive tests. With this, St. Louise has similarly updated our COVID-related procedures. Please read the two revised documents on our website so you will both refamiliarize yourselves with our procedures for health-safety and for remote learning, and you will see the revised "flowchart" from Public Health regarding when your child can or cannot attend school. If you have any questions about illnesses and absences, please contact our school nurse, Jane Reynolds RN, or our secretaries, Mindy Morgan and Tracy Brown. Thank you for your continued vigilance about daily checking your child for COVID-19 symptoms and leaning on the side of caution if you have doubts if he/she should come to school when not feeling 100%.
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When you dwell on the troubles in our times and the worries in the world, it’s easy to become fearful, anxious, and defeated. In less than 12 months, we have had the pandemic and the accompanying shutdowns, this past summer’s BLM and Antifa riots, and now the recent riot in the nation’s capital. Some say the election of a new President will help restore peace. Some say things will turn out alright if we simply follow the advice of our governors and infectious disease specialists. Unfortunately, what we don’t hear is 2,000 year-old advice. Instead of turning to a president, an immunologist , new legislation, or a new vaccine as our top choices for hope during times like this, we need to turn to the Lord.
The Gospel of John begins by informing us:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.”
Darkness is the absence of light; where there is no light, there is darkness. When we are talking about our faith lives, darkness is also known as evil/the devil/Satan, and it is not a powerful force fighting against God - it is the absence of God. The devil does not try to impose a dark power of evil on us as much as he seeks to snuff out the presence of God in our lives similar to how a candle snuffer extinguishes the flame of a candle. By getting us to reject God through our words, thoughts, and actions, the devil leaves us in spiritual darkness.
So if the “devil” in 2020-21 has been represented by a deadly virus, associated lockdowns, and riots that caused looting, arson, and homicides, and if we reacted to these by hating those on the opposite side of the arguments, and/or by trembling in fear, and/or by cheering on lawlessness, we were choosing to dwell in darkness.
Dispelling the darkness, and thus overcoming the evil one, is as straightforward as inviting the Light of Christ into our lives and not allowing fear or sin to turn us from the Light.
Jesus at one time or another said all these things:
- “Believe in me”
- "Follow me”
- "Learn from me”
- "Whoever would come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.”
To believe/follow/learn from Jesus, we must invite him to be the Lord of our lives - where his kingdom is our first priority. If we commit ourselves to Jesus, He will give us the Holy Spirit — God within us — to guide us in His ways.
The battle can be easily won. The troubles in our times and the worries in the world can be overcome. Invite Christ the Light into your life, and His presence will fill you, replacing any darkness within.
Pope Benedict XVI said:
“If you abide in the love of Christ, rooted in the faith, you will encounter, even amid setbacks and suffering, the source of true happiness and joy. …Nowadays, although the dominant culture of relativism all around us has given up on the search for truth, even if it is the highest aspiration of the human spirit, we need to speak with courage and humility of the universal significance of Christ as the Savior of humanity and the source of hope for our lives. He who took upon himself our afflictions, is well acquainted with the mystery of human suffering and manifests his loving presence in those who suffer. …Dear friends, may no adversity paralyze you. Be afraid neither of the world, nor of the future, nor of your weakness. The Lord has allowed you to live in this moment of history so that, by your faith, his name will continue to resound throughout the world.”
Oh, and one more thing to do besides inviting Jesus to come more deeply into your life.... you might want to disinvite newscasts and social media blasts into your life. ;-)
Blessings on your day!
MR. FITZ
p.s.
As we continue to avoid burn-out of our teachers who have been having to work ridiculously hard this year to teach synchronously and follow COVID-protocols in the classrooms, we have another no-school day added to the calendar. Please note that Friday, February 5, will be a newly added "R & R Day for Faculty," and school will be closed that day. The teachers will have just worked until 7:30PM the night prior, hosting our 3-hour Open House on February 4, after teaching school all day. Thanks for your support of our outstanding faculty! We realize adding this no-school day can cause some families to scramble for childcare, and we are grateful for your efforts!
