Website: www.stbernardtc.org
Location: 7115 Springdale Road, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Phone: 513-353-4224
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2669823963049217/

• TONIGHT!! Wednesday, September 4: Cub Scout Sign-Up Night, Marian Hall (under church), 6:30pm
• Thursday, September 5: Grades K-4 Curriculum Night, Classrooms, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
  
• Wednesday, September 18: Parents Club Meeting, School Library, 7:00pm
• Sunday, September 22: Turtle Fest, Parish Center and Campus, 12:00pm - 8:00pm

Dear St. Bernard Parents,

It’s “Curriculum Night” week! Thanks to all the parents that came for grades 5-8 Curriculum Night and thanks to all who will come tomorrow for grades K-4. While these Curriculum Night events are not required, it is so much appreciated when parents do come. Showing your support and immersing yourselves in your children’s curriculum and school experience sends a message to your children of just how important school and learning are to you! Your participation affirms our collaboration and teamwork! So thank you!

I wanted to reiterate and share one of the things mentioned at Curriculum Night last night related specifically to student health. While it may be the case that I am “preaching to the choir,” it is important to offer reminders and encourage parents to reevaluate routines, diet, habits, and technology usage for their children. We all want what is best for our children, but social pressures and convenience are always there to tempt us. So here is a quick look at a few things to consider…

Sleep… It is recommended that students ages 6-12 get 9-12 hours of sleep and that students 13 on up get 8-10 hours of sleep. Do your children fall within those frames? Are there changes you can make to allow your child to get more (or better) sleep?

Diet… Again, these are just some things to consider. Serve as much fresh food as possible and take an incremental step away from highly processed and fast food! Limit sweets, candy, sugary drinks, and caffeine! Actually, caffeine should really be avoided altogether. “There is no proven safe dose of caffeine for children.”

Technology/Media… I encourage all parents to visit WaitUntil8th.Org for lots of great information and resources. This next list comes from that site and presents us with the stark and harsh reality surrounding smartphones and screens. Here is what we know: Smartphones are addictive; Smartphones are an academic distraction; Excessive usage affects brain development; Smartphones impair sleep; Screen time impacts behavior; Smartphones interfere with relationships and increase the risk for bullying; Smartphones increase the risk for anxiety/depression; Smartphones expose children to sexual content; Increased Social Media use is linked to the development of Eating Disorders. Wow! That’s a lot to digest! How can we know that and pretend it isn’t true? I again encourage parents to just revisit (or establish) your own family “technology policy.” It is so important for us (as parents) to be intentional about this for our children. While you may not decide to follow WaitUntil8th’s suggestion of waiting until at least 14 years old to give your child a Smartphone, you should at least be intentional and do what’s best for your family, not just what other kids or households are doing.

Thanks for reading through and giving this consideration. We missed many of our families at Curriculum Night last night and wanted to be sure to reach everyone with this food for thought. Creating a healthy baseline for our children will set the stage for us to give them the best educational experience possible. It’s going to be a great academic year - by fostering healthy sleep, dietary, and technology habits we can make it even greater!

Thanks for all you do for our students and the St. Bernard Community! God bless!

Sincerely,

Mr. Ertel

If there are any forms, flyers or materials to be sent home from the school office, we send the majority of them in the Blue Folders on Wednesday. There is one folder for each family sent home with the oldest student. Please make sure that your children are giving you the folder and that you are sending the folder back to school promptly. This is the perfect way to send back any completed forms, payments or other paperwork to the school office.

Each week in this newsletter, I'll list the items that were sent home. Scroll down to see this week's contents.

SIGN-UP NIGHT is TONIGHT, Wednesday, September 4, at 6:30pm in Marian Hall (underneath church).

For information on joining Cub Scouts, please contact:

Rebecca Schmidt

513-245-1566

rebeccajschmidt@yahoo.com

Hi Families!

