School Newsletter 1-14-21

January 14, 2021

Welcome back!!!

Tomorrow, January 15, no one will be in the office due to outstanding appointments. All business will resume on Tuesday, January 19.

Our learners will be welcomed back on Tuesday, January 19, both in person and online! Remember, we have no school on Monday, January 18 in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Our next Out of Uniform day will be Friday, January 22. The money collected will be given to the parish for our scholarship fund for families that need help with expenses.

On Wednesday, January 27 we will dismiss students at 1:30 for professional development.

We will continue to wear gym uniforms or spirit wear until further notice. (Most likely, we will continue through the remainder of the year.)

Virtual Queen of Hearts

This week’s Queen of Heart’s Jackpot was $2,235. Out of play are cards 5, 8, 11, 21, 23, 24, 27 and 28.

The Jackpot will roll over to the next weekly drawing on Sunday 1/17/2021. Drawing will be posted on Facebook by 2pm every Sunday.

The Game:
- All face cards will pay $100
- Queen of Spades is a kill card, if pulled a new board with 54 new chances will begin
- Queen of Hearts wins 50% of the Jackpot

Ticket Cost:
- $1 - 1 Ticket
- $5 - 6 Tickets
- $20 - 30 Tickets

To Play:

-Place an envelope with your Name, Phone Number and Guess(es) in the drop boxes located in both vestibules of the church, the Homestead Barr or the slot on the Parish Office door. You can also play remotely on Give Central by clicking on this link: http://track.spe.schoolmessenger.com/f/a/E81eD8wrYJBQccj54p1y-Q~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRh4e5PP0Q0aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ2l2ZWNlbnRyYWwub3JnL2xvY2F0aW9uLzQ5OS9ldmVudC8yNzIxMlcHc2Nob29sbUIKX_3PugBgsrjIQlITZGFuY2VyY2VvQHlhaG9vLmNvbVgEAAAAAQ~~ or contact the development office at [email protected] for more information. We will fill out your tickets for you.

All ticket orders must be in by 11 am on Sundays.

And don’t forget, you can always support St. Gerald School through purchasing Manna cards!!!

Big Shoulders Fund

Inspired by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Big Shoulders Fund was founded by a group of business and civic leaders in 1986 to provide support to Catholic schools in the neediest areas of inner-city Chicago.

For more than thirty years, Big Shoulders Fund has helped Chicago’s children in need achieve their dreams through access to a quality, values-based education. We accomplish this by investing more than $15 million annually in scholarship support and academic enrichment for students, operational improvements for schools, leadership development programs for the next generation of school leaders, and academic programs and professional development for teachers.

For eleven years in a row, we have earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator for operating efficiently and transparently, a status held by just one percent of charities. It is important to Big Shoulders Fund that all donors are informed and educated on the organization’s health and success.

As of December 2017, Big Shoulders Fund is approved as an SGO by the Illinois Department of Revenue. We are authorized to award Tax Credit Scholarships in Region 1 and Region 2- including the following counties: Cook, Boone, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, Jo Daviess, Kane, Kendall, Lake, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago.

Tax Credit Scholarship Application Link

We invite all eligible families to apply for the Big Shoulders Fund Tax Credit Scholarship at 8:00 am on January 12, 2021.

Please share this application link with your families:

http://track.spe.schoolmessenger.com/f/a/gXZq7in8gKvX1vrJxl2DRA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRh4e5PP0Q5aHR0cHM6Ly9iaWdzaG91bGRlcnNmdW5kLnNlY3VyZS5mb3JjZS5jb20vYnNmYXBwbGljYXRpb24vVwdzY2hvb2xtQgpf_c-6AGCyuMhCUhNkYW5jZXJjZW9AeWFob28uY29tWAQAAAAB

Have families bookmark, save, or write down this direct link as that will be the most efficient and direct way to access the application.

Step-One of the application opens at 8:00 am on Tuesday.

Applicants may click on the link prior to 8 am and they will see a countdown clock. The page should refresh at 8 am when the application opens for all applicants. Applicants should ensure they are using the fastest internet possible as internet speeds may affect timely access to the application. We recommend using the Google Chrome browser to complete the application.

