JOG-A-THON: The results of our Jog-a-thon are in! The top fundraising class earning an ice cream popsicle party is 6th Grade. The top fundraising family winning a dinner delivered with cupcakes is the Tracy family. The winner from the drawing for the $250 Amazon gift card is the Bourke family. The second place drawing winner for a $100 Amazon gift card is Savage family. The grand total raised is $46,322! Way to go, glorious Gators! Fundraising allows our school to provide a top-notch Catholic values-based education in the Jesuit and Holy Names Sisters’ traditions.

MAY CROWNING: We celebrated Mary through a May Crowning ceremony this week. We met in family groups outside to listen to readings and sing songs about Mary before trekking over to the Loyola Jesuit Center to crown Mary and leave flowers on her altar.

ACADEMIC FAIR: For our Academic Fair on Thursday, June 2nd from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM we ask that families enter spaces to see their own child’s work or presentation, then move outside to congregate and socialize. Please move through spaces such as hallways and keep time spent in one location to 15 minutes or less. Masks will be required for all indoor spaces. Air purifiers will be running with windows and doors open. We will fog the rooms after the event on Thursday evening as well. We are so excited to bring back this wonderful, community-building event as students show off their academic prowess!

BOOK FAIR: The Book Fair is this week from May 31st - June 3rd! All classes will visit the Book Fair during their scheduled library class times. The Book Fair will also be open during Academic Night! Swing in to purchase the hottest reads for summer and support the library in adding exciting titles to our school circulation!

SPRING CONCERT: On Friday, June 3rd at 2:00 PM, we will have our outdoor spring concert performance. Families are welcome to attend and sit or stand behind the classes. Each class will perform their songs facing the audience.

SAFETY DRILLS: Student safety is of the utmost importance to our school, especially during these challenging times. In addition to monthly fire drills, we practice other safety drills quarterly for earthquakes and shelter in place. Safety drills are important to practice, so our students remain calm and safe in a real emergency. Safety drills help our staff to practice what to do and how to proceed. From these drills, the staff can make modifications to improve safety processes. We postponed last week’s Earthquake drill to an upcoming week.

COVID UPDATE: The Multnomah County Health Department, our local LPHA, is strongly recommending students and staff mask indoors in school. With our recent bout of cases, we have re- turned to indoor masking through next week until our cases subside thereby keeping our school community as safe and healthy as possible. Thank you for your support to wear a mask indoors again. Vaccine boosters are now available for students 5-11 years of age.

ENROLLMENT: We are actively seeking preschool students! We have room in kindergarten through third grade for next year and a few spots left for fifth and sixth grade too. Please spread the word about our wonderful school to all you know.

​As we approach the end of the Easter season and celebrate the Ascension of Jesus into heaven, may we always carry with us the hope of the resurrection. “They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength,they will soar on eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” Isaiah 40:31

​Carol Pausz
​Principal

THANK YOU to all of our families for the amazing Teacher Appreciation Week! The tremendous amount of delicious meals were scrumptious. The flowers and notes were beautiful and precious. The teacher gift card raffle was a fun treat. We are so blessed to have wonderfully supportive parents partnering with us on the journey of educating and guiding our students to grow into the people God created them to be.
Thank you for the amazing turn-out for our first Dine Out at Chipotle Monday night. Our school will receive a check for $858.94 from the event! Way to go, Gators!!!
As we head into Mother’s Day, we wish all of our mothers, step-mothers, grandmothers, mother-figures, and all special women influencing our students, the very happiest Mother’s Day! Last week, our students made paper sunflowers to post around the school to remember to pray for peace in our world. We hold all of the mothers, grandmothers, and children in Ukraine and all places with unrest in the world in our prayers this weekend. May your children, God-children, or grandchildren find special ways to show their love and appreciation for you this Sunday.
PARENT EDUCATION NIGHT: We will host a virtual Behavioral Health Parent Night this Monday, May 9th from 6:00-7:00 PM through Google Meet. All parents are welcome, however the virtual presentation is geared toward families with students in 5th-8th grade.
FUNDRAISING Events: On Thursday, May 19th, we will host an in-person, outdoor, whole school 80’s themed Jog-a-Thon! Families that raise $200, will be entered 10 times into a raffle for a $250 Amazon gift card! Classes with 100% participation in donations through PledgeStar, will earn a Free Dress Pass for every student in the class. The class raising the most funds will win an ice cream popsicle party! The family raising the most will win a dinner delivered with cupcakes! Rally your relatives and friends to finish the year strong in our fundraising efforts! Fundraising allows our school to provide a top-notch Catholic values-based Jesuit education.
Volunteer Opportunities: We need Art Literacy volunteers for kindergarten through fifth grade classes. Please let Mrs. Frangipani know if you are interested in Art Literacy volunteering. We need jog-a-thon volunteers for Thursday, May 19th. And we can always use more outdoor recess monitors. Volunteers must be up-to-date with C.A.S.E. training and show proof of vaccination. Please consider sharing your time and talents with us!

