Welcome back, St. John PA! We are excited to begin the 2023-2024 school year and welcome our new PA Co-Chairs, Rachael Groark and Maile Sullivan. They have hit the ground running, organizing the Back to School BBQ and filling PA grade-level roles. It’s going to be a great year! See a summary of what was discussed at our first meeting below.
PA Participation: Interested in being a part of the PA? The Parent Association facilitates, encourages and ensures ongoing community-building by providing activities, events, and service to the parish and school community. All parents/guardians of students attending St. John School are members of the PA and are welcome to join meetings. Check out this summary of the Parent Association for more information and a calendar of upcoming events. If you want to get more involved, we are still looking to fill some grade-level PA roles.
Overview of Grade-Level PA Roles: To support PA activities throughout the school year, each grade aims to be represented by two individuals in each of the following roles. If you are interested, sign up here! If you are new to St. John or haven’t held a role with the PA before, don’t hesitate! There are so many people available to support you if you take a role. We are all in this together!
- Room Parent: Acts as teacher liaison, handles parent communications, and coordinates any teacher/classroom needs and opportunities for involvement.
- PA Rep: Supports as many school-wide and grade-level events as possible, encourages others to volunteer in support of school and parish events, attends monthly PA meetings, and organizes grade-level socials.
- Hospitality Chair: Oversees gift-giving for teachers/assistants and school staff throughout the year, coordinates grade-level voluntary contributions, and manages gifting budget.
- Auction Liaison: Serves as main point of contact for class auction information, coordinates class Auction Package, and manages the class Auction Art Project or appoints an Art Lead to design/create a class Art Project.
Leadership Roles: To support School and PA activities, we have a great group of leads this year.
- Stephanie Glassburn, Communications Lead, manages communications for the PA at the school level and partners with Room Parents to support parent/guardian communications.
- Chris Sourov, Hospitality Lead, oversees the grade-level Hospitality Chairs and the All-Staff appreciation events as well as Coffee & Donuts for the parish.
- Madeline Pennington, Events Lead, manages PA-sponsored events and brings all the fun to our community with the Back to School BBQ, Bingo Night, Spring Dance and more.
- Amy Vithayathil, Volunteer Lead, holds a new position for this year aimed at creating greater visibility for all the volunteer opportunities across our School and Parish. She will certainly help us all achieve our volunteer hours for the year.
- Julia Tsurusaki and Kirsten Evangelista, Welcome Committee Co-Chairs, ensure all new families feel welcome in the St. John community and get them information they need for a smooth transition.
- Lauren Exnicios, Auction Chair, leads our Annual Auction and the team who helps make our Auction so fabulous.
Our first PA-sponsored Parent Education Night will take place the evening of Tuesday, October 24 and will feature a conversation with Erin Schoenfelder Gonzalez, Ph.D., from Seattle Children’s Hospital. She will focus on Executive Function (EF), activities in the brain that help us plan, organize, and manage our thoughts, actions, and emotions. For kids, this means things like paying attention, setting goals, and controlling impulses. Developing strong executive functions is crucial for success in school and in everyday life. More information to come.
Welcome Committee: As the school year begins, look out for new families and welcome them to our community. If you are new to the St. John community, Welcome! Small group sessions to answer all your questions are coming soon. More information to come from the Welcome Committee.
The 2024 St. John Auction will take place on Friday, March 15. The Auction theme will be revealed at Curriculum Night this month. There will be many opportunities to volunteer to support the Auction.
Jog-a-thon fundraising is currently underway. We are working toward attaining our ambitious goal of $130,000 by September 22. This year, if we meet our goal, all students will participate in the ever-popular Cash Grabbin’ Gekko game! *Room Parents* Please encourage parents to continue fundraising efforts to help us achieve our goal! All students are encouraged to participate in fundraising and will run/walk in the Jog-a-thon on Friday, September 15. Check out the Jog-a-thon information packet for scheduled jog times, prizes, and more!
Greenwood Scouts will hold their first pack meeting this Wednesday, September 13 at 6:30pm in Egan Hall. All are welcome to join. Reach out to cubmaster.chiefseattle121@gmail.com with any questions.
The Back to School BBQ will surely prove to be an amazing time as we expect record attendance! Can’t wait to see you there.
School Updates from our Admin Team
- Building Improvements: We are enjoying the new ventilation system and the new doors and trim on our Portables.
- Our new Library is located in Portable Room 40 and has begun to welcome students! We are so excited to have a library back at St. John.
- Safety Updates: We are partnering with safety consultancy group, Highlander Six Consulting, on safety training and improved safety protocols.
- Our 2023-2024 School Year Goals include 1) living the St. John mission and leading the students to meet the student learning expectations, 2) actively participating in Partners in the Gospel and encouraging all families to do so, and 3) completing the year one activities outlined for accreditation goals.
- Bump It Up, our adult volleyball league fundraiser, is returning soon! Look for more information to come in NewsViews.
- We need help with our Crossing Guards and Recess Monitoring. If you are interested in helping, reach out to Jonna Skokan (jskokan@st-johnschool.org) and Melissa Heron (myanik1@msn.com), respectively.
Any Questions? Reach out to Parent_Association@st-johnschool.org.
Next PA Meeting: Our October PA meeting will be held on Friday, October 6 at 8:30am in Egan Hall. Hope to see you there!
