School Newsletter 12-3-20

Report Cards and Trimester 2

Trimester 1 ended on Monday, 11/30 and Tuesday, 12/1, marked the first day for trimester 2.  Our first report card for this year will be sent home with students in person on Tuesday, December 8.  Teachers will use this week to complete grades and catch up on grading assignments from students who have been absent. Students who are learning at home may either pick up their report cards next Tuesday from the office or have those mailed to their homes.  Please contact Mrs. Markham ([email protected]) if you’d like your report card mailed.  We want to make sure that we have the correct mailing addresses.
 

Stop, Drop, and Drive

Today we began temperature and wellness checks in the building.  Just as a reminder, please pull up along the sidewalk of the school building outside of your assigned door (10, 1, or 2).  Please make sure that students are ready to just hop out of the car when you stop and walk straight into the building. We will conduct temperature and wellness checks when they enter.  If any student has a fever or other symptoms, they will be sent to the office and parents will be notified to pick up the student. You are NOT expected to park and wait for students to get checked.  You may pull up, let students get out, and then you may drive on – stop, drop, and drive. Thank you for your cooperation during this difficult year!

Advent Cheer

This year more than ever before, we need some holiday cheer!  While our activities have been canceled due to the pandemic, we want to celebrate with our students, staff, and families in other ways.  Instead of “Christmas Around the World”, we’re doing “Christmas Around St. Gerald”! Take pictures of some family traditions or activities that you are observing and email them to Mrs. Markham, [email protected]. Maybe your family bakes Christmas cookies or makes a gingerbread house? Or maybe your family decorates a tree together or opens days on an Advent calendar?  Whatever fills your home with holiday cheer can help all of us smile these days! Just snap a picture and send it to Mrs. Markham with your family name and a brief description of the tradition. We’ll post these to our Facebook page so that everyone can enjoy some Advent Cheer!

Parish Registration and Donations

After the holidays, the school will begin reaching out to families who are receiving parishioner tuition rates but aren’t registered at the parish.  If you haven’t registered yet, but are receiving parishioner rates, please register online asap. Our tuition is subsidized by the parish.  If families are receiving parishioner rates but aren’t contributing to the parish, the school has to make those funds up.  Please join the parish and donate via Mass envelopes or online. After the holidays, we will also check the status of donations from our families.  The office has had some requests for donations “owed” to the parish.  We’ll update that in January so as to not tax families right before the holidays.  If you would like to make a donation to the parish prior to December 31, you may donate online or send in a check.

Empower Illinois– Important donation information

The state of Illinois created the Invest in Kids Act several years ago.  It is a scholarship fund for schools like St. Gerald.  The Invest in Kids Act helps kids from low-income households attend Catholic and other private schools of their choice.  The way the act works is donors give funds to one of the scholarship granting organizations in the state – we use Empower Illinois– and the donors may specify which school (St. Gerald) the funds go to.  The school then gets those funds to pay tuition for students in need. The donors in turn get a 75% tax credit for the funds!   Please see the flyer for an example.

Right now, the Archdiocese of Chicago is making the donations even more profitable for schools.  They are matching all private donations 2:1 until February 28! For example, if St. Gerald raises $10,000 in private donations, the Archdiocese will give us another $20,000!  That would bring our scholarship funds to $30,000 for next year, helping a lot more families meet the tuition. Watch for a letter and more information on how you can support this endeavor over the next few weeks.  It is a win – win for the donors and for the school!  For example, if a person donates $1000.00, they get a $750.00 tax credit. It’s a great way for both parties to operate. Please consider donating. We’ll post information to our website and social media, as well as send emails.

EMPOWER CATHOLIC EDUCATION

Calendar Reminder:  The next Out of Uniform day will be Friday, December 11. Students may bring in $1 and be out of uniform for the day.

Cold Weather Reminder: Please make sure that students have coats, hats, and gloves for outside recess each day.  We will take the kids outside for fresh air whenever the windchill is 30 degrees or higher and no snow or rain.

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/Ff7We_75uJ6K3_Htg8J-cA~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRhmCWbP0QwaHR0cHM6Ly9zY2hvb2xzLmFyY2hjaGljYWdvLm9yZy9mYW1pbHktcmVzb3VyY2VzVwdzY2hvb2xtQgoARhvytl_4S02KUhVrbWFya2hhbUBzdGdlcmFsZC5jb21YBAAAAAE~
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.

Christmas Break and Remote Learning

We will begin our Christmas break on Wednesday, December 23 and it will conclude on Tuesday, January 5.  Our first day of all remote learning will be Wednesday, January 6. A schedule for core classes will be sent with students prior to Christmas break and the homeroom teachers will go over it with students.  If you have nay questions about remote learning, please email your child(ren)’s teacher(s).