Dear St. Peter Community,
Today we end our 2nd quarter of school. Congratulations to all the students and staff! On behalf of all the staff, thank you for your wonderful generosity towards our Christmas gifts from you. We greatly appreciate it!
Catholic Schools week will be celebrated from January 31st - February 5th. The 8th grade students and their teachers are busy planning activities to celebrate our faith and the gift of our Catholic education. On Friday, February 5th we will dismiss at 12:00 noon. January 29th is a full day of school.
Registration for the 2021-2022 school year is now in process. Registration is formally open until February 1st. After February 1st we will open enrollment to new families. Please make sure to register to secure your spot for next year. Please contact the school office with any questions about 2021-2022 registration.
Questions with Answers............................
"Will we use Distance Learning during snow days?" We will not use Distance/Virtual Learning during individual snow days. If we had to close school for several days due to weather we would consider implementing Distance Learning.
"When will we go back to dismissing school at 3:10?" Having all staff teach 3 sections of each class and teaching straight through day still requires the 2:10 dismissal. This extra time at the end of the school day is critical for planning, meetings and doing work that assistant and support staff normally take care of.
"Will the students wear masks and be in 3 sections for the rest of the year?"
In short, yes. We don't see this changing.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
With gratitude,
Dr. John Freitag, Principal
With gratitude,
Dr. John Freitag, Principal
And a Merry Epiphany to You!
We returned to school and to our beautiful church with our school Mass, celebrated on the traditional day of the Epiphany. Mrs. Mahon’s enthusiastic second graders opened our Mass by bringing gifts to the manger as the Magi once did. Such skilled readers our second graders are! Msgr. Greg explained what an epiphany is: it’s a Greek word that means “seeing something that you never thought you’d see.” The Magi must have seen something remarkable in Jesus. And Msgr. reminded us that every time we come to Mass, we experience an epiphany through the Eucharist.
It’s Definitely Looking Like Christmas at STP
Throughout our school, we’ve changed our Advent to the Christmas season. We’ve blessed our classrooms as we have our homes with symbols representing the new year and the traditional names of the Magi: 20+C+M+B+21. As the Magi followed the Star so do we hope to usher in 2021 by bringing light and peace around us. Ordinary Time returns next week.
Reconciliation Services
We will soon congratulate our second graders when they receive their First Reconciliation this month. But the students in Grades 3-8 have missed their usual first semester Reconciliation services. But, beginning this Thursday, our three priests will provide the sacrament to our students. Each Thursday, after a short prayer service in their classrooms, two classroom homerooms at a time will proceed to church to receive the sacrament from our three priests. We begin this Thursday with an 8th and 6th-grade homeroom. By the first week of February, we will have completed Reconciliation services for our middle school students. Grades 3-5 students will receive Reconciliation beginning February 11. We hope to include absent students with our last services in mid-March. See the school calendar for specific dates for individual classes.
Next Week’s Mass: The Virtue of Hope
Ms. Schilli’s first graders will lead our first third-quarter Mass. The first and third graders will attend. We’ll add the Virtue of Hope, our third virtue of the school year, to this Year of Peace. Hope is one of the theological virtues is a gift from God that helps us to trust in God’s promises. It compels us to dream and to see light in the darkness. What an apt virtue as we begin this new year and continue to emphasize the much-needed virtue of peace!
We also begin our emphasis on the Liturgy of the Eucharist. At the beginning of this part of the Mass, the gifts are brought to the altar. We recall that all we have is from God and is a gift.
Now the real work of Christmas begins...
When the song of the angels
is stilled,
When the star in the sky
is gone,
When the shepherds
are back with their flocks,
When family and friends
have gone home,
When the tree's
been taken down,
When we're back
on our regular schedules
THEN the work of Christmas begins…
To welcome the refugee,
To heal our planet,
To feed the hungry,
To set captives free,
To embrace the excluded,
To tear down walls,
To build bridges
To reverence life in all its forms,
To share our gifts,
To spread the wealth,
To work for justice,
To make peace,
And to bring Christ's light
to the world…
--based on the words of Howard Thurman as written in A Concord Pastor Comments.
The Star of Bethlehem over Water Sound, Florida. Photo taken by Doris Skoff.
Nurse's Notes
ST. PETER QUARANTINE TRACKER 1/8/2021:
New COVID 19 positive community members this week: 1
Total COVID 19 positive community members since September: 19
Total Community members currently in quarantine: 23
The 7-day rolling average positivity rate for St. Louis County was 16.7% with 504 new cases today. We ask all of our staff and families to practice masking, social distancing and all of the mitigation factors that are known to slow the spread of coronavirus when they are not in school.
Please continue to notify Nurse Arzy by email 24/7 if your student or anyone in your household has a Covid exposure and/or is tested.. It is important we track the information in real-time to make the most informed decisions for the school.
*Being in quarantine does NOT necessarily mean an individual is COVID positive
Arzy Harlan RN BSN
St. Peter School Nurse
News and Announcements
Monday, January 18 - MLK Holiday – No School
Friday, January 22 - Report Cards Available Online
Friday, January 29 - will now be a full day of school – Calendar Change
Sunday, January 31 through Friday, February 5 -Catholic Schools Week
Friday, February 5 - Noon Dismissal
Catholic Schools Week – More Details Coming Soon
Sunday celebrates the parish
Monday celebrates the community
Tuesday celebrates our students
Wednesday celebrates our nation
Thursday celebrates vocations
Friday celebrates teachers, staff, and volunteers, half day of school
Chess Club
See flyer in this newsletter for details.
Virtual chess club starting January 20th. $75 for 10 weeks.
Thank you to PTO and St. Peter Families!!!!
The St. Peter faculty and staff would like to send out a sincere thank you to the PTO and parents of St. Peter School. The generous gifts and kind words are greatly appreciated!
It is a blessing that we can all work and grow together in a caring and supportive environment.
PTO News
Faculty and Staff Prayer Board -The prayer board is LIVE for the Spring 2021 semester. It has slots for two families for each weekday, January - May. Sign up and take some quiet time in prayer for our dedicated faculty and staff. This time can take place by yourself, with a friend, with your family, in the car, at the Chapel-however it works for you and your family!
Mentor Families for 2021-2022 School Year - Want to be a mentor family to new families for the 21-22 school year? The time commitment is small and the impact is great! Email Jill Rhoads (jrhoads18@gmail.com) or Nikki Difani (nikkireed82@hotmail.com). Families will be paired together in late March, before the new parent orientation in April.
