Blue Jay Flyer

Parents and Guardians,

Happy Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday! It has been very busy around St. John’s. Thank you to all the parents who were able to volunteer their time at our Valentine’s Day parties over the last two days. The kids had a blast and I am sure most students exceeded their daily intake of sugar and sweets. Today, we celebrated as a school by receiving ashes to kick start Lent. Fr. Don did a great job talking to the students about how they can prepare for Lent. He reminded the students that it is not necessarily about what they give up for Lent but about how they choose to spend their time during Lent to prepare for Easter. I hope our students take his message to heart and find a way to grow closer to Jesus during the next six weeks.

Don’t forget that we do not have school on Friday. Our teachers will be spending the day looking at our school’s MAP data and learning how to create flexible groupings within the classroom based on the data. Erin Reder and Anne Flick have planned a fantastic day of learning and work time to help drive instruction in our classrooms. These two women will also be presenting about MAP data at the next PTO membership meeting on February 28th. If you would like to learn more about what our school is doing to improve instruction through the disaggregation of data, make sure you attend.

Lastly, don’t forget to turn in your registration form for next year. We still have around 30 students who have not turned in a form. We need numbers so we can finalize our budget for the 2024-2025 school year. Right now our Kindergarten is officially full, and we have started a wait list for incoming students. Over the next few weeks, I will continue to interview prospective families to see if they are a good fit to join our Blue Jay Family!.

Hope you all have a great week!

Sincerely,

Courtney Weinheimer

A big thank you to Fr. Don for staying after Ash Wednesday Mass today to distribute ashes to our preschoolers.

Congratulations to our two eighth grade students who both won 2023 ESAP Butch and Karen Hubert Scholarships! In addition to receiving $1000 toward their 8th grade tuition, they received an extra surprise this week when medals and Skyline gift cards arrived.

An ESAP Scholarship winner is a 7th grade student who, based on their application and essay, embodies the Christian spirit of giving back and helping others. The 2024 ESAP scholarship application window is now open until March 1, 2024 for current 7th grade students. Please see attachment below for instructions on how to apply. Winners will be announced at the end of May.

Tuesday, March 12, at 7:00 p.m.

Fine Arts Night features our first, second, and third grade students. The evening begins in the church with a concert. Students may wear dressy clothes no athletic pants please. Art work will be displayed in the cafeteria for family and friends to view. Be sure to also visit the Book Fair located in the library. Reminders will be sent as the date gets closer.

If you are planning to re-enroll your child(ren) for the 2024-25 school year, please return the registration form as soon as possible. If you wish to delay paying the non refundable $225 family registration fee, you may do so until March 8, 2024. After March 8, the re-registration fee will increase to $300 per family.

**If you have an incoming kindergarten student, you may include them on the re-registration form, but please contact Holly Sundrup (hsundrup@stjohnsdrschool.org) in the school office for a kindergarten registration packet.

New this year, we will be entering registration fees into the FACTS Management payment system. In the next day or two, you should receive a notification that your registration fee has been applied to your FACTS account.

• If you have already paid your registration fee with cash or check, it will be applied to your FACTS account this week and you will not be charged an additional $225.
• If you have not paid your registration fee, you may still send in cash or check before March 8th or pay through FACTS using a credit card or bank account.
• If you used autopay for this year's tuition, an automatic payment has been set to come out on 3/8/2024 for the $225 registration fee.
  
• There will be a $75 late fee for any re-registration fees that have not been paid by 3/8/2024.
  

If you have any questions, please contact our Business Manager, Sam Johnston at sjohnston@stjohnsdrschool.org.

The enrollment period for 2024-25 Ed Choice Scholarships, both Traditional and Expansion, is now open. More information will be sent home via e-mail and in the Blue Jay Folders in the next week. You may also visit our website stjohnsdrschool.org under the Admissions/Financial Aid tab for scholarship information and application forms.

We had a record number of prospective families come to Open House and the feedback thus far has been very positive! Please keep spreading the word....refer a new family to St. John's School and upon their official registration, you will be entered into a drawing to win a $500 credit that can be applied toward tuition, lunches or spirit wear.

