Number 12

A Short School Prayer

Almighty God we give you our school.

We give you all the teachers and staff who work here.

We give you all the children who study here.

We pray our school would be a place of great discovery, adventure, and creativity.

May it be a place where we love to learn and where we learn to love.

A place where every one is respected and all are deeply valued.

We ask all this through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

Dear Parent/Guardians,

I hope everyone is enjoying our warm weather now. It is nice to see the students running around in the yard playing their games. Students have been undergoing STAR testing these past two weeks, and the results will assist the teachers with their planning for the next few months. Please encourage your students to stay positive with their studies and to do their best. That is all we can ask from them.

In addition to STAR testing, we are also conducting COVID testing, helping families identify if their child is positive or negative with the virus. We are now getting a quicker turnaround with results. The county changing modified quarantine for those close contacts who are vaccinated or unvaccinated is certainly making life easier. Having the vaccine makes a big difference with modified quarantine. If you or your child is not vaccinated, please go to https://myturn.ca.gov/ to book a vaccine appointment or seek advice from your primary health care provider.

Thanks to the county office of education, we will be receiving N95 masks for our students and a number of rapid test kits. We will be testing students tomorrow with Predecine, and I hope you have had a chance to register your child. If not, click here to register.

Over the past few weeks, we have seen more positive cases with our students. As soon as we become aware of a case, the positive child or adult needs to follow the county guidelines for isolation. School administration will notify families of potential close contact exposures. So far, this process has been working out well. All questions should be directed to covidtest@ssfallsoulsschool.org.

Registration

Re-registration will be occurring from March 1st to March 18th. During this time, you will be submitting the registration fee of $330.00. Please register early to accommodate all the students who wish to return and to admit new students for the new school year.

Catholic School Identity Survey

Our Catholic identity is of the utmost importance to our school. Every year we undertake a deep look at a component of this identity with the intention of improving it. We value your input in this endeavor. Please take four minutes to complete the following survey found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R5MSKZH.

Kindergarten Enrollments

A reminder to families that if you have a kindergarten-age child for the next school year, you will need to enroll the child now. Please contact Mrs. Cierra at info@ssfallsoulsschool.org for information.

Tuition and Family Agreement

A preliminary budget has been completed at this stage, and to balance it, we have had to increase tuition by 4%. This would align with the salary and medical increase that occur each year. The Family Agreement has been under discussion at the school board for the past month and will be finalized at the next board meeting next week. There will be a change with the service component for those who choose participation status. Currently, we have the agreement under categories, and this likely will be changed to an hour system where families will be required to complete a minimum of 40 hours for the year. The revised activities and the number of hours per activity will be released after the next board meeting. Very simply, participating families will need to accrue 40 hours by selecting various activities. There will be an app for you to register the hours completed for an activity, and those hours will need to be signed off by the coordinator or a board member. The revision of the family agreement has been long overdue. I thank my administration and the board for this review and for coming up with the new system, which ultimately will be fairer.

4th Lane Repairs

Fr. Casimir and I met with the city engineer to hear their proposal for work on 4th lane, the driveway into the lower yard. The city has proposed a solution for run-off water from the upper yard, which drains into the circle and stagnates. The council will redirect this water to the lower yard to escape into the large drains we have at the fence line. The council will need to close 4th Lane for a week for this work to happen. We will redirect our morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up for the construction work when this occurs. When we are informed of this date, I will let you know about the changes for that week.

Grade 6 Haiku’s

During Catholic School Week, our sixth graders had a writing assignment to create a Haiku. I was very impressed with the end product from the students, and I wish to thank Mrs. Allen for this lesson with the students. You can view the end product by clicking here.

Friday Mass

Due to a number of classes being on modified quarantine, we will continue Mass online on Friday.

President’s Day Holiday

There is no school on Monday, February 21st, as we will be celebrating President’s Day.

Spring Photos

Spring Photos will be happening on Wednesday, February 23rd. If you do not wish your child to have a portrait taken, please have your child wear the school uniform.

Grade 8 Graduation Photos

Graduation photos for 8th grade will be on February 16thh

God Bless and Stay Safe,

Vincent Riener

Principal

The school mitigation plan has been updated to reflect new guidance from the county health department. Refer to the mitigation plan for information on close contact exposure or isolation. Please email covidtest@ssfallsoulsschool.org for questions.

To ensure internet and digital safety along with preventing distractions that arise with students having a cellphone in their possession, the School Advisory Board met on Tuesday, December 14th, and agreed on a policy update for electronic equipment. The updated policy will take effect January 2022.

8.9.3 Electronic Equipment

Electronic equipment, including radios, tape players, MP3 players, iPods, Walkman, electronic games, graphic calculators, pagers, laser pointers and other electronic wireless equipment are not allowed on campus. If a student in grades Kindergarten through fourth must bring a cell phone to school, the cell phone must be kept in his/her backpack and remain off while on school grounds and in the buildings. If a student in grades fifth through eighth must bring a cell phone to school, the cell phone will be collected by the homeroom teacher at the beginning of the school day. The cell phone must be turned off and will be kept in a secure and locked box inside the classroom. The homeroom teacher will return the cell phone prior to dismissal at the end of the school day. Emergency messages can be relayed to students via the school office. In the event a student is found with such equipment, the student is to surrender the item/s, parents will be contacted to come to the school office to collect such item/s, and a meeting with the principal or vice principal will take place.

Dear All Souls Families,

You can now pay and add credit to your child/children's cafeteria account through SchoolSpeak. Your payment will be processed through PayPal with a 3% convenience fee for all transactions.

Sign-in to your SchoolSpeak account and select "Lunch Order" in the quick links menu on the left. The "Pay" tab will direct you to your payment options. You may pay the cafeteria balance through your existing PayPal account or as a guest using your credit or debit card. You may also add credit to your child/children's cafeteria account. If you wish, you may still make cash or check payments to the school office.

Please note, for the families that have a credit card on file I will no longer be charging your credit card for lunch payments. You are responsible for paying and adding credit to your cafeteria account.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards,

Ms. Escobar

14 Staff Development Meeting - 12:20pm Dismissal

15 School Assembly - 2:30pm

15 School Board Meeting - 6:30pm - Annex Meeting Room 21 President's Day - Holiday

16 Grade 8 Grad Portraits NEW DATE!!

21 President's Day - Holiday

23 Spring Pictures

24 First Communion Parent Meeting - 7pm