Greetings St. Ignatius Families,

As we prepare to celebrate Easter this weekend, may we enjoy faith-filled traditions with our families. May our hearts be filled with joy throughout the entire Easter season as we proclaim the “The Lord is Risen!” Next week, our 1st grade class will lead us in an Easter Mass. Half of our school will attend in person and the other half will watch the Mass through Zoom.

Service Opportunities: Over this week, our school raised funds for the Jesuit Relief Services to help the people of Ukraine. Stay tuned next week for the total amount raised by our amazing community! 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. All 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.

Arrival & Dismissal: Please remember to stay with your students in the morning until 8:15 AM when our school doors open. We ask students to refrain from playing tag or playing on the playground before school starts. As we continue to relax some of the stringent COVID protocols of this year, we are finding we can move out to our dismissal areas more efficiently. Therefore, dismissal will begin at 3:10 on most days, 2:10 on Wednesdays. As we head further into the spring, many of our PE classes will move outdoors. Therefore, please don’t open the school gates before 3:00 most days or 2:00 on Wednesdays.

SAC Recruitment: We are in need of new members for the School Advisory Council next year. Please consider volunteering for this important committee. If you have any questions or would like to nominate someone for SAC, please contact our SAC Co-Chairs, Mike Moore or Steven O’Neill.

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 FaceBook and LinkedIn. Please consider writing a Google review 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. Frangipani 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!

​Playground Update: We are in the process of finalizing the contracts and schedule for the play- ground project. This summer, we will be able to put in the new surfacing which will consist of green turf and blue and tan poured in place materials. Preschool play equipment including a climbing gator will be installed outside of the preschool classroom. A new concrete walkway and curving bench with planter behind will extend from the school doors by the current playground to the tree next to the front doors. We hope to host another Giving Tuesday event next November to raise the remaining $36,000 for a new piece of playground climbing equipment in the bark chips to replace the oldest climbing bars and glider plus adding a couple of shade trees at the corners of the current playground.

Summer Camps: Summer camp flyers are now available for St. Mary’s Academy, Central Catholic, LaSalle , M.U.S.E. Band, 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: Please take a moment to assist your wonderfully growing children in wearing long enough skirts and shorts. Our next themed dress class color day is on Thursday, April 21st. For class color day, we ask that students wear school appropriate t-shirts or sweatshirts with jeans or joggers predominately showing their class color. We ask students please refrain from wearing costume clothing or leggings as pants for class color day.

May the joy and blessings of the Easter season shine brightly. Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6.

Carol Pausz
Principal