Cyclone Chatter - January 7th, 2021

Dear STM Families,
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Our first week back at school has been a good one!  Your children and their teachers have hit the ground running as we near the halfway mark in our school year.  Students in grades 1-8 are attending Mass during one of the four Mass times during the week, and prayers to culminate the Christmas season have been shared in all classes.  What a wonderful way to start the New Year!

As discussed in earlier correspondence, we continue our work to provide the safest and most viable learning environment as possible at STM.  Our COVID Task Force has been expanded to include six parents:  Courtney Fitzgerald, Layne Griffith, Ben Lizak, Matthew Pomianek, Natalie Rellihan, and Stephanie Rogge.  This advisory board met for the first time this afternoon to refresh and tweak the COVID-related procedures at STM.  Our work today was to delineate the areas to address.  Updates from our meetings will be shared in future Cyclone Chatter newsletters.

We will publish a COVID Impact  Dashboard each Thursday beginning next week.  We will include data of number of students in ‘Isolation’ and ‘Quarantine’, number of staff members in ‘Isolation’ and ‘Quarantine,’ and our overall absentee rate for the week from Wednesday to Wednesday.  This data will be shared as information to keep you updated and not as criteria to change our learning mode.  Please watch for that information in each Cyclone Chatter beginning January 14.

STM SCHOOL UPCOMING EVENTS:
Friday, Jan. 8                    Deadline to change learning mode for 3rd Quarter
Friday, Jan. 8                    First Friday STM Spirit Day
Jan. 11-14                         Winter Benchmark Testing in grades 3-8
Thursday, Jan. 14              Last day of 2nd Quarter (1st Semester)
Friday, Jan. 15.                  All STM Activity Fees are DUE
Friday, Jan. 15                   Diocesan Prof. Dev. Day for all teachers—NO SCHOOL
Monday, Jan. 18                 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day—NO SCHOOL
Monday, Jan. 18                 STM Dine-Out at Caleb’s
Tuesday, Jan. 19                First day of 3rd Quarter (second semester)
Jan. 30-Feb. 6                    Catholic Schools’ Week

STM SPIRIT DAY TOMORROW:
It’s the first Friday-school day of 2021—so tomorrow is a STM Spirit Wear day.  Students may wear an STM Spirit Shirt with school-appropriate khakis, jeans, STM Spirit Shorts, Spirit Wear Active Pants, or uniform bottoms (no cargo pants).

 NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS NEXT FRIDAY, JAN. 15:
A diocesan Professional Development day was scheduled for us next Friday, Jan. 15.  (This date was not on our original calendar, as the date was scheduled for us by the diocese in late November.)   Teachers will be working through Virtue Based Restorative Discipline training with a national trainer on Zoom meetings at STM.

WINTER BENCHMARK TESTING NEXT WEEK:
All students in grades 3-8 will take Diocesan Winter Benchmark Assessments in Math, ELA, and Written Expression.  When our students took these tests in September, they scored above expectation in each grade level and subject area.  We will be able to gauge their growth since then through the results of these tests.  Please make sure your child gets a good night’s rest and eats breakfast (everyday, but especially) next week for this testing.

BIRTHDAY TREATS:
Students can still wear spirit wear on or near their birthdays, When it is your child’s birthday, please feel free to send individually pre-packaged items for classroom treats. So sorry that we can’t accept baked items that have been bagged by you. Also, please follow the nut-safer guidelines in choosing your treats. I’ve witnessed classroom birthday celebrations with individual Rice Krispie treats, Little Debbie cakes, etc. that were appropriate and so appreciated by the children! I know it seems strange, but so it goes in COVID times. Thanks for your compliance with these guidelines.

A Prayer for the New Year:
Thank you, Lord for giving us the brand new year ahead. 
Help us live the way we should each new day. 
Give us strength and courage to aid others in need more than we worry about ourselves. 
The year ahead is empty, help me fill it with good things. 
Each new day give me wisdom to recognize the  joy and happiness You bring.
Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us.
Peace and Blessings,
Linda Crosthwait, STM Principal
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