Dismissal reminders: 1) If you are parking to pick up your middle schooler, and you are across the street, please get out of your car and cross to the school side of the street. We are seeing some of our middle school students further down the sidewalk not paying close attention to traffic when crossing the street. 2) If you are socializing for a short time after dismissal on the church side, please supervise your students and keep them in sight. Please remind them to refrain from playing on the parish office steps and porch and stay out of the landscaping bushes. Thank you for your as- sistance with these matters.
Enrollment: We are actively seeking preschool students! We have room in kindergarten through third grade for next year and a few spots left for sixth grade too. Please spread the word about our wonderful school to all you know.
We wish all of our mothers and special women a blessed Mother’s Day. “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and laughs at the days to come. She opens her mouth in wisdom; kindly instruction is on her tongue.” Proverbs 31:25-26. Mother Mary, pray for us.
Carol Pausz
Principal​

As we enter Holy Week, may we recall the words of Pope Francis, “Holy Week is a privileged time when we are called to draw near to Jesus: friendship with him is shown in times of difficulty.” On Good Friday, our kindergarten through 8th grade students will participate in Stations of the Cross led by our 7th grade students. During this turbulent time, may we stop and be still so we may move closer to God our Father through Jesus. For more information on Holy Week services, check the parish website.

Service Opportunities: Our hearts and minds are with the people of the Ukraine. We pray for peace in our world and for those harmed by war. We will have a one week service project to benefit the Jesuit Relief Services for Ukraine. Students may bring in coins, bills, or checks payable to Jesuit Relief Services, Monday through Friday of next week’s Holy Week. Participating in this service during Holy Week helps us to build a just and compassionate world as a school community. Each student that participates in this service project will receive a sunflower sticker. The sunflower is the national flower for Ukraine and has become a symbol of resistance, unity, and hope. Ukraine is the world’s largest producer of sunflower oil.

Another fun way to support Ukraine as a family is to dine at the St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Sellwood on Saturdays from 10:00 AM- 2:00 PM. In the church’s basement on Saturdays, they sell pierogies, vegan cabbage rolls, meat cabbage rolls, and Ukrainian garlic sausages. You can enjoy them there or take them home. They only take cash for sales, but proceeds directly benefit the Ukrainian relief effort.

We are in need of more families to sign-up to volunteer to make sandwiches for Transition Projects.

Afterschool Programs: There’s still room in our Saturday Academy spring session of Digital Photography for students in grades 5-8. A minimum of six students per class is required to host the class for the spring term. If you are interested in this opportunity for your student, please sign up by Monday, April 11th!

Safety Drills: In addition to monthly fire drills, it is important to practice drills for earthquakes or other emergencies impacting the safety of our students. In April we anticipate practicing an earthquake drill and a ‘shelter in place’ drill. Today we had a ‘shelter in place’ drill. Shelter in place is when a police activity is happening close to the school or there is someone suspicious outside on the school campus. For ‘shelter in place’ students may not go outside and remain in their classrooms. Students are allowed to use the restroom. Support staff help monitor the hallways and larger groups of students that may have moved to the gym or cafeteria.

