Parent Bulletin
September 9, 2021
MR. FITZ'S BLOG
Last school year, our school’s Policy Committee helped us begin the task of scrutinizing both St. Louise School and Seattle Archdiocesan policy handbooks regarding any current policies related to the teaching of religion and the handling of human sexuality topics. We wanted to be proactive in making sure our school had clearly defined policies and guidelines in areas that have recently been impacting the public schools – such as how same-sex attraction, same-sex marriage, and gender ideology impact the adults of our school community (school parents and employees) and how these hot topics of the day are addressed in classrooms (grade-level/age dependent). Additionally, as we happily welcome more non-Catholic students into our school, we wanted to be upfront and unambiguous about what all students partake in for daily classroom prayer, religion class lessons, and school liturgies, regardless of if they are baptized Catholics or not...
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS

Today
  • Grades K-1 attend from 8:30-12:00
  • Grades 2-8 attend from 8:30-3:00
  • Grade PreK students whose last names begin with A-L attend from 8:15-11:45
  • Grade 7-8 parents (no children) attend Junior High Curriculum Night in parish hall beneath the church at 6:30PM

Tomorrow
  • 7:30AM Mass celebrated this day; this is an opportunity for families to attend Mass together prior to the 8:20 entry bell (please, no children left alone in church; they must be sitting with parents or with carpool drivers
  • Charger Cards sales-window open from 8:30-9:15.
  • Grades K-1 attend from 8:30-12:00
  • Grades 2-8 attend from 8:30-3:00
  • Grade PreK students whose last names begin with M-Z attend from 8:15-11:45
  • Opening Week Prayer Service in church for grades K-8 at 11:15; parents welcome

Saturday, September 11
  • Saturday Spruce-Up of parish/school grounds from 8-11AM - see article below

Sunday, September 12
  • St. Louise Parish's Fall Festival, 2:00-4:30; RSVP here

Monday, September 13
  • School dismisses at 2:00 on Mondays!
  • Grade 1-6 parents (no children) attend Curriculum Night in parish hall beneath the church at 6:30PM

Tuesday, September 14
  • Charger Cards mobile-cart selling outdoors near the parking lot from 2:45-3:30
  • Room Parents' Meeting at 6:30PM - on Microsoft Teams (room parents to get link from Mr. Fuerte)


CHECK OUT OUR COMPLETE SCHOOL CALENDAR HERE
Two More Curriculum Nights to Go
We have already seen our PreK parents and our Kindergarten parents attend their respective Curriculum Meetings. We have two more Curriculum Nights to go:

  • Curriculum Night for grade 7-8 parents is TONIGHT at 6:30 p.m. Please gather in the PARISH HALL, directly beneath the church.

  • Grade 1-6 parents have their own Curriculum Night this MONDAY, September 13, at 6:30 p.m. Please gather in the PARISH HALL, directly beneath the church.

These meetings are for adults only, so thanks for securing childcare at home if needed. Additionally, attending your child’s teacher’s Curriculum Night is required; we need to please have at least one parent attending. Thanks for your effective partnering with the teachers, beginning with these initial meetings!
Special Family Mass Opportunity Tomorrow on the First School-Friday
St. Louise Parish's usual 9AM Mass on Friday, September 10, will be moved to 7:30AM. This earlier time will allow mom and/or dad to accompany their kids to Mass prior to the start of the parent's job and the kids' school day. Mass will end no later than 8:15, which allows time for mom/dad to say goodbye to their children after Mass and see them to their waiting area outside school before the 8:20 bell rings.

Going to weekday Mass as a family is a terrific way to start the day and to honor God. Thank you, parents, for not "dropping off" your children at the church, but making sure you or the carpool driver is sitting with them in church throughout the 7:30AM Mass.
Click HERE to read about the exciting new addition to St. Louise School!
Giving Your Child Extra Help or Advanced Challenge in Math
This year, Mathnasium of Bellevue - located just up the street on 156th Avenue across from Crossroads Mall - is teaming with St. Louise School in offering a special enrollment deal. Please read their letter to St. Louise parents below, and contact them if you are interested.