We are looking for volunteers to join the planning committee for our School Spectacular Gala in November.

• Chairperson/Co-Chairs for the 2025 event: Our current Chairperson, Erika Tonne, is seeking someone to "shadow" her this year and then takeover the event in 2025.
• Committee Members There are many different ways to help with this event including obtaining sponsorships & donations, silent auction, decorations, set-up, tear-down, and more.

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Laura Heidorn in the school office at lheidorn@stjohnsdrschool.org.

It's almost time for the annual St. John's snow tubing night at Perfect North! Anyone is welcome to attend...please feel free to invite your family and friends. A big thank you to one of our school parents, Chrissy Dangel, for organizing this fun family event for our community. Please see ticket information and other details in the flier pictured (and also attached) below.

***Please note that this event is not sponsored by St. John the Baptist School.

Miranda Weisenberger, a 2020 alum of St. John's and a current Senior at Badin High School, is partnering with the Hamilton Lane Library for her Senior Service Project. Her project consists of having children practice their reading skills with a senior from Badin. If you are interested, they are looking for more children to join the program. Registration is required. Please see flier below for more details.

Please see below for a unique fundraiser that was started by one of our previous school families. It is a great time, so please consider registering to help a family in our community...

If I could ask for a couple moments of your time. My name is Beth Even and I am with the Tony’s Fight Foundation. We have hosted a youth 3v3 basketball fundraiser at LaSalle High School for the last 7 years. Player registration is currently open for 3rd-8th grade students and we would love to invite your students to join us on Saturday, March 9th!

This tournament began as a benefit supporting my family in March 2017. In October 2016 my husband was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma stage 3ES with Vanishing Bile Duct Syndrome, followed by a Renal Cell Carcinoma diagnoses in February 2017. In March 2017 our friends and family rallied around us, hosting this basketball tournament, to show support and help with the medical expenses that come with a cancer diagnosis. With Tony’s test results clear and Tony, myself and our 4 children settled into our new normal... we decided we would like to pay it forward by continuing the tournament. Together with the help from the original tournament committee, we have officially became a 501(c)3 non-profit. Tony’s Fight Foundation was started to help families that have children in area catholic schools with family member fighting a life threatening illness, so they are not faced with the choice of their children’s education or their health.

Register for the event here.

Please see attachment below for more details and to learn about the local family that the foundation will be supporting this year.

Tuesday was a sweet day at St. John's as students celebrated Valentine's Day with classroom parties and special treats.

Mrs. Osborn's kindergarten students made Mardi Gras masks and did a little color mixing to ice heart cookies.

First grade students had a retreat today as a start to the liturgical season of Lent. After creating a Jesus box with items symbolizing Jesus' journey to the cross and His Resurrection, they took part in praying the Stations of the Cross. They ended their morning listening to a sweet story about the first Easter Bunny.

Our new MAP testing offers rich insights into each child. We get information on strengths, weaknesses, and what the student is ready to learn next. We also use MAP data to monitor how much a child grows in math and reading over the course of the year. Erin Reder, our reading specialist, and Anne Flick, our gifted specialist, will walk you through the MAP score report so you can understand what the MAP scores reveal about your child. To get the most out of this session, bring your child(ren)'s score report to refer to--no one else will see it! We will share ideas that parents can do with their children to complement the efforts that teachers are making to meet each child's needs.

We are currently offering the following:

• Instructional - 4/5 year olds, kindergarten
• 7U - 6/7 year olds, 1st graders
• 9U - 2nd/3rd graders, teams splits by age based on numbers (8/9 yr olds)
• 11U - 4th/5th graders (10/11 yr olds)
• 13U - 6th/7th graders (12/13 yr olds)
• 15U - 8th graders (14/15 yr olds)

Please follow the link below to sign up online.

Baseball Sign-Ups

Signups for Spring Soccer will be open for about 2 more weeks!

St. John's will be offering SAY Rec Soccer for boys and girls playing Swarmers (2018), Passers (2016 & 2017), and Wings (2014 & 2015). These teams will play an 8 game season in Northwest SAY. There is no post season tournament in the Spring.