STAR Testing: Students are taking Renaissance Star Testing for the spring testing window this week and into next week. Please send your students to school with a good breakfast and encour- age good sleep habits. Star tests are unique in that they are adaptive tests. An adaptive test means the questions increase in difficulty until the student begins to answer incorrectly, at which point, the questions become easier. As a result, your student takes a test specifically created for his or her learning level. The test is designed to find the student’s academic level in reading and math. We will examine whole school Star testing results to guide teachers in planning for the re- mainder of the year. Star testing results are one data point our school uses to determine eligibility for Title I tutoring services and for placement in advanced math in middle school. Some students participate in progress monitoring Star testing between the official testing windows to gain more information on their progress. Star tests are standardized tests given in many school districts nationwide and are periodically nationally normed.

SAC Recruitment: We are in need of new members for the School Advisory Council next year. Please consider volunteering for this important committee. We are accepting applications until April 22nd. If you have any questions or would like to nominate someone for SAC, please contact our SAC Co-Chair, Mike Moore.

Enrollment: The best way to welcome other wonderful families into our community is through ‘word of mouth’. Please spread the word by following our school on social media including LinkedIn and writing Google reviews for our school. We have room for additional students in nearly all classes from preschool through 5th grade. Tell your friends!

Volunteer Opportunities: We’d love to welcome parents back as volunteers! Currently we are seeking Art Literacy volunteers for kindergarten through fifth grade classes. Please let Mrs. Frangi- pani know if you are interested in Art Literacy volunteering. We will need jog-a-thon volunteers for May 19th and will ask for those in the coming weeks. And we can always use more outdoor recess monitors. Volunteers must be up-to-date with C.A.S.E. training and show proof of vaccination. Please consider sharing your time and talents with us!

Summer Camps: Summer camp flyers are now available for St. Mary’s Academy, Central Catho- lic, LaSalle and Camp Howard. If you have teenagers 15-16 looking for a summer job, consider encouraging them to apply to be a camp counselor this summer! For the first time, Camp Howard is also looking for Camp Parent volunteers. Summer jobs allow our youth to become involved in their community and possibly inspired into future career possibilities.

Uniform: Land’s End is having a uniform sale beginning on April 14. We are working as a school to be in uniform every day, so we may celebrate with themed dress days. Some of the uniform challenges across grade levels right now are skirts and shorts being long enough and not wearing hoop earrings. Please help your student to be in uniform each day. Our next themed dress day will be a class color day on Thursday, April 21st. For class color day, we ask that students wear school appropriate t-shirts or sweatshirts showing their class color with jeans or joggers. We ask students please refrain from wearing costume clothing or leggings for class color day.

As we prepare to celebrate Palm Sunday this weekend and enter Holy Week, may we remember “For God so loved the world that he gave* his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to con- demn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-17

Carol Pausz
Principal

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​Our students were absolutely over the moon with joy meeting in their family groups in the beautiful sunshine Wednesday afternoon. All of us thoroughly enjoyed walking around and watching our amazing 8th graders lead their family groups in charades and ‘would you rather’ games. As the weather improves through the spring, we intend to meet more frequently in our family groups outdoors as we make up for lost time!
Congratulations to all of our Oregon Battle of the Books (OBOB) teams for the spirited battles this week. We are proud of the accomplishments and examples as avid readers!

St. Patrick’s Day Theme Dress: Please assist your student in choosing school appropriate St. Patrick’s themed dress. The students are quickly growing leaps and bounds, therefore please take a look at proper clothing fit for your student with modesty and appropriate language or images for all students in mind. The guidelines for school themed dress is in our handbook available on SchoolSpeak on p. 32. Thank you for your support with dress expectations in school.

COVID-19: In the ever changing landscape of COVID, our school’s COVID team met on March 9th to discuss our own community’s feedback along with the latest guidance from the CDC, ODE, and the OHA. Based on the current information, St. Ignatius School will implement updates to our COVID protocols on Monday, March 14th.

Mass: We will return to school Masses in the church on March 16th. Grades 2, 5, and 8 will attend in person, masked, with the remaining students watching from their classrooms via live stream giving nearly all of the classes an opportunity to attend an in person Mass once during Lent.

Report Cards: Second trimester report cards are now available on SchoolSpeak. Please electronically sign your student(s) report card for this trimester.

