Dear SJS Families,

As another great week of learning comes to a close, I wanted to take the opportunity to once again thank you for your continuous efforts to help our school community remain healthy.  I am grateful to all our families for heeding the request to be exceedingly cautious this year by keeping students at home if they show any sign of illness and quarantining students who may have had a COVID exposure through sports, family members, etc.  I know it does not come without sacrifice to be vigilant.

As you may have seen, a recent surge of COVID cases in Manchester has moved our town into the RED zone, meaning the state views our town (as well as many of those around us) as a COVID hot-spot.  For those families with in-person learners (and remote learners as well), please continue to be extra cautious when it comes to your family’s well-being.  Not only do we want to keep all of our classes in the building throughout the coming months, but we want everyone in our extended school family to stay healthy and safe.

Thank you again for your support as we work through the challenges (and triumphs!) of this school year.  As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or Mrs. Vignati with any questions or concerns.

Enjoy your weekend!

Bridget Zorger, Principal

The Friendzy theme for the month of November is “Love At All Times.”

Some of the most wonderful examples of loving come from the Saints who are excellent role models for us all, parents and children alike. As a family activity this month, we’d like to suggest that you read about the Saints in Chapter 6 of the “Teach Them Your Ways, O Lord” booklet that was recently sent home to your family. As a family, talk about your favorite Saints, how they were loving and how you can model their behavior in your everyday lives. Maybe you will choose one favorite Saint for your family. Maybe you’ll each have your own. However many Saints you choose, we would love for you to share with us! Please send a photo of your family displaying the name(s) of your favorite Saint(s) to aguenther@saintjamesschool.net.  At the end of the month we will compile all the photos to share with our school community.

Here is a photo of Mrs. Zorger with the name of her favorite Saint!

There will be a virtual HSA meeting this Thursday, November 12th, at 7:00pm.  All SJS parents/guardians are welcome to join.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76043073769?pwd=NVFDTXU1cmk0QnlmYnVvd2FvbDJYUT09

Meeting ID: 760 4307 3769
Passcode: 5AAyzb

This is a republish from a few weeks ago but we wanted to share this again with our families:

As we continue to best meet the educational needs for all our students, we have determined that some clarifications regarding protocols for attendance and reporting of absences is necessary.  This includes all students — those who participate in remote learning as well as those who are in-person learners.

1.  Parents/Guardians must call the school nurse (option #3)  to report any and all absences, regardless of the reason, by 8:00 am.  This includes remote learners.

2. Students who are absent from school for personal reasons (i.e. vacation/travel) should continue to keep up with missing classwork, but are not allowed to attend classes virtually.  Their absence from school will be noted in the school’s daily attendance report.

3. We really appreciate how diligent our parents/guardians have been these past few weeks in keeping students home from school at the sign of any illness (even if students are not experiencing the “high-risk” COVID symptoms).  These students, and students who are remaining home due to a COVID-related issue (quarantining due to close contact with a COVID-positive person, experiencing COVID-related symptoms, or awaiting COVID test results), but are otherwise able to attend school, may sign in remotely and attend classes virtually.  A parent/guardian must call the school nurse to report the student’s absence from in-person learning (please do not email the teacher or the school office of the absence).

With devices now being sent home nightly, it is possible that K – 3 students needing to stay home (not for personal reasons) can be part of the remote learning on their first day of absence.  If the decision is made too close to the start of the school day, teachers will not have time to upload the materials to the Seesaw platform. Students can still live-stream from home beginning at 8:00am as long as all other remote learning protocol are followed.

Please do note, however, if the student is truly not feeling well and is not able to remain online with their class for a full day, they really do need to take the day as a “sick day”.

**It might be helpful to familiarize yourself with the “Student Expectations for Remote Learning” (click to open), also found in the parent/student handbook. in case your student needs to attend class remotely.

**Students who are traveling or are on vacation, will be marked absent, and are expected to complete the classwork posted in their Google Classroom. They may not attend classes virtually. Please refer to the parent/student handbook for additional information regarding attendance and school policy. 

**Reminder: Students (in-person and remote) are tardy if they are not in school when the bell rings at 7:55 am.