**We could use more players in the following divisions;

Swarmers (Coed 2018) - need at least 4 more to field a team
Girls Passers (2016 & 2017) - need at least 3 more to field a team
Girls Wings (2014 & 2015) - need at least 4 more to field a team
Boys Wings (2014 & 2015) - need at least 2 more to field a team

Boys Passers and Boys Strikers have enough players to form teams.

Please consider signing up your son/daughter.

Please register at https://sports.bluesombrero.com/stjab/ by February 19th.

*A one-time family fee of $50 will be assessed per account at the beginning of each calendar year. The family fee helps to cover capital improvements and operating expenses of our athletic facilities.

If you have any questions, please contact our soccer coordinator;

Lauren Kresyman
847-687-4640
laurenicole821@yahoo.com

Registration for our summer camps is now open! With a variety of camps for athletics, academics and arts, there is a camp for everyone! Register today: Summer Camp Registration

We are also excited to announce our Future Lancer Lifting Program registration is now live! The Future Lancer Lifting Program is available to all registered students of the Class of 2028, and new this year, rising 8th graders - the Class of 2029! Register here for the Future Lancers Lifting Program.

The Cincinnati Arts Association's Weston Art Gallery announces the twenty-sixth season of its award winning art ambassadorial program, Docentitos. This two-week summer camp is for children between the ages of 9 and 12 and takes place in the Weston Art Gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts. Daily activities include classes, artist talks, theater tours, workshops, installation and studio visits, script rehearsals, field trips and art projects. For more information and a registration form, please see attachment below.

Congratulations to Mercy McAuley junior Ali Lewis, who was named a FINALIST in the theatre category of the Cincinnati Arts Association's 2024 Overture Awards! The Overture Awards is a program that recognizes and rewards excellence in the arts among Greater Cincinnati students in grades 9-12. The Overture Awards Final Competition will take place on March 16 at the Aronoff Center!

We love to share exciting news about our St. John's alumni with our school community! If you have an older child or know anyone who graduated from St. John's who has an achievement to share, please send information and any photos to Laura Heidorn at lheidorn@stjohnsdrschool.org.

The Corpus Christi Pastoral Area Food Pantry has an urgent need for the following items: toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissues, and toothpaste. Items can be brought to Church this weekend and placed in the Food Pantry Bins or brought to the Parish Offices during our normal office hours (please note that all parishes offices will be closed on Monday, Feb. 19).

Thank you for your continued support of this ministry.

Both St. John the Baptist and St. John Neumann will host a weekly Fish Fry on Fridays during lent starting February 17th. More details will be published in the coming weeks at www.theblessedtrinityfamily.org.

If you would like to volunteer at the St. John the Baptist Fish Fry, please follow the link below to sign up. Help is needed with taking orders, serving, washing dishes, clean-up and selling Split-the-Pot tickets.

Fish Fry Sign-Up Genius

The St. John Neumann Women’s Organization will host Ladies' Game Night on Saturday, March 2 from 7-11 pm in Daniel Hall. Women 21 and up from any parish are welcome and encouraged to bring friends! There will be Split the Pot and amazing basket raffles! Drinks will be provided. Bring an appetizer, $10, and fun board games of your choice.

Please RSVP to Angela at (513) 520-9516.

Calling All 6th, 7th, & 8th Graders from the Blessed Trinity Family!

Join us for games, snacks, and to get to know other people your age, all centered in the love that Jesus has for you.

We will meet on these dates:

• Wednesday, February 14th from 7-8:30pm St. John Neumann Daniel Hall Friday
• March 1st from 7-8:30pm Corpus Christi Francis Hall
• Wednesday, March 13th from 7-8:30pm St. John Neumann Daniel Hall
• Friday, April 5th from 7-8:30pm Corpus Christi Francis Hall

For more information, please contact Cathy Hale at cathyknueven@hotmail.com.

Save the Date for SCUBA VBS!

Location: St.John the Baptist

July 8th -12th

More details and registration to come.

If you are interested in volunteering, contact Cathy Hale at cathyknueven@hotmail.com