Eagle's Eye

St. Joseph Catholic School fosters a diverse community of disciples empowered through a rigorous and inclusive Catholic education rooted in Gospel values and service to others.

As you may have heard, the Governor recently signed a bill giving all students in Florida funds to choose private schools for their child's education. This means that EVERY STUDENT KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE 8 is eligible for a scholarship in the amount of more than $7,000. While funds are limited, we are hearing that there are still funds available. Therefore, I am asking that ALL FAMILIES take a few moments to apply for this scholarship. Please visit https://www.stepupforstudents.org/scholarships/logins/ and begin an application for your child(ren).

It is important that all families complete this application as soon as possible.

If you have applied for a school based scholarship via FACTs, YOU MUST FIRST APPLY FOR THIS SCHOLARSHIP. The Scholarship Committee will not be meeting to award financial dollars until families complete this application.

Important calendar dates for the 2023-2024 school year are listed below. ***Please note that the school intentionally schedules school closures at times throughout the school year. We are giving these dates to you early to help your planning for the 23-24 year. Families should schedule family vacations and other commitments during scheduled school closures; vacations should not be scheduled when school is open. Vacations are not considered excused absences and are a violation of the School Attendance Policy. Thank you for your attention.

August 9th: First Day of School

September 1st: Teacher Workday: No School for Students

September 4th: Labor Day Holiday: School Closed

October 16th: Teacher Workday: No School for Students
November 20-24: Thanksgiving Holiday: No School

December 18th - January 2nd: Christmas Holiday: No School

January 15th: MLK Day: No School

February 19th: President's Day: No School

March 11-15th: Spring Break

March 29-April 1st: Easter Break

May 27th: Memorial Day: No School

May 30th: Last Day of School

SJCS is currently seeking individuals to work as Aftercare Assistants for the coming school year. Applicants must have graduated from high school. Hours are typically 2:45pm until 6pm school days. If you know someone who is interested, please have him/her reach out to Mr. Reilly at jreilly@stjosephwhschool.org.

New School Year Packets, including student's classroom assignments, will be available beginning Tuesday, July 25th at 2pm for all students returning to SJCS. We will be open from 2pm until 5pm on Tuesday, July 25th for those able to come to school that day. After Tuesday, July 25th, parents may pick up information in the school office whenever the office is open. Please remember that parent/guardians must be the ones to pick up the information.

A group of twenty of our teachers and administrators recently attended the Building Expertise Educators’ conference in Orlando. They learned about the latest innovations and research on effective teaching strategies from leading educational experts. Our teachers and administrators are lifelong learners, and we are grateful to their commitment to better themselves in order to meet the needs of our students.

Uniform Sales will be:

Tuesday, July 25th from 2pm-5pm

Tuesday, August 1 from 12pm-5pm

Saturday, August 5th from 9am-12pm

*Remember that all students in grades 4 through 8 will need to purchase a new Mass uniform. This is a full new uniform that has never been sold at SJCS before. Please make plans to bring your student with you during one of our uniform sale dates so that he/she can try on the uniform before purchase.

Parents should have received an email a few days ago from Mrs. Haas with the 23-24 SJCS Uniform Policy. There are many changes to this policy, and it is important that all parents review it closely in anticipation of the first day of school. The Uniform Policy can be found on our school website at stjosephwhschool.org. Thank you for your careful attention to your child's uniform including shoes, accessories, hair, jewelry, etc. If you have any questions, you may email Mrs. Haas at thaas@stjosephwhschool.org.

Want to get ahead on your service hour commitment for the 2023-2024 school year? SJCS parents are required to complete 20 hours of service to the school each academic year. Our Fall Uniform Sales are a great way to log some hours before the school year even starts. If you are interested in volunteering at any of the Fall Uniform Sales (see dates above), please reach out to Ms. Summer at sdehaven@stjosephwhschool.org or call 293-3311 to let us know that we can count on you.

Please remember that there are many times throughout the school year, where parents choosing to come on campus must be fingerprint cleared through the Diocese of Orlando. This includes volunteering at special events or chaperoning field trips. The fall is always such a busy time for the diocesan fingerprint office, and clearance can take weeks depending on circumstances. If you are a new parent to SJCS, or your fingerprints have expired, we urge you to consider taking care of this requirement now!