If you are able, we ask that you delay the start of any e-learning on the morning of January 12th to allow applicants the highest internet speeds while applying. Most applicants obtain their timestamp by 8:10 a.m.

We also emailed this direct application link to all past applicants and you can also find the application link on our SGO website and social media sites.

Check out the Application Tool Kit here: Tool Kit

On application day, you may use our School Hotline if you need to reach a Big Shoulders Fund staff member:

• School Hotline: 312.374.5670

Families may use the following numbers to reach our staff:

• Tax Credit Scholarship Hotline: 312.544.8687
• Main Line: 312.751.8337
• Spanish Hotline: 312.566.4401

Application Step-Two: After application day we will start reaching out to families with early time stamps to complete Step-Two of the application by submitting their documents. Please remind families to save our email addresses:

• [email protected]
• [email protected]

Families should regularly check their email. Applicants have 10 days to complete Step-Two of the application once it is requested.

Please note, we do not ask all applicants to complete Step-Two and the completion of Step-Two is not a guarantee of a scholarship, but does move them one-step closer to a scholarship.

Learn more at http://track.spe.schoolmessenger.com/f/a/OR34DE7vTzQFKiezS86HKw~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRh4e5PP0QkaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmlnc2hvdWxkZXJzZnVuZHNnby5vcmcvVwdzY2hvb2xtQgpf_c-6AGCyuMhCUhNkYW5jZXJjZW9AeWFob28uY29tWAQAAAAB

Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week will kick off on Sunday, January 31. It will run through Saturday, February 6. Each school day there will be a different theme and students will be able to participate in dressing out of uniform and playing games. Some suggestions that have been submitted for dress down days are favorite sport/team day, pajama day, Wild West day, mismatch day, throwback Thursday, and celebrity day. We’ll put together the

list of the themes/days in the next newsletter.

We are looking for a few families who can send us some reasons why they specifically chose St. Gerald and what the school means to them. We’d like to incorporate these messages into our week – Facebook posts, flyers, and newsletter. If you can share anything, please email Mrs. Markham. Thank you to parents that have already sent in messages! We could use more!

The theme for Catholic Schools Week this year is: Catholic Schools, Faith, Excellence, Service. On Sunday, we celebrate our parish. On Monday, we celebrate our community. On Tuesday, we celebrate our students. On Wednesday, we celebrate our nation. On Thursday, we celebrate vocations. On Friday, we celebrate faculty, staff, and volunteers, and on Saturday, we celebrate our families. Obviously due to the pandemic, all activities will be either virtual or low key in our separate cohorts. However, we will celebrate no matter how small.

During Catholic Schools Week, we will be releasing the ideas for a new logo or mascot for St. Gerald. Students have submitted ideas and pictures. We’ll put together the collection for everyone to view and pick one that we can incorporate into a new logo or mascot for 2021.

Classroom Air Purifiers

With funds from a PPE grant through District 123 and the state, we have ordered 14 classroom air purifiers. These have been suggested for use during the pandemic and the winter months when fresh air is less likely. However, they can be used year-round. These will be placed in the home rooms with carpeting first.

We had another air purifier donated by one of our generous families that was installed prior to Christmas break so that we could test to see if it would work. It was successful and we are trying to get enough air purifiers to clean all of the rooms in which students and staff work. The first priority will be to fund 4 more air purifiers for the home rooms, and then work on the other common areas.

Religious Education and Parish Updates

Father Pajor and Mr. McGinnis, St. Gerald’s Coordinator of Religious Education, have scheduled dates for both First Reconciliation and Confirmation. Students that are involved with either sacrament will receive letters outlining the dates and times. Sacraments will be celebrated in person this year, but with restrictions due to the ongoing pandemic. Face masks, hand sanitizing, and social distance will be required.

Ash Wednesday will also be observed at the school. Students will watch Mass online and then parish staff members will visit classrooms to provide blessings with the ashes. No physical contact will occur. All ashes will be sprinkled in the air above students’ and staff members’ heads this year.

In mid-February, the church offices and school will be getting a new phone system. The current phone system has been in place for over 15 years and requires much updating. If any communication lapse will be expected, we will notify you in advance and ask that you use email for the time when the system is being installed.