SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT MEMO
Everything You Want to Know
Week of November 28, 2022
FROM THE PTC LEADERSHIP:
Hello SJF Families, we hope you had a fun and special Thanksgiving! As we gear up for the holiday season and some exciting events over the next few months, we thought a quick summary of what the PTC is, what we do, and what our goals are, would be informative for our newer families and serve as a nice refresher for our longstanding ones.
The PTC (Parent Teacher Club) is tasked with raising $140,000 annually that goes directly to the school budget. This money supports the school’s mission of educating the whole child, ensures that faculty and staff compensation aligns with the Archdiocese pay scale, and funds supplemental programs ensuring success for all SJF students. St. John Fisher’s tuition does not cover the actual cost to educate a student. For the 2022-2023 school year, the actual cost is $10,950, however, the tuition is $8,250 for parishioners and $10,750 for non parishioners. The money raised by the PTC makes up for this discrepancy, contributing 5.6% of the school’s overall budget.
The PTC gets to raise this money in lots of exciting ways and cultivate a fun and caring community while we do it! Traditionally, pre-COVID, this was accomplished with three major fundraisers and events: the school auction, the jogathon, and the community spaghetti dinner. As is true with so many things through the COVID pandemic, this model was adjusted based on ever changing guidelines and needs for our entire community. The biggest fundraising shift came with adjusting our auction from an in-person event to an online “virtual” event and to add a “days of giving” campaign.
Now that the world is shifting back to pre-COVID format, we took the time to reflect upon the most successful features of the auction and the “days of giving” campaign and for this year, in lieu of an auction, we will have Cardinal Week! This will be a “days of giving” type fundraising week from February 6th through the 10th. The week will be full of fun (such as themed free dress for the kids) and favorite traditions (such as easel parties!), as well as some new ones, and will wrap up with a big party to celebrate our community the evening of Friday, February 10th. We hope this model will be a great merge of fulfilling our fundraising goals and bringing the community together to celebrate.
We are honored to be a part of such an amazing community and look forward to seeing you at our Parent Information Night, Wednesday 11/30 at 5:30 and the Cardinal Christmas Fest on Saturday 12/3 from 1-4!
Thank you!
Megan & Drew King - PTC President Couple
Erin & Pat McClaskey – PTC Vice President Couple
CALENDAR REMINDERS:
Tuesday 11/29: SVDP Christmas Food Drive Begins, 3pm Chess Wizards, 3:15-4:30pm Fiddler on the Roof auditions (Day 1), 3:15-3:45pm Gr 5-8 Study Hall
Wednesday 11/30: 7:30am Glee Club in church, 1:00pm School Mass (5th Gr), 2:00pm dismissal, 2:15-3:30pm Fiddler on the Roof auditions (Day 2), 5:30pm Parent Information Night w/ Dr. Moshofsky
Thursday 12/1: 7:30am Glee Club in gym, 3:15-3:45pm Gr 5-8 Study Hall
Friday 12/2: End of 1st Trimester-FREE DRESS, NOON DISMISSAL, Extended Care open 12-6
Saturday 12/3: 8th Gr HSPT, 10:15am 2nd Gr First Reconciliation, Cardinal Christmas Bazaar from 1-4pm
Tuesday 12/6: 3-4 Chess Wizards, 3:15-4:30pm Fiddler rehearsal
Wednesday 12/7: 7:30am Glee Club in church, NO School Mass today, Family group activity from 1:15-1:45pm, 2:00pm dismissal, 2:30pm Faculty meeting
Thursday 12/8: Report Cards distributed, 7:30am Glee club in gym, 2:00pm Mass for Feast of the Immaculate Conception, 3:15-4:30 Fiddler rehearsal, 3:15-3:45pm Gr 5-8 study hall, 6:00pm SAC/PTC Exec. meeting
Friday 12/9: 6:30-8:30pm Middle School Dance at Holy Trinity (6th - 8th graders register at: https://forms.gle/
PLAYGROUND DUTY REMINDERS:
Playground duty is from 11:25-1:00. The November and December duty calendars are on your FACTS Family Portal under Resource Documents. On your assigned day, please check in at the school office and then head to the Corrado Family Center! It is important to arrive on time on your scheduled playground duty date. When you don’t show up, three different teachers must give up their lunch periods to cover the primary, intermediate, and middle school lunch recess periods. If you have a conflict with your scheduled duty date, or you are able to help out on a date that needs coverage, please contact our playground duty coordinator, Holly Hunt, at mailto:[email protected]. Thank you for helping our students in the lunchroom and on the playground.