The Parents Club here at St. Bernard was created with two primary goals: 1) Supporting the students, teachers and administration at St. Bernard, and 2) Fostering and enhancing community engagement within the St. Bernard community. We have a variety of things we do each year to support our school and engage our families. For example for this school year we’ve already purchased playground equipment (balls, jump ropes, etc) for each recess block and provided grants to teachers for classroom supplies. We also plan and host a variety of events for our students and families, such as the Thanksgiving Feast, Family Movie Nights, and the Father/Daughter Dance and Mother/Son Laser Tag outings. New this summer was our Back to School Swim Party, and it was great to see so many of you there! We couldn’t do any of these things without the amazing and generous support of our school families! Parents Club meets monthly and we’d love for you to join us to get to meet new families, share your ideas for events/activities, and learn more about what have planned for this school year. Our next meeting is Wednesday, September 18th at 7pm in the school library! We will also plan to share a calendar for upcoming events in the next few weeks.

In prior years Parents Club has sent home paper forms to collect registration/contact information for each family and to see who is interested in being room parents. This year we are going electronic! We are using the CheddarUp platform this year to collect information for our Parents Club registration, obtain room parent volunteers and for future Parents Club sponsored events. Instructions for CheddarUp are attached and you can complete the form using this link:

https://parents-club-annual-dues.cheddarup.com

Please reach out to Sarah Ross (sarahross09@gmail.com) or Brooke Williams (brooke.williams11@gmail.com) if you have any questions or run into any issues using the registration link. We’re looking forward to a great year!

Remember volleyball sign-ups close on Wednesday the 28th. Our boys basketball sign-ups are now active on the website. We have teams 2-8th. Our 2nd grade team will play in our second grade league. So far Kacie Hardig has offered to help with 2nd grade league, but we could still use one more helper.

I could still use a baseball coordinator if you are able to help out.

Our first association meeting of the year will not be on our normal Thursday. Please keep an eye on the website for the date and time.

Thanks, Joe

jzirkelb@fuse.net

https://www.stbernardathletics.org/

Sign up here.

Payments can be made here.

Players who withdraw after being assigned to a team will be refunded the player fee minus a service charge.

2024-2025 Fees

Grades: 2 thru 4: $55 per player

Grades: 5 thru 8: $85 per player

Grades: High School: $55 per player

We need help facilitating the distribution of lunches for the students. On normal days, we need one extra adult per day to help our staff. On pizza lunch days, we need three adults to help distribute the meals. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!!!

***Please note, all school volunteers must be current and compliant with Safe Parish. (see below)

Mrs. Grosick has worked hard to help the school develop its presence on social media, specifically Facebook. The correct school page is listed under:

St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic School - Cincinnati, OH

Please make sure to follow us and share with any friends and family to help get the word out about the great things that happen in our school! Thanks in advance for your support.

Mrs. Yoder shared a list of adults that are behind on Safe Parish requirements. Please make sure you are keeping your account current so that you are able to coach and volunteer around the parish and at school. Anyone not up-to-date will not be allowed to be in contact with children. Thank you for your diligence!

Please use the link below to register with Safe Parish in order to be able to volunteer around the school and parish! Once your registration is complete, you'll login quarterly to keep your certification up-to-date.

THE PASSCODE YOU NEED TO START REGISTRATION IS: protectcincy

If you have any questions or problems, please contact Barb Yoder in the Parish Office at:

yoder@stbernardtc.org

513-353-4207 x5

Please return all blue folders to school each week.

This week's contents:

• Turtle Fest Flyer
• Turtle Fest Order Form
• Harrison Arts Flyer
• 2023-24 Yearbooks (according to orders placed in the spring) -- Plenty available for $25 each in the office! Contact Mr. Glassmeyer or send in payment labeled "Yearbook".

Blue folders will go home with the OLDEST student in each family on Wednesdays, as needed, throughout the school year. These will contain any important handouts or forms that need to be submitted in paper form. Anytime we can share documents in a digital format to provide information or link you to online resources, we will do so instead of filling your home with papers.