Mr. Hurley's Final Newsletter of 2020

Dear Saint John's Families,

This will be my final newsletter of 2020 - a year to be remembered!  There have been many great experiences already for our students, and the rest of the year promises even more!  I would like to express how grateful I am to be associated with the families and faculty at Saint John's School.  As the principal, I am thankful for students who work hard to learn, teachers for their unending energy and dedication to creating lessons for both virtual and in-person learning, our office staff for their personal touch in supporting students and parent’s needs, our maintenance staff for keeping the school sanitized and functioning, and Gretchen for providing the students both breakfast and lunch.  We are 2 weeks away from Christmas break, and the Saint John's community will enjoy some much deserved rest and time celebrating with family.  You can clearly see our students are getting excited about Christmas. They are a little more “active” than usual. I look forward to hearing stories from the kids, in January, about the fun they had over the break.  Yet, we still have learning to do, and the next 2 weeks are action packed at Saint John's.   

SANTA IS COMING TO SAINT JOHN'S:
Even while we are social-distancing due to COVID, Santa still wanted to make an appearance for the students, friends, and neighbors at Saint John's! Swing by Saint John's Gathering Space Circle (same method as carline) between 10:00 and 11:30 AM Saturday, December 12, to receive a gift and treat.  Be sure to tell a friend!

CHRISTMAS CONCERT:
December 17, 2020 at 6:30pm:  A link will be ready next Tuesday. December 15, 2020.  The concert will be published on DECEMBER 17, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. This is a must see, as the students worked hard to show off their voices.

COVID UPDATE:
The decisions individual families make, do have a significant impact on the community, and we continue to ask for your support and compliance. If we work together, we can start 2021 strong.  The protocol committee met, and we discussed the Minnesota  Department of Health conference call on Monday, Dec. 7.  We will continue to require a 14-day quarantine, if you have a household exposure, (it’s difficult for household members to quarantine separately from other household members).  We will study the new  MDH decision tree over Christmas break and provide an update to all families regarding our quarantine guidelines.

CHRITMAS BREAK:
The committee decided,  we will be requiring the same protocols as Thanksgiving break.   Your child(ren) will need to quarantine after Christmas Break if you will be traveling further than 50 miles away from Saint John's and staying more than 48 hours within the day of returning to school.  You will count forward 5 days from the date you return home.  This quarantine gives us a cushion, so we do not experience a positive case outbreak over Christmas.  Please respond to teacher’s communication as soon as possible regarding your Christmas plans.

WE ARE GETTING CLOSE TO FILLING CLASSROOMS:
REGISTER TODAY!!
Apply early and save: Families who enroll before January 29, 2021 will receive the reduced registration fee of a $100/family! We anticipate having a wait list in many grades, so the sooner you reserve a spot for your child, the better!   After January 29, 2021, the registration fee will be $200.  Current families, please visit your TADS account to complete enrollment for your currently enrolled students.  If you have students who will be new to our school, you will need to apply for admissions for them first.     

Aim Higher: We are pleased to announce the opening of the Aim Higher Foundation's 2021-22 scholarship application cycle! Families can now access the Aim Higher checkbox on the financial aid applications available TADS. Please click  HERE for application process

Financial Aid Available: If you plan to apply for Financial Aid for next year, now is the time to get your applications submitted.  Visit your TADS account to complete the application.  The process can take some time as TADS often requires additional information from you before they consider your application to be in good standing.  Your application will need to be in good standing before the Financial Aid committee will consider you for assistance.  Please note, you are required to apply for AIM Higher to qualify for Financial Aid.    

DECEMBER CALENDAR:  
December 11: Report cards go home
December 12: Santa Drive-Thru 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
December 17: Virtual Christmas Concert 6:30pm
December 21-January 1, 2021: Christmas Break

EAGLE CLUB:
Eagle Club registration for non-school days  HERE.  Please contact Tayler Smith  [email protected] with any questions. 

SCHULZE EARLY LEARNING SCHOLARSHIP: 
Preschool families, the Schulze Early Learning portal is now open for scholarship applications. We encourage you to apply for this very generous scholarship opportunity.  If families have any questions about the program, please contact Marla Friederichs at 612-801-1431 or  [email protected].  Please click  HERE to learn more.

We are proud of our school and look forward to more exciting things to come our way!  Check out the great that is happening daily on our school  website and follow us on  Facebook.
 
Tell a friend about Saint John’s School!

Dan J. Hurley, Principal