Greetings Parents of St. Louise Parish School,

We, at Mathnasium of Bellevue, are excited to be working with St. Louise.  We would like to extend our enrollment special on to the families of St. Louise:
  • Elementary (grades 1-5): 2 - 60min sessions per week for $249 + $99 one-time registration fee
  • Middle (grades 6-8): 2 - 60min sessions per week for $270 + $99 one-time registration fee

Here at Mathnasium, we use a customized approach to address each of our student's individual needs. The way we do this is through a risk-free assessment, which allows us to gauge which areas in math need more focus and which foundational gaps we can help fill in. We would love to have you and your student come in for an assessment. Once the assessment is complete, we will create a customized learning plan, which is tailored to exactly what your student needs.

If you are interested in scheduling the risk-free assessment, please email us at bellevue@mathnasium.com or give us a call at (425) 643-6284.

Calling All 4th thru 8th Graders
Meet Andy Nazzal, St. Louise's new Band Director. Mr. Nazzal is a St. Louise graduate from the class of '84. He has been teaching music and directing bands around the Eastside for years, and we are excited to bring him back home! Band this year will be open to St. Louise students in grades 4-8, with weekly rehearsals being on Mondays from 2:00-3:30 in the parish hall.
 
Mr. Nazzal (rhymes with ga-zelle) introduces himself in THIS VIDEO and shows the 4th through 8th graders all the musical possibilities for our 2021-22 school band.
 
He will be present at both tonight's grade 7-8 curriculum night and Monday's grade K-6 curriculum night to answer parents' questions. All grade 4-8 students will meet Mr. Nazzal and hear about band at an assembly this coming Tuesday.

If you have questions, please contact Maria Zambrano, director of extra-curricular programs. To register your 4th through 8th grader, please go HERE.
Get Your Volunteer Hours this Saturday
This Saturday - on September 11 - we have a big event that calls for a lot of volunteers. It's our first Saturday Spruce-Up of the year, when volunteers from the school and parish help rake leaves, spread bark, and pull weeds in an effort to beautify the St. Louise grounds.

One or both parents are invited to volunteer, and children can come if they are old enough to help out. We ask you to please arrive with your yard gloves and as many yard tools as you can bring. We especially need people with wheelbarrows, shovels, and rakes for this particular Spruce-Up, as we'll be spreading wood chips under the BigToy.

Please gather outside the north wing of the original school at 8:00AM this Saturday, and the yardwork will end at 11:00.
Last Call for Joining a Soccer Team
This is your last chance to sign up for CYO Soccer! 
Registrations closes by the end of day tomorrow/Friday.

  • Grade 4-8 games start Sept 11th. *Some teams are merged with Holy Family Kirkland and/or Sacred Heart Bellevue. Practices have already begun for the older grades. 

  • Grade K-3 games start Sept 18th. More information will be coming soon from coaches. Grade 1 still needs at least 2 coach volunteers. 

Please reach out to our soccer coordinators, Jenelle Bair or Mari Sullivan, if you have any questions - soccer@stlouise.org
Tiffany Neuman and Erica Lizotte are teaming up this year to run the Charger Cards fund raiser! One change is they will be selling cards live on two different days - the typical Friday mornings (8:30-9:15) out of the Charger Cards sales-window in the original school hallway AND NOW ALSO on Tuesday afternoons (2:45-3:30) outside near the parking lot!

Be looking for their big, bright green sign near the parking lot and main school building every Tuesday afternoon.

For more information on Charger Cards and online ordering, please visit www.stlouiseschool.org/chargercards or email co-chairs Erica and Tiffany at chargercards@stlouiseschool.org 

Thank you for supporting St. Louise Charger Cards!
New Auction Date!

SHINE BRIGHT celebrating our 60th anniversary, will now be held on April 9, 2022 at the Westin Bellevue.

Also, here is your final reminder, September 14 is when all of your items are due. Please drop them off in the school office.

Thank you for all you do in support of St. Louise! If you have any questions, please contact Julianne Read.
Receive Emergency Texts from School
St. Louise School uses a messaging-app as a notification system for emergency messages or important announcements. For example, we would text school parents in the event of a "snow day" or a lockdown situation. You will not find St. Louise's snow day information broadcast on the morning TV news or radio stations; we only notify parents through our text messaging-app (BrightArrow.com) and through emails.

