Welcome to the 24-25 School Year!

Dear Holy Family School Parents and Guardians,

We are deeply grateful for your trust in us to educate and nurture your children. It is with great honor and pleasure that we welcome you to the 2024-2025 school year! We hope you all have had a relaxing and fun summer break. I am extremely proud to serve as the Principal of this amazing community and to continue to support the students of Holy Family School! As a school, we are committed to infusing Christian values and continuing to strive for academic excellence and the social and emotional well-being of all our students.

We will be hosting an Open House on Wednesday, August 28th, from 1:00-7:00 pm. Please scroll to the section titled “Open House 1:1 Meetings” for instructions on how to sign your child(ren) up to meet their teacher.

Our school theme this year is “God Is On The Move.” As you know, the Catholic Church has been on a pilgrimage to consecrate America and the world to the Eucharist. It only seems fitting that our theme resembles this message. We live in troubled times, times of confusion and division. Our country is under siege, and so is our faith. It is time to put God at the forefront of our lives and see how he moves within us and around us. The theme song for this school year (and lyrics) can be found at the bottom of this newsletter.

Our incredible staff of educators have been in school throughout the summer to prepare classrooms for the new school year. We are grateful to our amazing custodial staff, who worked all summer to get our school in pristine shape. Our secretarial staff, Mrs. Drevlow, and Mrs. Clink, are working hard to ensure a smooth start for staff, students, and families. I would also like to extend a special thank you to the Marketing Committee, PAC and the Fall Dinner Committee for their hard work over the summer to keep families informed and preparation for the coming school year.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new families. Whether you are joining us from another school in the district, have relocated from another city, or are sending your first child to Kindergarten, we are excited to share with you all that Holy Family School has to offer. We believe you will soon feel that Holy Family School is a special place for all children. Our educators, support staff, families, and other education partners are all prepared to welcome you into the Holy Family School community.

At Holy Family School, we believe that a strong partnership with families is the key to a successful and healthy transition to school. We understand that the start of a new school year can be an anxious time for students, and we are committed to supporting them through social-emotional learning and building a strong classroom community. Your involvement and support are invaluable in this process. We encourage you to stay connected and informed by following our school website and the monthly announcements sent through JMC, and to actively participate in your child's educational journey. Please be sure to check out our Facebook page for information as well.

I eagerly anticipate the start of the new school year and look forward to continuing our collaboration to provide your children with an effective and engaging educational experience. As always, we will look to our families to be positive partners in their children’s educational journey. Stay healthy, stay positive, and stay connected. Together, we can make this school year a memorable and successful one.

May God Bless you,

Ms. Otte

At the end of the 23-24 school year, we indicated that we would be starting the school year off with two parent transport days. On Tuesday, September 3rd and Wednesday, September 4th, you will need to transport your child(ren) to AND from school as bussing will not be available. Bussing through the public school will begin on Thursday, September 5th.

In order for transportation to run smoothly it will be necessary for everyone to adhere to the following pickup and drop off schedule for the parent transport days.

Morning Drop Off:

All students must be dropped off in the church parking lot, not in front of the school. To ensure the safety of the children and good traffic flow when dropping off, we ask that at least 5 cars pull through the church parking lot onto Birch Street (past the barricades and along the curb by the playground) and 5 cars line up in the parking lot and have your children exit the vehicles on the passenger side (10 cars will be dropping off at the same time). Staff will be directing traffic to ensure a smooth process.

After School Pick Up:

All students will be released on first Bell at 2:45

Families picking up only one child should pick up in front of the school.

All other students should be picked up in the church parking lot.

Parent drop off/pick up location: St. Paul’s Church parking lot (not in front of the school)

Student drop off time: no earlier than 7:55 a.m. Doors open at 8:00 am.

Staff will be supervising this area.

School Start Time: 8:15 am

School End Time: 2:45 pm

Open House for the 2024-2025 School Year will take place with individual 15-minute "Meet the Teacher" sessions. Because all children are welcome, we ask that all family members remain together throughout their visit to the school. Students may bring in their classroom supplies during this time.

You may now sign up for time slots for Wednesday, August 28th from 1:00 - 7:00. All time slots will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, if you have multiple children at HFS, you may want to sign up quickly to ensure you can find back-to-back time slots.

To sign up for an Open House time slot, please follow these instructions:

1. Log in to your JMC account on a desktop computer (you will not be able to use a mobile device).

2. Click "Teacher Conference Scheduler" on the dashboard.

3. From the drop-down under "Appointment Time", select the time that works best for your child(ren).

4. Click "Logout" in the dashboard.

Some things to note:

1. You may sign up for only one time slot per teacher.

2. You do not need to click "Save" after selecting the conference times and you will not receive a confirmation of the times. To re-check your signup times, simply log back in to JMC, navigate to the Teacher Conference Scheduler and your times will be selected.

NOTE: In order to ensure that everyone has quality time with their teacher, please be on time and respectful of the time allotted. Some classrooms will be on a tight schedule.

