Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have officially been in school for one week, and the students and staff have done a remarkable job adjusting to new routines and health protocols. I am very proud of the all of them for their resilience and commitment to get the school year underway. Also, I applaud you for doing everything you can to keep your children safe from any exposure to Covid-19 outside of school. 

As you read in previous emails this past week, we faced the possibility of a Covid-19 exposure within our school. Thankfully, the family involved received notification of a positive Covid-19 exposure and immediately called the school. That initial reported exposure provided a few critical lessons to help protect our community. First, the communication between our families and the nurse is vital to containing possible exposures and avoiding an outbreak among our students, staff, and family members. Secondly, the processes we have established led us to quickly identify students who could have been exposed and provide instructions for quarantine. Thirdly, families doing everything correctly at home such as masking, social distancing, staying away from crowds, and frequent handwashing, may still have to quarantine. This may happen to your family, despite everyone’s best efforts. This is a time that the entire Saint Ignatius family needs to unite for the good of the whole community.

Our actions in our free time could impact others in ways we cannot predict. Please remember that what we do over this holiday weekend could impact other people in our community and school or vulnerable family members. I realize that people are getting cabin fever, as am I, and want to see their family and friends. I ask that you reconsider such plans for this short time. The more groups of people we are exposed to, the higher possibility of a Covid-19 exposure or illness. This could lead to students and staff being exposed and then sent home to quarantine.

I know people would never intentionally hurt one another, but please remember that an exposure at school or outside of school leads to students and staff being sent home for up to 14 days. Adopting the Covid-19 addendum to the handbook into our everyday habits is necessary for our success in keeping our students and staff in school. I feel obliged to remind everyone that face-to-face instruction will continue only if we follow these Covid-19 and accept responsibility for seeking our neighbor’s good when away from school.

I pray that your family safely enjoys a nice long holiday weekend! May we continue to practice what Saint Ignatius challenged all to do with our lives, 

"Ad maiorem Dei gloriam," or AMDG, 

make your lives and actions "for the greater glory of God."

In Christ's Peace,

Kevin Vance

Principal

Over the past few years, Saint Ignatius School has been adopting more measures to support students' social-emotional health and well-being. Two years ago, we were a pilot site for a new social-emotional screener conducted by the staff in grades 6, 7, and 8. Last year, we incorporated grades 4 and 5 and had students self-evaluate themselves in five areas: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and social awareness. The students' responses then led to individual or group assistance and some school-wide programming.

Over the summer, the school leadership team reviewed several social-emotional programs that would be implemented across all grades in the school, and a decision was made to use the Caring School Community program. This program provides weekly activities that are taught each week by the classroom teacher, and also includes school-wide initiatives such as a buddy program. In addition, it permeates the discipline system that is used at school through the setting of norms and rules.

In our opening Teacher In-service, the staff walked through an activity in which they identified the top five ways they felt students should treat each other this year. The five norms are as follows: 

"We are respectful, We are kind, We try our best, 

We make good decisions, and we have a positive attitude." 

During the year, students will better understand what is meant by these norms through stories, real-life situations, and direct instruction. The program's goal is to continue to build a school culture and individual skills, so children are healthy, happy, confident, and successful in school and life.

Some of the skills taught in the program include: 

**Recognizing emotions and expressing them appropriately

**Persevering through challenges 

**Considering the effects of behavior and/or decisions on others

**Including one another

**Agreeing and disagreeing in a respectful manner

**Considering how to make amends after causing harm, and many others.

It will take two years to implement the program entirely, and we are very excited about the possibilities this program will bring to the classroom teacher, the staff, and students. Implementing this program also demonstrates our commitment to living out the six core principles of Saint Ignatius, including educating the whole child: spiritually, academically, artistically, physically, and social-emotionally.

St. Ignatius uses a program called Renaissance for a variety of activities, including benchmark assessments and progress monitoring. Benchmark assessments are taken 3 times per year in both reading and math. Students in grades 2-8 take the Star Reader and Star Math tests. Students in kindergarten take the Star Early Literacy test, which measures foundation skills in reading and math. The Star Early Literacy test is also used at the beginning of first grade. Later in the year most first graders transition to the Star Reading test.

In past years, we have emailed or printed test results to parents. This year, we are asking parents to sign in to the Renaissance Home Connect portal where you can see your child's scores and sign up for email notifications to receive scores when your child takes a test. Home Connect also lets you see your child's Accelerated Reader library and quiz scores. Usernames and passwords were sent out to parents via email this week.

St. Ignatius Home Connect Link:
https://global-zone50.renaissance-go.com/studentprogress/homeconnect?t=113046

If you have not done so already, please go into ALMA and complete your Verification forms as soon as possible! Thank you