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CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Today
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Kids' Club registration for the 2021-22 school year has begun; please contact Maria Zambrano about signing up your children for before-school and after-school daycare
- School Commission meeting in the school faculty room, 6:30PM
Monday, January 18
- NO-SCHOOL DAY: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday; school office and Kids' Club both closed
Thursday, January 21
- Sweet-Treats Sale; $1 items for sale at lunchtime, benefitting our junior high program
Wednesday, January 27
- Required "Safe Environment" class for new school parents; 7PM via Zoom; see article below for registration information
Friday, January 29
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Flavorful Friday Sale; $1 ice cream treats for sale at lunchtime, benefitting the 5th graders' support of Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos orphans
- Fulcrum Foundation's annual event; see article below about how you can join and donate
January 31 through February 6 - National Catholic Schools' Week
- Special fun-dress days during the week
- Eighth grade student essays being read at the January 31st parish Masses
- A week of Teacher Appreciation for Catholic school teachers
Thursday, February 4
- Open House - prospective school families to sign up for a time between 4:30-7:30 to tour the school and meet the teachers
Friday, February 5
- NO-SCHOOL DAY: R & R Day for faculty; school office and Kids' Club both closed
CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE SCHOOL CALENDAR HERE
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We are preparing for both new admissions enrollment and re-enrollment for the 2021-22 school year. We wanted to give you current school parents a big shout out “THANK YOU” for choosing St. Louise! We are grateful that you choose to send your children here, and we appreciate partnering with you as you parent your children, helping them to grow into leaders who achieve excellence, assume responsibility, and embody traditional Catholic values. Thank you for the trust and partnership! We appreciate you and all you do for our community.
As we begin reaching out to the surrounding communities to look for new students for our incoming classes, we employ various marketing tactics such as road-sign advertising, online ads, and Church bulletin blurbs. But, when it comes right down to it, year-after-year, our best promotional support comes from our current school parents!
When we ask prospective new school parents how they heard about St. Louise, the most popular answer is, "My neighbor/friend/co-worker/ goes here and said I should check it out." We appreciate hearing that so much, that we want to encourage you to continue to share St. Louise School with those you know who have children approaching the ages of 4 to 14.
St. Louise School provides an incentive of one-month's free tuition (valued at our in-parish one-child rate) to a current school family who refers a new family to us. There is a place on a new family enrollment form which asks if a current school parent referred them. If your name is listed as the referral-source, and if that family indeed attends here next school year, you get that month of free tuition - valued at around $750!
We hold two Open Houses during this winter admissions season, and we would love it if you would encourage a prospective new school parent to visit. Our first Open House is on Thursday, February 4, between 4:30-7:30PM. To keep the numbers of people visiting at any one time that day at a safe, manageable amount, we will be asking our visiting families to sign up for a unique time slot on the 4th. Please consider asking your neighbor/friend/co-worker with an upcoming preschool to 8th grade student to go HERE to sign up for an Open House time.
In addition, we are holding a “virtual” Open House on February 18, at 7:00PM. This one will be streamed live, and we ask that you let your neighbor/friend/co-worker know about it by directing them to this Zoom-webinar. They may sign up HERE.
Thank you for choosing St. Louise again in 2021-22 and for sharing our story with your friends and neighbors! Be looking for information on re-enrolling beginning February 4. In the meantime, if any current school family will be enrolling a child brand new to St. Louise next fall (such as an entering Pre-K or Kdg. student), please contact Mindy and Tracy in the office now for additional paperwork.
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The Annual Fund Is Approaching |
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January is when we have always kicked-off our Annual School Gift Campaign. This required fund raiser will be different this new year in that we have given it a new name! From now on, the mouthful will be shortened to simply, the Annual Fund.
We rely on the generosity of you school parents, along with school grandparents, St. Louise Parish parishioners, school alumni families, and even our school staff to kindly give to the Annual Fund, which is a needed revenue source for our annual operating budget. We have budgeted to receive $180,000 in donations to our 2021 Annual Fund, allowing us to use these tax-deductible contributions in lieu of raising tuition.
Thank you in advance for your giving, and expect to receive more information on the Annual Fund in the coming days. If you have questions, please talk to Julianne in the development office.
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We are looking for 2-3 volunteers to help the Development Office get ready for Catholic Schools' Week. If you are available on Wednesday, January 20, and/or Friday, January 29, during the school day, and are comfortable coming in to the office to volunteer, please email Julianne Read. Thank you, in advance, for your help! |
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Fulcrum Foundation Holding Annual Celebration for Catholic Schools |
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Mark your calendars for the Fulcrum Foundation's Celebration of Light 2021, a virtual fundraising gala for Catholic education on Friday, January 29! Fulcrum is a nonprofit organization that supports all 72 schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle. St. Louise School and many of our school families have been a recipient of Fulcrum financial support every year since Fulcrum's founding in 2002, Fulcrum has disbursed over $38 million in grants to students, educators, and schools across Western Washington. While those numbers seem staggering, these grants barely meet half of the requested need!
We know you believe Catholic education changes lives. Fulcrum believes everyone who wants a Catholic education should be provided that opportunity. That's why we support Fulcrum and know you will too! Please join us!
Registration is free and all are welcome! Please read the following instructions for more information about registering for the Celebration of Light virtual experience on Friday, January 29.
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Click "join our team" and select the St. Louise fundraising team.
- When you register as part of a team, a personalized fundraising page will be created for you. You can send this link to your family and friends to share the Fulcrum story and encourage them to get involved and/or donate as well. Any dollars raised through your page will automatically be added to our team's total.
