Friday, November 6, 2009

St John the Evangelist Catholic School Chronicle

November 6, 2009

Love the Learning. Build our Friendships. Live the Faith

Education and Strategic Planning

Dear St. John’s Community:

May the blessings of our Lord be upon you and your families!

Last week, I provided a different format as compared to my previous letters. I’d like to follow suit this week and take a moment to describe a very important task that I have asked the SAC (School Advisory Council) to undertake this year.

This year, as you may know, is our year to perform a strategic planning initiative. I hope that you have received the emails with the dates and times of the upcoming focus group sessions for the strategic planning. I strongly urge you to come to one of those sessions. Your input is extremely valuable to us as we move St. John’s forward.

But you may be asking yourself: What is strategic planning and why is it so important to St. John’s?

First, some background…While St. John’s sees itself first and foremost as a school, it is considered a nonprofit educational organization. We are not reliant upon government dollars to the extent that a public educational organization is and are not bound to the restrictions mandated by such a relationship. This frees us up, as a nonprofit educational organization, to allocate our resources in a way that best serves our particular mission statement. As you recall from last year, we rewrote our mission statement, and this was a critical first step in our effort to determine our future steps when it comes to deciding how to allocate our resources.

In essence, strategic planning flows from our efforts to define who we are through our mission statement. It defines specific steps to take to reach our goals described in our mission statement, and identifies how to most efficiently and effectively allocate our resources to reach those goals in the years to come.

Strategic planning forces us to take a hard look at the current realities, the environmental forces acting upon our school, and the collective wishes of our school community. It lays bare all of the issues facing our school, and sheds light on how to best overcome them with the ultimate goal of making us the very best Catholic school we can be.


Strategic planning cannot happen with only the voices of a select few individuals – it must have the collective voices of our entire school community. If only a few voices are heard, then the goals identified are only for the select few. We really do need to have as much input as we can in order for our strategic planning to be effective!

I thank you in advance for your participation in our focus groups as part of our strategic planning. This is your school, and we want to hear from you!

I hope that you have a safe and relaxing weekend. The school families remain in my constant prayers – may God bless you and keep you safe!

Blessings,
Dr. Sara Amodio


VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR 100 PERSON FEAST!
The 100 Person Feast is a school event with the simple goal of raising awareness of two important social justice issues: Poverty and Hunger. The event is presented in such a way so that students at the elementary- and middle- school age levels (grades 4-8) can begin to appreciate impact of poverty and hunger on a global scale, and to consider how they may act to address these social injustices. Lessons on Catholic social teachings will infuse the program, thereby showing how these injustices and inequities can be addressed in light of our faith.
This year’s event will be November 23 at 1:30 pm.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

We are looking for parent volunteers to assist with serving and running the 100 Person Feast. This is a very moving event, which will inspire you and your family during the Thanksgiving week.

Here are the volunteers we are looking for…if you are interested, please reply back to me as soon as possible!

VOLUNTEERS:
□ Invitations – one person will be in charge of handing out the invitations with random assignment of low-, middle-, and high-income groups
□ Seat Assignments – two people will be in charge of helping to show invitees to their assigned seats
□ Servers – two people to serve the high-income tables
□ Servers – two people to serve the middle-income tables from a banquet table
□ Servers – two people to serve the low-income group from bowls and water buckets
□ Clean-up – three people to help clean up

If you can volunteer to help, please contact Mrs. Champlin, 635-5830 or christine@saintjohns.net



“America the Beautiful” FALL CONCERT
Our annual Patriotic concert will be held on November 11th at 6:30 PM in the church.
Please join us for this special patriotic salute to our Veterans. Grades 3-5 and Choir will each present
a medley of familiar tunes to honor America. The Band will be joining us as well.. Students need to wear red polo shirts, plaid skirts, and navy pants. We look forward to singing and playing for you! Mrs. Kula







SCRIP: SPECIAL ORDER SCRIP FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Are you traveling over the holidays? Plan ahead, and buy scrip to cover your traveling expenses! You can special order scrip for American Airlines, Avis Rental Car, Budget Rental Car, Carnival Cruise Line, Marriot Hotels and Travelocity Hotels with rebates of 8% to 12%!
Need ideas for the teenager on your holiday shopping list? GLSCRIP has gift cards for Ticketmaster, iTunes, Aeropostle, LL Bean, and Lands End in various denominations.
Do you like to give specialty food gifts? Hickory Farms, Harry & David (scrip can be used at Loveland’s outlet store), Omaha Steaks, and Williams Sonoma are available. Rebates are from 8% to 15%!
How about stocking stuffers? Baskin Robbins scrip is available in just $2 increments, and Blockbuster in $6 denominations with 15% rebate – perfect for stocking stuffers or gift exchanges!

CHECK GLSCRIP.COM ONLINE FOR MORE GIFT CARDS TO ORDER. ALL SPECIAL ORDERS ARE DUE BY DECEMBER 6TH FOR CHRISTMAS DELIVERY. SUBMIT YOUR ORDER FORM WITH PREPAYMENT ATTN: DOROTHEA, SPECIAL ORDER, AT THE SCHOOL OR PARISH OFFICE.