The school office will be open to the public Monday and Wednesday, August 19 - August 28, from 8:00 to 12:00. The office will be closed on Tuesday, August 27th.

By now, you should have received an email from each of your child(ren)'s teachers welcoming you to the new school year. If you did not, please call the school office so we can verify we have all of your contact information correct.

Beginning in 2024-2025, we will have our own full-time phy-ed/health teacher on staff. Please welcome Macy Hanson to HFS! Macy will teach phy-ed for grades K-2, and health for grades 3-6 health. Mr. Knoblauch will contine to be at HFS in the afternoons working with grades 3 - 6.

Below is Macy's welcome letter for students.

For the 2024-2025 school year, the public school will be changing from monthly 2-hour late starts to monthly 2-hour early releases. Those dates are marked on the school calendar.

EXCEPTIONS: There will be no early release for Holy Family School for the following months:

• November due to parent/teacher conferences
• April due to observance of Holy Thursday

Student dismissal will be the same as it is for any other day of the week but will be two hours earlier. At Holy Family School, first bell will ring at approximately 12:45 (all students riding the bus) and second bell will ring at approximately 12:50 (all remaining students). Pickup procedures will be the same as any other day. On these days, students must be picked up no later than 1:00 PM. Staff will not be available to supervise. This is staff inservice time, so being prompt at pickup is important.

Just a reminder to sign up to attend our Fall Dinner on Saturday, September 7th. Details can be found below.

You should have received raffle tickets to sell at the end of the 23-24 school year. Please continue to turn in all sold AND unsold raffle tickets to the school office. You can stop in during office hours, or bring them with you to Open House. You may also stop in to the school, the parish offices or MN National Bank to purchase additional raffle tickets.

Everyone is encouraged to come out and share some good laughs with the comedian after dinner. Event tickets are available for purchase by contacting the school office, parish office or Minnesota National Bank, or registering online at https://givebutter.com/falldinner2024. It's sure to be a good time!

Breakfast and lunch will continue to be provided to all students at no extra cost. The breakfast menu will not have chocolate milk provided as an option. Instead students will have the option of 1% and skim milk. Chocolate milk will be an option for lunch.

Students having cold lunch will need to pay for milk if they want it. The cost is $.50 cents per carton. Free milk is not provided unless the student is eating hot lunch at school. Students have the option to pay that day but we prefer that parents drop off cash or a check in the office to put money in their family lunch account.

Students are strongly encouraged to bring their own water bottle for personal use throughout the week then bring them home over the weekend to have them cleaned. Please be sure they are properly labeled with the student's first and last name. Due to a number of spills at church during the last school year, water bottles should seal enough that they will not spill when tipped over - please keep all water bottles with straws (Stanley mugs) at home.

As referenced in the Parent/Student handbook, parents are required to contact the school for any absences their child may have (scheduled or unscheduled). For any pre-scheduled appointments, in order to be counted as an "Excused" absence, you should obtain a note from the provider to be turned into the school office when the student returns to school. Absences for appointments where proof is not provided will be marked "Unexcused".

If your child will be absent from school due to an illness, parents should report the absence each day the child is gone - we will not assume a student is sick more than one day without hearing from a parent. You may report your child's illness to the school via phone, email or through the JMC Family app on your mobile device. Instructions on how to view and report absences through the JMC Family app can be found below.

For more detailed information on absence procedures, please review our Parent/Student handbook which will be posted on the school website.

The public school uses SchoolMessenger as a way to communicate important announcements (i.e. weather cancellations, etc.) to all families in the district. If you would like to receive these announcements, please follow the steps on the image below. Note: all weather-related announcements affecting a school day will be communicated to you from HFS via text, phone and/or email.

Below is an update on some of the Capital Campaign project and other happenings at school:

• Locks—the internal doors are being re-keyed, and exterior locks are being put in place.
• Kitchen—the kitchen should be complete in the next two weeks, this includes a new range hood, stove and painting.
• Lockers - The lockers have been installed in the 1st and 2nd, and 5th and 6th grade hallways. They look great!
• Cameras/wiring—The cameras' installation is completed, and the final hookup should be completed before school starts, bringing us one step closer to a safer environment.
• Cafeteria tables- the new cafeteria tables have arrived and look amazing!. They add a fresh and inviting touch to our school's dining area.
  
• Boiler - the burner has been replaced.

Our current balance is $155,297 raised which is $44,000 short of our $200,000 for a $100,000 match! Your additional help in reaching this goal would be greatly appreciated!

Holy Family School will transition from MNSAA, our current accreditation program, to WCEA (Western Catholic Education Association). This is being done at the direction of Bishop Neary. HFS is signed up for the following: WCEA Self Study will take place during the 26-27 school year, and an on-site visit will occur during the 27-28 school year. Schools signing up for this round of accreditation will have their intake visits in November 2024. If you would like more information on this, please reach out to Ms. Otte.

Below is the new theme for the 2024-2025 school year. We have also included the theme song for the year which will be played at all monthly assemblies. Feel free to have the kids start learning the words now!