School Newsletter 11-19-20

Family Reading Night is TONIGHT!


Family Reading Night is celebrated across the state of Illinois each year on the third Thursday of November.  This year, it will take place on Thursday, November 19.  Reading together is one of the most valuable gifts a family can share. Reading sets people on a successful path for lifelong learning.

This year we are encouraging all of our St. Gerald Giants to participate in Family Reading Night.

Every student will get a Family Reading Night form.  Students should spend at least 20 minutes reading for enjoyment on November 19.  They can read with someone, read to someone, or read on their own.  Any student that reads will record the time they started and ended, and the book(s) that they read and with whom.  A parent must sign off that the information is correct. The student should bring the completed form back to school on Friday, November 20 and he/she will receive a free out of uniform day on Monday, November 23.



NEW WEBSITE


Our school board redesigned our school website to more closely match the new parish website.  We thank them for their dedication, support and hard work!  Special thanks to Mr. Cerceo for the web design!  The goal of the new website is to showcase who we are and what we do as well as provide information for students and families.  Please take a look at the new website:  school.stgerald.com and let us know if there is anything that you would like to see added.  Thank you to our school board for such a tremendous digital representation!


*NEW* Report An Absence – with the new website, we have added a link under the search bar where you can click to report your child absent.  This will help us to keep track of absences, but also save you from having to call the school.  You are always welcome to still call the school, but you can also use the form instead.



End of Trimester


The first trimester ends on Monday, November 30.  The second trimester begins on Tuesday, December 1.  If your child(ren) is learning online or if your child(ren) is learning in person and you would like your child(ren) to switch instructional delivery, please notify Mrs. Markham,  [email protected], no later than Monday, November 23.

Report cards will be sent home the week of December 7-11.



Picture Retakes

Due to COVID restrictions, pictures were taken in a standing position only this year.  If you are not happy with your child(ren)’s picture(s), we will reschedule retakes sometime after our remote instruction in January. More information will be sent after Christmas break.



Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break, and Remote Learning Extended Care Services


Parent-teacher conferences will be on Tuesday, November 24. We WILL NOT offer extended care services during Thanksgiving break, which runs from November 25-27.


Christmas break will run from December 23 through January 5. We WILL offer extended care services during Christmas break (December 28, 29, 30, and 31 – not January 1) IF we have 10 or more students that need the service for the week.  Families must sign up for the service by December 10.


We will offer services during our remote instruction period from January 6-January 15, but we must have 10 or more students and families must sign up by December 10.



Parent-Teacher Conferences Tuesday, November 24


Parent-teacher conferences are virtual through Google Meets this year.  You should have received sign up information from your child(ren)’s teacher(s).  If you did not, please reach out to those individuals.

We did not have enough families sign up for extended care services to warrant providing the service, so there will be NO EXTENDED DAY SERVICES for parent-teacher conferences.



Information about School Closures


Several people have asked if/when the Archdiocese will close a school and require everyone to learn online. These are the factors that the Archdiocese released last week.


Factors that lead to Parish or Schoolwide Quarantine

Our task force, working with input from local parish and school leadership, monitors these critical factors daily to determine what actions, if any, are necessary:

• Absolute number of reports in a rolling 14-day period– includes the total number of reports submitted by a parish or school stating the number of parishioners OR students/faculty/staff who:

o have tested positive for COVID-19, or

o are presumptive positive (and possibly awaiting test results), or

o are close contacts of another individual who has tested positive for COVID-19

• Number ofCOVID-19-positive cases in a rolling 14-day period– total number of reports submitted by a parish or school stating the number of parishioners OR students/faculty/staff who have tested positive.

• Breadth of cases across grades and cohorts– a determination of whether cases are confined to a single grade or two, or if they are prevalent across multiple grades and cohorts in schools or large groups in parishes.

• Presence of multiple cases within cohorts– multiple COVID-19 cases within a cohort even if they are not related or traced back to a single point of transmission. 

• Degree to which staff are affected– an assessment of whether the necessary leadership and administration staff are available to continue ministry and operations.

• High COVID-19 conversion rates for close exposures– the number of individuals who are at one point deemed only a close contact or presumptive positive case but are later confirmed to be a COVID-19 positive case.

• Outside activities with a propensity for spread– out-of-school/parish events and family activities that have the potential for generating additional infections.


IF THE ARCHDIOCESE CHANGES PLANS  OR INSTRUCTS US TO GO REMOTE, WE WILL NOTIFY YOU IMMEDIATELY.


Christmas Caring Tree 2020

Over the years, the Family of St. Gerald has come together in charity and love for our community members in need. This year is especially unique due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the negative effects it has had on so many people who have lost jobs or are under-employed and struggling to make ends meet. We are asking for that same spirit of giving to continue this year but in a different way.

We have decided, together with our community partners to ask you to participate by purchasing gift cards. Because we are unable to participate in the usual way with the creation and distribution of ornaments on our trees, we ask you to consider this easy and efficient way of assisting the following community recipients:

Catholic Charities, St. Agatha, St. Peter Claver, Mission of Our Lady of the Angels, St. Vincent DePaul and our Parish School Families.

We encourage you to utilize the parish Manna program and have provided the order form with this letter and instructions for you to use. Also, a percentage of purchases will go back to the school, so this is a win-win for everyone! If you prefer to make a monetary donation that would be accepted and would be distributed among the receiving partners.

Please return the gift cards to the parish office the weekend of December 5th and 6th.

We are limiting the gift card purchases to the following businesses: Walmart, Kohls, Target, Jewel and Speedway. Let us all keep those in need in our community always in our prayers as I continue to pray for each of you and your loved ones. MANNA ORDER FORM

“St. Gerald….Pray For Us….Live Jesus in Our Hearts Forever!”

Blessings, 

Deacon Michael Fekete & Committee

708-642-0647       [email protected]



Archdiocese of Chicago Office of Catholic Schools Mailing List


If you would like to receive the special broadcasts, surveys, news, etc. from the Office of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, you can sign up on the website at:

http://track.spe.schoolmessenger.com/f/a/C7Bsp4bKz4AuTIO0M6JCDw~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRhmCV4P0QwaHR0cHM6Ly9zY2hvb2xzLmFyY2hjaGljYWdvLm9yZy9mYW1pbHktcmVzb3VyY2VzVwdzY2hvb2xtQgoARvjxtl_4S3E9UhNkYW5jZXJjZW9AeWFob28uY29tWAQAAAAB

You will find a link to Archdiocesan Parent Resources.  Under that, you can subscribe to the Catholic school parent mailing list.




Virtual Make-up Snow Days


Since we are approaching the winter months, we wanted to remind everyone that “snow days” are now virtual learning days.  If we have to cancel school in person due to weather, students will log into their Google classrooms and learn online for the day.  This will keep us from having to add days to the calendar in June. When information goes out to cancel school, students will be prompted to check their homeroom teacher’s Google classroom.