TEXT BOOK OFFER
Saint John the Evangelist School parents have an exclusive online book store –Now you can conveniently buy textbooks online from Pearson at direct-from-publisher prices! As a bonus, you will receive free shipping and handling too. Save money, help your school. 10% of every dollar you spend on this site will be credited to your school. http://www.pearsonprivateschools.com


SCHOOL PICTURE MAKE UP DAY
School portrait make-up day will be: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2009
TIME - 11:00 am to 11:30 am
1. If you were absent or are new to the school you may purchase a new
package
2. If you had a picture taken but didn’t purchase a package you may have a
new picture taken and purchase a package.
3. If you purchased a package and want a retake you must return the
original package in full with reason for retake clearly stated on package.
4. 4 year old preschool will be getting their picture taken this day


FACEBOOK
Are you a fan yet? Saint John the Evangelist has a fan page. If you are on facebook, be sure to add your name to our Facebook page. It’s a great way to keep up on what’s going on. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Loveland-CO/Saint-John-the-Evangelist/59126020963?ref=nf#/pages/Loveland-CO/Saint-John-the-Evangelist/59126020963?ref=mf


BLOGGER
Are you following us on our blogger? If then not sign up now, it is free, and you never miss a thing. http://saintjohntheevangelistschool.blogspot.com



PTO Updates:

PTO MEETING DATE CHANGE!
The PTO meeting for November has been changed, to November 19th at 7:00 p.m. since Dr. Amodio will be out of town next week.

2010 Walk-A-Thon
Would you like to help out with this year's Walk-A-Thon? We're looking for new committee members to help with food, prizes and other miscellaneous duties -- if you're interested in volunteering, we invite you to attend our upcoming meeting on Tuesday, November 17 at 7 p.m. at Starbucks next to King Soopers on Eagle Drive (at the intersection of Taft and 14th). We'll also be discussing ideas for this year's theme, so if you have any suggestions, we invite you to come and share them with us!
This year's Walk-A-Thon will be held Thursday, May 6. Please consider becoming a part of this exciting committee -- it's a great way to get volunteer hours while getting to know other St. John's parents. If you're interested in helping this year but are unable to attend our meeting, please contact Helen Franks (hmfranks@msn.com) or Lexy Donnelly (lexydonnelly@gmail.com), and we'll keep you informed of what's happening and when our next meetings will be.


The Scholastic Book Fair is here!
Mark your calendars for the week of November 9-13! The Book Fair will be open every day during the week!! Shop anytime before, during, or after school each day, after the Patriotic Concert on 11/11, and during Parent Teacher Conferences on 11/13!
Next Monday, your child will bring home a flyer with a preview of some of the great books you can find at the fair.
Every purchase you make at the fair benefits our school! Help us to add new books and supplies to our school library and classrooms by supporting the Book Fair!
Volunteers are needed!! Please consider signing up for a 2-hour time slot sometime during the week. We have openings during the school day and also in the evenings. Please contact Machalla Holas (jmandkk@comcast.net or 292-8830) if you are interested in helping out! It is easy and fun!!

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT
The school 2009 Christmas ornament is here, and we will be selling them in the loop on Tuesday November 10th. They will be available in the morning and afternoon loop, or you may drop by the school office.
This year’s ornament, crafted by Peyton Stroh, is a beautiful design of the Christ child under a star encircled in a twisted wreath.
Ornaments are $12.00 each, 2 or more- $10.00 each. PTO will also be taking limited orders for an ornament/cookbook combination. In addition, we have a few ornaments left from last year for $10.00 each. The 2008 ornament is a design of the Holy Family. Please consider these ornaments as a gift for friends and family when you are shopping for Holiday gifts. Thank you for supporting our school!

















God, our Father and Creator, be with us in our school.
Help us to treasure your gift of life
and treat one another with care.
Let us always remember that we are all created in your image.
Come, Lord Jesus, and be with us in our school.
Guide our teachers,
guide our parents,
and lead our students
to recognize you in all people.
Come, Holy Spirit, and be with us in our school.
Give us a vision for the future,
and the determination for shaping a faith-filled future.


 Pray for Father Mbala, who is recovering from throat surgery
 Pray for Joshua Carlson the son of a former teacher Mrs. Carlson, Pray for his complete health recovery
 Pray for the elderly including the grandmother of the Najera and Sweeney family
 Pray for those who are struggling to find employment
 Please pray for the Drago, Duran, Edwards, Edwards famlies
 Let us give thanks to God for all the gifts he has provided us
 Especially give thanks to God for the gift of a parish school and ask his help as we continue to grow and prosper
 May Our Lord grant us all the graces we need and desire


Saint John the Evangelist Catholic School
1730 W. 12th Street Loveland, Co 80537 970.635.5830

Saint John the Evangelist School does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color or national or ethnic origin

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