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Selecting Gather signs you up for Fulcrum's interactive virtual experience, which will allow you to visit with other attendees online throughout the event.
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Selecting Watch signs you up to live-stream Fulcrum's 30-minute program from the comfort of your own home.
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For couples -- please click the "+" button to register both people in your party
Thank you for being a light for Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Seattle!
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Have You Joined Our Emergency Messaging Service? |
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St. Louise School uses the BrightArrow messaging-app as a notification system for emergency messages or important announcements, such as school closures. This system allows the school to send a text message and/or email message to the contact information the parent has on file with the school. You will not find St. Louise’s notifications regarding closures or late-starts on TV or radio stations; parents will only be notified via our group texting service through BrightArrow.com and/or through a group email from school.
School parents must opt-in to our emergency texting service by texting the word YES to 87569.
Only then, will parents be sure to receive texts from St. Louise during emergencies, such as if we have any upcoming "Snow Days" which cause us to have to cancel school.
Yesterday (Wednesday), Mr. Fitz used our emergency messaging app to notify school families that St. Louise School did have power, and school would be in session. Did you receive that text? If not, you are not signed up with our texting service, and should text YES to 87569 now. Thank you.
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Thanks for keeping your kids at home if they show any of these symptoms. For more information about what to do when your child has one of these symptoms, please refer to our Illness Protocol. |
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Need to Catch Up in Earning Charger Card Rebates?
How about purchasing ALL of your gas and groceries in 2021 with Charger Cards?! Buy gas and grocery cards instead of using your credit card and start earning rebates. Fill up your tank and pantry to fuel your opportunities for your family. Earnings add up fast every time you fill up. Many gas and grocery gift cards are reloadable so you can keep using the ones you have. You can reload any day of the month online at your convenience!
Reload options:
- Gas - Shell, 76, Arco
- Grocery – Safeway, Walmart
- Starbucks, Subway, Papa Johns, Dominos, Panera Bread, and many more options!
Place a standing order for your monthly budgeted items:
- QFC, Safeway
- Gas
- Starbucks, Papa Murphy’s, Little Caesar’s, Subway, Chipotle
Did you know if every family bought gas and groceries with Charger Cards, St. Louise could earn $100K each year in rebates for just those two categories?!
Charger Cards Getting Started Checklist
Register for Presto Pay or Pay by credit card. PrestoPay is our online vendor’s version of PayPal. Registering for PrestoPay allows you to pay online so you can get “instant” printable/phone usable e-gift cards. See Online Registration Instructions for Presto Pay.
Add the Raise Right App, which is an optional way to manage your gift cards. This enables you to purchase from your phone while shopping and pay from your phone. The mobile site also tracks/stores your cards so you know what you have available to use!
Setup Online Payments
Link your bank account
- Create a unique PIN to keep your account safe
- $0.15 fee on each transaction
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To get set up, log in and select Dashboard > Payment Types on ShopWithScrip.com or Menu > Payment Types on RaiseRight.com app and follow the instructions.
Pay with your credit card
- Discover, Mastercard, and Visa are accepted
- You can choose to save the card to your account for future purchases
- 2.6% fee on each transaction
For more information on brands/cards available for purchase 24/7 please go to shopwithscrip.com.
In-person sales every school-Friday from 8:15-9:00AM in the central hallway of the original school building.
Thank you for supporting St. Louise Charger Cards!
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Required Class for New School Parents in 2 Weeks |
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If you are a school parent new to St. Louise this year, a required class is our "Safe Environment/Called to Protect" class. Please read more about this requirement HERE. This class explains about child abuse prevention and is required to be attended by all newly enrolled school parents as well as all newly hired school personnel.
Most new school parents completed this required virtual class either last June or August, but for those who are more recent school families and missed this class, the next training that is available is Wednesday, January 27 at 7 PM. It will be a 2-hour class held via Zoom. To register, please send an email to safeenvironment@stlouise.org. This required class must be taken by both mom and dad of every school family when they initially join a Seattle Archdiocesan Catholic school. Thanks for your cooperation. |
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Kids' Club Enrolling for the 2021-22 School Year |
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Please note these dates for families to re-register or newly-register for before and/or after-school daycare using our Kids' Club program:
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January 11 – 15: Re-registration opens to current Kids' Club members.
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January 18 – 22: Registration opens to all school families currently on the waiting list for Kid’s Club
- January 25 and after: Applications are accepted from all incoming new or prospective school families.
For more information, please visit our Kids' Club page or contact director Maria Zambrano.
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January Is a Month to Pray for Life |
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On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court (in a decision called "Roe v. Wade") struck down all state laws banning abortion. Since the Catholic Church believes life begins at the moment of conception, the Catechism notes that formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. As we approach the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, there are a number of pro-life activities taking place locally and nationally in January:
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Thursday's Theology: The Catholic Church says that abortion is the direct killing of an innocent human being and is always gravely immoral.
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