Tuesday 11/29: LEWIS
Wednesday 11/30: HAGERMAN
Thursday 12/1: BERNATZ
Friday 12/2: NOON DISMISSAL
Monday 12/5: ORTIZ
Tuesday 12/6 PARTOVI
Wednesday 12/7: WALLACE
Thursday 12/8: WILDE
Friday 12/9: KOPETZ
CHILD CARE AVAILABLE FOR PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT, 11/30
Child care will be provided at no charge for tomorrow evening’s Parent Information Night with Dr. Moshofsky, although you must RSVP to Susan Robinson if you will be dropping your child(ren) off so she can plan accordingly. [email protected]
EXTENDED CARE
Extended care will be open this Friday, 12/2, from 12-6pm. The cost is $25 per child. Please let Susan Robinson know if you will be attending on this day.
The December 2022 extended care signup calendar is attached to this SAM and is on your FACTS Family Portal under Resource Documents. Please sign up for your December extended care coverage.
PREPARING FOR ADVENT
Our school has a number of ways to help us prepare for Christmas. First, we will celebrate with an all-school Advent prayer service each Monday at 8:15am in the old cafeteria. Our faculty, staff and students will be leading these prayer services and families are welcome to attend. Additionally, we will be continuing our focus on the virtues and concentrate on the Advent virtues of prayerfulness, humility, obedience, generosity, gratitude, patience and docility. Attached is a great worksheet of how the students can know and live these virtues. Finally, we have created a “December Kindness Calendar,” that students can use as their own Advent calendar preparing for Christmas. Feel free to download the calendar from this newsletter to help your child incorporate kindness into each day during Advent.
CHESS WIZARDS WINTER SESSION
Registration is open for the Winter session of Chess Wizards. This session will be on Wednesdays from 2-3pm, starting Jan. 11 and going through March 22. Registration is online only at chesswizards.com, or using the QR code on the attached flyer.
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, JR. AUDITIONS ARE THIS WEEK
Attention 5th-8th grade students: Auditions for this year’s middle school musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Jr. are happening today and tomorrow. Please note that everyone who is auditioning must attend both audition sessions. Details for the audition process are on the attached audition notice.
SJF CHRISTMAS BAZAAR
We are very excited to kick off the Season with our fellow Cardinals! This is an event for big kids and little kids.
We will have a square for ticket sales payment at the door if needed.
Most of our vendors are only taking cash or checks. Peachtree Gifts will be accepting cards and cash.
We still need volunteers for the day of event, clean up (double hours)
We hope to see you all there!
Please review the available slots below and click on the button to sign up. Thank you! www.signupgenius.com
SVDP FOOD DRIVE
Our local St. Vincent de Paul food drive begins today and extends through Wednesday, December 14th. In an effort to help ensure a variety of foods/toiletries are collected, we recommend donating the following items:
K, 4th and 8th: Pasta, soup, chili, toothbrushes/toothpaste
1st and 7th: Brown and white rice, toilet paper
2nd and 6th: Canned meat, tuna and shampoo
3rd and 5th: Canned veggies, canned fruit, deodorant
CHAPERONES NEEDED FOR THE SNOWBALL DANCE
Holy Trinity School is excited to host the SnowBall Dance for 6th, 7th and 8th graders on December 9.. They are looking for HT, StC and SJF parents to help chaperone. Familiar faces from all three schools will help the check-in process go quickly.
If you'd like to chaperone, please sign up here.
Remember, all students need this consent form signed by Wednesday, December 7th in order to attend the dance. If you have any questions, please contact Ashley Sheridan, HT Principal, at mailto:[email protected]. We are really looking forward to the SnowBall!
Please click the links below for more information