For SJS students that were supposed to receive their First Eucharist this past spring, please check your email for an update regarding this celebration from Macy Jordan.  Thank you.

Dear Saint James School Families,

I hope this finds you well and that you have been able to enjoy some relaxing summer days.

As you are aware, this upcoming school year will look different than school years we have planned for in the past.  I am excited for the opportunity to have our students begin the school year present in the building.  For those of you not comfortable with a return to classroom at this time, we will have a distance learning option available.  My first and foremost priority is the health, safety, and well-being of our students, faculty and staff.

In the past few weeks, we have been working on how to safely bring our students back to in-person instruction at the end of August by evaluating our facilities and resources.  On June 29th, The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) released their requirements and guidance in a document titled “Adapt, Advance, Achieve: Connecticut’s Plan to Learn and Grow Together”.  Equipped with this information, we established a Return to In-Person Instruction Strategy (RIIS) committee to develop an action plan for our school.

Our RIIS committee members include Father Cavanaugh, Pastor of Saint James Parish, Bridget Zorger, Principal, Lisa Anderson, Assistant Principal, Rich Yirga, Facilities Manager, Janis Vignati, School Nurse, Laura St. Jean, Pre-Kindergarten Director, Jeanne Jones, 4th grade teacher, David LaMonica, Chairperson of SJS School Board & current parent, and Amy Guenther, Director of Advancement.

I am grateful for your participation in our first survey that was emailed earlier this week. Please note the surveys will close at noon on Thursday.  The data collected from the surveys will provide us with an initial understanding of our families’ intentions and concerns.

Along with understanding the requirements and guidance stated in the CSDE’s plan, there are many details that our RIIS committee will be working through.  In addition, The Archdiocese of Hartford Office of Education, Evangelization and Catechesis has also put forth requirements and guidelines. Each school in the diocese will need to submit a plan by July 31st.

Once a preliminary plan for our school has been developed, information will be shared with our school families.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate through this unique time preparing for the upcoming school year.

In light of the State of Connecticut’s mandates for schools to resume in-person learning in the fall, we want to assure our families that Saint James School has been, and continues to be, planning for a safe return to in-person learning when school resumes in August.  Today our RIIS Committee  (Return to In-Person Instruction Strategy Committee) formally met for the first time to review the lengthy document put forth by the State as well as the information we have received from the Archdiocese of Hartford.  As part of our planning process, we will be sending a survey to families very early next week to gather your feedback as well.  A big part of this process will be communication and we look forward to sharing information with you throughout the summer as plans continue to unfold.

As Catholic school educators and followers of Christ, Saint James School continues to be fully committed to ensuring our students grow to become well-educated, compassionate members of society that consistently seek to make our world a better place for all.  We believe that racism is not only a deep and grave sin, but one that clearly is still rampant in our society.  As Christians, we believe that every human life has inherent worth, as we are all created in the image and likeness of God. Racism in any form is in direct opposition to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and our mission as His followers.

The Archdiocese of Hartford’s Office of Education, Evangelization, and Catechesis has issued the following statement and resources that we wanted to share as part of our ongoing commitment to building a better tomorrow through Catholic education:

The schools and parishes of the Archdiocese of Hartford share the responsibility to address the injustice of systemic racism in our country and institutions, and we must do so through a lens of our Roman Catholic faith. Simply put, racism is a life issue.

We echo the National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) who stated:

“… We must ask God where we are being called to act. As Pope Francis stated, ‘we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.’  We must discern how we can help defend our brothers and sisters in Christ when we witness injustice and racism. And we must ask what discussions we need to have or plans we must put in place to prevent racist acts in the future.”

We must reject the sin of racism, in all its forms, and stand with our brothers and sisters who have felt marginalized inside and outside of our Church. To that end, please take advantage of the resources we have gathered  from many national and local experts. Consider reviewing those in a category most pertinent to your school or parish ministry, and let us know if there are any resources we can add to benefit this important work.

To access the resources, click here.

If your child is interested in participating in any of our competitive sports teams for the 2020-2021 school year, please remember we require an updated Athletics Health Permission Form be signed by their doctor before they can begin practice.  These sports are as follows:

Cross Country (grades 5-8, fall sport)

Basketball (grades 4-8, fall/winter sport)

Soccer (grades 3-8, spring sport)