The steps for being fingerprint cleared are as follows:

Summer Homework and School Supply Lists for all students have been sent out and can be found on our school website at stjosephwhschool.org under the "Summer Resources" tab. Please remember that Summer Homework is due on the first day of school. School Supplies may be brought in to the school on Tuesday, August 8th during Open House (elementary school) or Boot Camp (middle school).

Once again, the PTO is providing the convenience of ordering pre-packaged school supplies through School Toolbox. This is an optional service.

Box Tops is an easy opportunity for SJCS to raise extra money. Between January 2023 and June of 2023, SJCS earned $775. With more parent participation, we could easily earn much more. All SJCS families are asked to download the Box Tops app. Scanning receipts (paper or digital) is easy!

If you haven't already, please download the Box Tops app, select St. Joseph School and begin scanning!

We are looking for families interested in sponsoring an off duty police officer for school Masses. As we've done in the past, with parent sponsorship, we will hire off duty Winter Haven Police Officers to be on campus while the school is in church for Mass. The officer is on campus for three hours, and the cost is $135. Remember that this is a great way for families to earn 13.5 of the 20 required service hours. If you are interested in sponsoring a police officer for the coming school year, please contact Ms. Summer to schedule. We will bill your FACTs account. Email Ms. Summer at sdehaven@stjosephwhschool.org.

St. Joseph Catholic School understands that a child's birthday is a special day. Students in Pre-K through Grade 8 may come to school dressed out-of-uniform on their birthday or half-birthday. If a student’s birthday falls on a Mass day, the student should dress out on an alternative day. Invitations to parties are given to all members of a class or mailed to individual students if all students in the class are not invited. Students should not exchange individual gifts at school. This gesture only creates hurt feelings among other students. If a family chooses to celebrate their child’s birthday with a treat for the class, Maschio’s (our lunch provider) is happy to provide the class with a treat at a nominal cost to the family. Birthday treats may not be sent in with the student. They must be purchased from Maschio’s and will be shared during lunch in the cafeteria. Parents must purchase these birthday treats in advance using the form provided by Maschio’s.

With the new school year upon us, there are a few changes to our teaching staff. We are excited to announce the following teaching assignments:

• Ms. Jessica Brotherton is moving from VPK to Kindergarten. Her classroom has been relocated inside the main school building on the first floor.
• Mrs. Jennifer Brown is joining our SJCS faculty as a third grade teacher.
• Ms. Tatiana Gandolff is joining our SJCS faculty as a fourth grade teacher.
• Mrs. Jessica Breen will be teaching middle school Science. Ms. Jhoanna Mukai will be assisting her in the Science lab.
• Ms. Katy McGillin will be teaching middle school Math.
• Mrs. Patty Becker is joining our SJCS faculty teaching middle school Social Studies.
• Ms. Beth Main will be joining our SJCS faculty as part of our resource team, focusing on enrichment.
• Mrs. Blanton will be moving from grade 3 to begin our SOAR program. This program will focus on serving some students with a diagnosis of a reading disability.
• Mrs. Insua has moved from the classroom and will join Mr. Reilly as Assistant Principal.

This is a reminder that, in accordance with the Florida Department of Health, there is an immunization requirement for all students entering a public OR private school. Kindergarten should state DOE Code 1 Immunizations are complete for K-12 (Excluding 7th grade/middle school requirements) In addition to compliance with all other immunization requirements, children entering seventh grade in Florida schools must complete one Tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap). DOE Code 8 ( Immunizations are complete for 7th grade ) Records from a doctor of your child receiving this booster shot ( Florida Form DH-680 Florida Certification of Immunization ) must be provided to the school office prior to the first day of school. Students without this record will not be permitted to attend class the first day. If you have any questions please call the front office at 863-293-3311

O Blessed Joseph, faithful guardian of my Redeemer, Jesus Christ, protector of Mary, the virgin Mother of God, I choose you this day to be my special patron and advocate and I firmly resolve to honor you all the days of my life. Therefore, I humbly ask you to receive me as your client, to instruct me in every doubt, to comfort me in every affliction, to obtain for me and for all the knowledge and love of the Heart of Jesus, and finally to defend and protect me at the hour of my death. Amen.

Principal: Mrs. Haas

Assistant Principal: Mr. Reilly

Assistant Principal: Mrs. Insua

Canonical Administrator: Fr. Tim LaBo

Superintendent: Mr. Fortier

Email: thaas@stjosephwhschool.org
Website: stjosephwhschool.org
Location: 535 Avenue M Northwest, Winter Haven, FL, USA
Phone: 863-293-3311