Registration: Registration packets went out Wednesday and are due next Friday, March 18th by our noon dismissal. Tuition assistance letters will go out next week. Applications in FACTS must be complete to be given tuition assistance. The in-parish tuition assistance grants will be awarded after the form is submitted and approval is given from Fr. Mike Moynahan.

Aftercare and Afterschool Programs: Vermont Hills Family Life Center will contact you after you submit your registration to let you know your child’s start date. Saturday Academy and Chess America will offer spring classes for students in grades 5-8. Saturday Academy flyers will be available next week.

SAC Recruitment: We are in need of new members for the School Advisory Council next year. Please consider volunteering for this important committee. We are accepting applications until April 22nd. If you have any questions or would like to nominate someone for SAC, please contact our SAC Co-Chair, Mike Moore.

Our hearts are with the people of Ukraine during this challenging time. As a school, we are discussing how we may support the children suffering in Ukraine and will have more information to share after spring break. Classroom teachers discuss world events, such as this conflict, as they come up in classroom discussions at age appropriate levels. The Archdiocese has many ways your family can support the people of Ukraine immediately.
May we take time this Lenten season to trust in the slow work of God. “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer.” Romans 12:12.

Carol Pausz
​Principal

Thank you to Mr. O’Brien and his crew for Shrove Tuesday complete with pancakes before school!  Thank you to the amazing 8th graders and Mr. Beseau and Ms. Olson for the wonderful Ash Wednesday prayer service.  We are so blessed to have Fr. Mike Moynahan and Fr. Pat Couture guiding us on this special day as we begin the season of Lent.  What an incredible gift to be able to have our 8th graders carry on the tradition of dispensing the ashes to our students with a sprinkling on the top of heads this year. 

In the ever changing landscape of COVID, Oregon will now drop the state mask mandates on March 11th., returning mask protocol decisions to the local level.  Our school’s COVID team will meet on March 9th to discuss current recommendations from the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) and our Local Public Health Authority (LPHA) in regards to masking to determine the safest way for our school to proceed forward.  The Oregon Department of Education has released updated guidance for schools this week.  With our current vaccination rate of 93% and Omicron receding, we implemented the following updates to our COVID protocols on Tuesday, March 1st: 
Optional outdoor masking 

• Many students and staff chose to continue to wear masks outdoors. 
  
• Please speak with your student about what you would like them to do for masking. 
  
• Teachers will not be monitoring who should and shouldn’t have a mask on. 

Allowing for mixing of student cohorts in the outdoor setting only, as this will allow for outdoor family group activities 

• Next week, we will have our first outdoor family group activity. 

Vaccinated parent volunteers in the school for specific projects.  Must be up-to-date on C.A.S.E. training and submit proof of vaccination. 

• Art Literacy volunteers are currently needed. 

Returning to church for school prayer services and Masses, limiting the number of grades alternating weekly 

• March 16th, we will return to Mass in the church limiting the number of classes attending in person with the remaining watching on live stream. 

We will still eat outside as the weather allows.  All indoor protocols will remain in place for now.  Our COVID team will meet again on March 9th to sift through the latest recommendations from our LPHA and ODE in determining when and if indoor protocols may be adjusted.  We can see our many layers of mitigation have kept our school community safe throughout this school year so far.

Our school is participating in the Novena of Grace by grade level in the classroom with each class watching one assigned, recorded service. We encourage families to attend the Novena of Grace Masses in person as a family. Students will not be counted as tardy to school if they are coming from the Novena of Grace Mass with their family. We will return to school Masses in the church weekly, beginning on March 16th, with three classes attending in person and the remaining students watching from their classrooms via live stream giving nearly all of the classes an opportunity to attend an in person Mass once during Lent.  
Please spread the word about our wonderful school. We will host an in-person Open House with tours after the 10:30 AM Mass this Sunday, March 6th. Registration packets for next year will be sent out next Wednesday, March 9th. Please be sure you have completed your FACTS tuition assistance application.  

May we take time this Lenten season to trust in the slow work of God. “ Make known to me your ways, Lord. Teach me your paths.” Psalm 25:4.