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 emergency texts from school. Thank you for opting-in now, if you didn't do so last school year.
COVID-Communication from Mr. Fuerte
Dear St. Louise Families,

The St. Louise Parish School staff, with the cooperation of school parents and students, worked intensely during the 2020-21 school year to help lower the risk of COVID-19 exposure, resulting in no coronavirus spread on campus during the entire school year. This included teachers going above and beyond by simultaneously providing in-person and remote instruction. With the CDC, DOH, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Seattle Archdiocese all making recent adjustments in various COVID-related precautions, recommendations, and mandates, the 2021-22 school year at St. Louise will see some protocol from the previous year continued and other protocol altered or ended.

It is important to acknowledge that the following actions in our updated protocol document are intended to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 exposure and decrease the changes of coronavirus spread on campus. We recognize that no single action or set of actions will completely eliminate the risk of any type of virus in an on-campus setting, but implementation of several coordinated interventions, such as those detailed below, can greatly reduce that risk. 

Being that the St. Louise Parish School community consists not just of 300 children, but also consists of hundreds of school parents and dozens of teachers and staff members, we want to make sure our school buildings and daily practices provide a healthy and safe environment for all. The COVID-related protocol we establish for our unique community focuses on physical distancing along with disinfecting surfaces, frequent handwashing, wearing face coverings, and most important of all - staying home when showing any symptoms of illness.
Thank you to all the members of our St. Louise Community for your cooperation with the protocol in this document.

If you have questions about St. Louise’s protocol for handling illnesses and absences, please contact school nurse Jane Reynolds, RN, secretaries Mindy Morgan and Tracy Brown, or vice-principal Mike Fuerte. The following information follows directives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Washington State Department of Health (DOH).
 
Please click THIS LINK to open the COVID Protocol document.
Sincerely,

p.s.
We will also have more clarification soon regarding the issue of on-site volunteers needing vaccination documentation. 
And, we're back! So happy to see you, Chargers!
At St. Louise, we strive to provide a creative outlet for many students through various extra-curricular activities. The following are some of the clubs that are being offered after school this fall: Cooking, Band, Art, Chess, Drama, STEM - en Español, and more. To learn about these extra-curricular offerings, please go HERE. Clubs are in person this year.

Our goal is to re-incorporate more clubs throughout the year. For questions about a club, contact the club's moderator directly, or email the director of extra-curricular programs, MariaZ@stlouiseschool.org
Please Return Your Fieldtrip Driver Information Sheet
In your August postal-mailing, you received a form that every parent must complete and return to the school office if he/she might be driving on a class fieldtrip this year. All indications are we will be able to schedule some fieldtrips in various grade levels, especially outdoor ones like to the pumpkin patch, the zoo, or the Mercer Slough.

We can only allow parents to drive on these if their fieldtrip form is sent to us, confirming insurance. A digital copy of this "Driver Information Sheet" form may be found on our website. If you have questions, please talk to Mindy Morgan or Tracy Brown in the office.
Do You Know How to Drive in the Drop-Off and Pick-Up Lines?
Our school website has a section on TRAFFIC/CARPOOL/PARKING that not only explains literally the "ins and outs" of our school carpool procedures that have you driving in from 156th Avenue and driving out onto Main Street, but you'll find a youtube video that demonstrates these procedures.

We have a few unique actions required of our grade 5, 6, and 8 families for how and where to pick-up kids after school, and we appreciate the extra efforts of these grade level parents!

Please drive slowly in our school parking lot, realizing that our young children might not be paying attention to vehicles and many of our student Safety Patrol students are learning on-the-job this month and continuing throughout the fall, as new shifts of 5th and 6th graders are trained weekly.

If after going to the two links above you still have questions about how to drop-off your kids in the morning or pick-up your kids in the afternoon, please direct questions to Mike Fuerte or Chris Evans.
 
From the Pastor
Dear Friends at St. Louise,

Dear Friends at St. Louise,

Even though the calendar says we’re still in the summer season, fall is in the air! School is back in full swing, people are starting to settle into their normal routines, the days are noticeably shorter and the air is a bit crisper (at least on the day that I am writing this column!).

With that, I want to give you a short update on where we are with adding the youth-focused (Life Teen) English Mass back into our weekend schedule on Sundays at 5PM. The plan is for that Mass to begin on October 3.

Why 5PM instead of the former 6PM?

Even before the pandemic, we were hearing from teens and parents that having Mass at 6PM, and then especially having the Life Teen gathering afterward, made for a long evening on a school night. The plan now is to have the Life Teen gatherings begin at 3PM Sunday, with the Life Teen Mass afterward at 5PM. The earlier time also will make it easier for youth who attend the 1PM Spanish Mass to attend the Life Teen meetings afterward. Once we are able to serve food indoors again, we’ll begin with something light to eat at 3PM and then the Life Teen session. We’ll try this and see how it goes.

