9/13/24 PA Meeting

Welcome back, St. John PA! We are already off to a great start for the 2024-2025 school year. Thank you to everyone who joined the Back to School BBQ as well as our first meeting of the year, led by Rachael Groark and Maile Sullivan, PA Co-Chairs for the year. See a summary of what was discussed below.

Next PA Meeting: Our October PA meeting will be held on Friday, October 11 at 8:30am in Egan Hall. Hope to see you there!

PA Participation: The Parent Association facilitates, encourages and ensures ongoing community-building by providing activities, events, and service to the parish and school community. Every St. John parent/guardian/caregiver is a member of the PA and welcome to join meetings. Check out this summary for more information and a calendar of upcoming events.

Grade-Level PA Roles: We still have some great PA opportunities supporting each grade. Check out the available positions and sign up today. This is a great way to support PA activities, work with others in your grade, and complete your volunteer hours for the year. Ideally, we like two individuals in each role in every grade.

  • Room Parent: Acts as teacher liaison, handles parent communications, and coordinates any teacher/classroom needs and opportunities for involvement.
  • PA Rep: Volunteers to support 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, organizes grade-level socials, and serves as liaison for your grade level team.
  • Hospitality Chair: Oversees gift-giving for teachers/assistants and school staff throughout the year, coordinates grade-level voluntary contributions, and manages gift giving 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.

  • Rachael Groark and Maile Sullivan, PA Co-Chairs, lead, manage, and oversee all PA activities and lead monthly meetings. They also interface with Admin and represent PA on School Commission.
  • Stephanie Glassburn, Communications Lead, manages communications for the PA at the school level and partners with Room Parents to support parent/guardian communications.
  • Aleah Valley and Liz Le Johnson, Hospitality Co-Leads, oversee the grade-level Hospitality Chairs and the All-Staff appreciation events as well as Coffee & Donuts for the parish.
  • Alex Punsalan, Events Lead, manages PA-sponsored events such as the Back to School BBQ, Bingo Night, Spring Dance and more.
  • Amy Vithayathil, Volunteer Lead, focuses on creating greater visibility for all the volunteer opportunities across our School and Parish.
  • Ainslee Wagner and Jean Magbitang, Welcome Committee Co-Leads, ensure all new families feel welcome in the St. John community and get them information they need for a smooth transition. They facilitate the Buddy Family program, summer play dates, and much more.
  • Lauren and Andrew Exnicios, Auction Co-Chairs, lead our Annual Auction and the team who helps make our Auction so fabulous.
  • Megan Richards and Kate Demotts, School Garden Co-Leads, strive to make the School Garden beautiful while integrating what students are learning in the class with what’s going on in the garden. Go check it out – the entrance is just south of the portables.

WhatsApp Groups: To increase ease of communication, many grades have started WhatsApp groups. Reach out to your Room Parent or PA Rep if you would like to join your grade’s WhatsApp group. To ensure sharing of contact information and allow messages to be sent across grades/classes, we now have a WhatsApp community as well. When you join your grade/class group, you automatically become part of the community, allowing messages to be sent to all groups at once. Don’t forget – please be responsible when sending messages in WhatsApp groups.

Volunteer Pool: There are many opportunities to volunteer at St. John! Make sure you are aware of the volunteer opportunities that suit your interests and skills by signing up for the Volunteer Pool. This is not a commitment; you will be contacted when opportunities/needs arise. Parents, caregivers, and extended family are welcome to volunteer within our community. All volunteers must complete Safe Environment Training.

Recess Monitoring is a great volunteer opportunity that allows you to watch your kids play, meet their friends, and see what’s really happening at school. Join the awesome crew of volunteers supporting recess everyday between 11:05am and 12:20pm. We are especially looking for volunteers on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Learn more here.

Parent Education: This year, we are trying a different approach to our Parent Education Nights. St. John has joined Parent Ed Talks, powered by ParentMap. This virtual series of nationally recognized speakers offers crucial education for families on topics you care about.

  • Featuring 12 different speakers and topics for the 2024-2025 school year.
  • Each talk will be a 60-minute conversational, Q&A format.
  • You can choose to join the live event via Zoom or watch the recording using a link we will provide.
  • Register for the first event now – The Anxious Generation: Essential Strategies for Rewiring Childhood with Jonathan Haidt, American social psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation.
    • Tuesday, October 15, 12pm-1pm
    • Use promo code: STJCATHSCH
    • Note: Registration is required to attend the live virtual event. If you prefer to watch the recording, registration is not required. The link will be provided following the event.
  • View the rest of the speaker/topic line-up here.

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!

The St. John Auction will take place on Friday, April 4, 2025 and the theme will be (…drumroll please…) Come Sail Away! More information to come later this Fall.

Jog-a-thon fundraising is underway! We have already raised over $40,000 on the way to our goal of $100,000 by September 27. Help us reach the goal by donating. All PreK through 8th Grade students will run a course in and around campus at scheduled times on Friday, September 20. Check out the Jog-a-thon Information Packet for more details including scheduled run times and prizes.

School Updates from our Admin Team

  • A Crossing Guard is needed for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. If you are interested, please reach out to Jonna Skokan at jskokan@st-johnschool.org.
  • Coming soon – Community Photos: With so many amazing things going on in our community, we need your help. Share the best of the best photos you capture at activities in our community to be featured in NewsViews and on social media. Information on how to submit photos will be provided soon.
  • PLACT Training for CYO Parents: If your kiddo participates in CYO sports, make sure you have completed the PLACT training. CYO will be tracking this closer, and your child may not be able to play if you have not done the training. More information is available on TeamSideline.
  • Parent Teacher Conferences will be held in person October 23-25. Please make sure you are available to attend this important meeting with your students.

Any Questions? Reach out to Parent_Association@st-johnschool.org.