Dear Parents,

Last evening, Executive Order (7J) and new Connecticut DECD guidance were released clarifying the “Stay Safe, Stay Home” initiative that becomes effective TONIGHT – Monday, March 23, 2020 – at 8:00pm.  It is noted that this directive will remain in effect through April 22, 2020 unless further modified, extended, or terminated by the Governor.

We realize every family is dealing with unique challenges and hardships as a result of Covid-19.  My staff and I remain committed to ensuring each child’s learning is moving forward as best we can, and hope this also provides some sense of normalcy for your child/ren during a difficult time.

At this time, our plan is for Saint James School is to maintain distance learning following the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” mandate.  We will pause the distance learning for our scheduled April break (Friday, April 10th – Friday, April 17th) and resume again on April 20th.  We will continually assess how to best proceed and follow the guidance from state and local leaders.

This is a rapidly evolving situation and I am grateful for the patience and support you are extending to our teachers and staff under these unfortunate circumstances.  I know our families are also looking towards the future and we are still on track to conclude our academic year on Thursday, June 11th.

While the Executive Order remains in place, please note that no one will be available to answer phones at the school; If you need to contact myself or any member of the staff, please do so through email.

Please stay safe and vigilant and keep our front line workers (many of whom are a part of this school community) in your prayers.

God Bless you and your family.

There is still time to order your yearbook. You can go to YBpay.lifetouch.com. Type in our school code: 9708620. From there you will type in the name and grade of your student and follow with the payment. Please note: the multiple copy discount is no longer available. You will need to pay the full price for each yearbook you order. If you have any questions, please email Mrs. St. Jean at lstjean@saintjamesschool.net.

Mr. Corcoran is available to work with his students for lessons via Facetime and possibly other technology as well.  If you are interested, please e-mail at jcorcoran@snet.net and he will schedule a lesson time.  He would like to start with 7th and 8th grade students right now, but will move to include other students in the near future.

 

 

To our Saint James School Families,

While we are all adjusting to our new reality of distance learning I wanted to reach out with some reading resources that might help add some fun into our long days at home. Scholastic has added a great Learn at Home website which includes free resource articles, stories and learning challenges (www.scholastic.com/learnathome). There is also a #savethestories on Instagram that has authors and celebrities reading stories to children!  For our Manchester residents, our Manchester Public libraries have ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines that can be downloaded using your library card. Visit Manchesterctlibrary on Facebook or their website for info.

March is typically a very exciting time in our library, celebrating Dr. Seuss all month, we will continue with our Hats Off to Reading contest with an ending date when we return back to school. Please let our K-6 students know that any books, audiobooks, ebooks etc. they read or listen to over our time at home can be logged on paper and submitted to me when we return back to school. I will also continue with our fun activities and contests we had planned for March during our library when we return and hope this brings a smile to our students who were looking forward to this!

Thank you to all of the parents , teachers, and students for all working together as a team to make the most of our learning experiences during these difficult times! I am truly missing all of our students smiling faces during our library time and am looking forward to seeing everyone when we return to school.

We are blessed to be part of such a wonderful community; stay healthy and safe.

Mrs. Carpenter

We would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who donated to the Community Partners in Action drive that we had started two weeks ago.  A representative from the organization came by today and picked up everything that had come in and they were exceptionally grateful for your support.