How did the meeting with the youth go on August 22?

I found it very helpful! The youth who attended were full of energy and ideas. They look forward to participating in the various liturgical ministries and to have homilies that include examples about their lived reality. They love the “upbeat” music that often accompanies the Sunday evening Mass.





I had the chance to share with them about the importance of the “assembly” as the first sign and symbol of the liturgy, and just as they challenged me to preach a more youth-oriented homily, I challenged them to take their role seriously: to participate fully and actively in the celebration.

What is next?

Anyone, of any age, who is looking forward to the 5PM Sunday Mass starting up again is invited to gather in the church on Sunday, September 19, at 5PM for prayer, praise and worship music, and dialogue about the importance of coming back stronger with a renewed sense of the importance of the Sunday celebration and full, active and conscious celebration of the liturgy.

Whether you will attend the 5PM Sunday Mass or not, please pray that we all make an excellent return, for the glory and praise of God and the salvation of the world. The words “Mass” and “mission” both come from the Latin word for “going out.” It is our mission that Jesus gave us at our baptism to teach all nations of his love. How can we do that well without the gifts and graces he gives us in the Eucharist?


God bless you all!

Fr. Gary Zender, Pastor
Job Opening at St. Louise
We are excited to announce plans to hire a part-time School Counselor position for the 2021-22 school year at St. Louise Parish School. The School Counselor will be a newly added position who teams with the administration and teachers in supporting all students' personal growth, spiritual development, and academic achievement as each St. Louise student works at being a faith-filled person who has a unique role in building the Kingdom of God.
 
The candidate must hold or be applying for a professional license issued in a counseling field and must be a practicing Catholic who lives the Catholic faith in both words and lifestyle. To apply, please send a letter of interest and resume to principal Dan Fitzpatrick at danf@stlouiseschool.org. Interested candidates must also apply through the Office for Catholic Schools website at https://mycatholicschool.org/careers-employment/

This part-time position can be for either four or five half school-days or for two or three full school days. This position has the potential to be combined with an open part-time position at another Catholic school to become full-time. If you know of a qualified candidate, please direct them to contact Mr. Fitzpatrick.
How Do You Log-In Your Volunteer Hours?
The process for recording your volunteer hours throughout the school year is a digital honor system. You may read more about it HERE.

Basically, what you do after you begin a reoccurring volunteer position or help out with a one-time event or task, is log in the amount of hours you gave volunteering at the submit hours link.

Remember, your family is expected this school year to volunteer for at least 40 hours from now through next June, 2022. If you have any questions about signing up for volunteer jobs or about volunteer requirements, you may contact Marsha Rampersad Zope of the Parents’ Club at Volunteeradmin@stlouiseschool.org or Mr. Fuerte at MikeF@stlouiseschool.org.

Thanks in advance for the time and energy you give in a myriad of ways to St. Louise Parish and School!
On Passport Day, Mrs. McKenna helped her new 2nd grader, Germaine, as her sisters looked on.
Will Your Child Want Milk or Hot Lunch?
Students have the option to pre-order school lunches from a school lunch company contracted to provide lunches to St. Louise students – Lunch Ladies. Find out what they serve and how to order HERE.

Half pint cartons of 1% milk are purchased only through a pre-pay process for the entire year. It is $75 for an entire school-year's supply of milk. If your grade K-8 child (or PreK extended-day child) will be drinking milk at lunch this year, please pre-order and pre-pay online HERE. We ask you to please pre-order milk and pre-pay for the entire year by no later than the end of September.

Daily milk service and Lunch Ladies begin on Monday, September 13.
The Key to Parenting a Teenager Is to Hold Boundaries and Avoid Escalation
“Parenting a teenager is like swimming upstream. Balancing all of that is not easy, but true growth never is, and it will make us stronger swimmers in the end. We are taking another step in the way family life is calling us to grow towards perfection....."


For Your Marriage - an initiative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops - is a website that helps couples at all stages of life to understand and live God’s plan for happy, holy marriages by providing educational and spiritual resources. It communicates the meaning and value of married life for the Church and for society. Each week, an article from For Your Marriage will be highlighted in our school bulletin; please take advantage by clicking above and reading the entire article.
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