Joyfully Embracing Our Mission

As they approached the village to which they were going,

he gave the impression that he was going on farther.

But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”

So he went in to stay with them.

And it happened that, while he was with them at table,

he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them.

With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him,

but he vanished from their sight.

Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning [within us]

while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?”

Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way

and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

~ Luke 24:28-32, 35

Welcome back! I have missed the students and my co-workers in the vineyard, but I have to be honest that I am grateful for the much-needed break and the opportunity to gain perspective these past week away from school.

For me, Friday was spent connecting with the visiting committee and self-study team at St. Rose Catholic School in Paso Robles. I will return on March 16 for the accreditation visit to affirm and validate the good work of the folks down there. The work of continuous school improvement does not take a pause during a pandemic, so it is admirable for administrators and their school communities to really lean into the mission of Catholic education when it is most challenging.

As we hear about the situation in Ukraine, I can’t help but think about the opportunities we have in our little Catholic school to learn more about this part of the world, the struggles that continue to exist there, and the plight of people who have become/may become refugees as a result of the occupation of their country. How can we, as a community, act in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and all those impacted by the decisions made by the few?

For starters, I am grateful that we are able to openly rely on prayer. Prayer helps us look beyond ourselves. I’ve seen teachers and students in classrooms offer prayers of petitions for their grandparents, their pets, their friends, and loved ones. Even the littlest ones can be invited to pray for those outside of this easily accessible circle. It is something so basic, yet profound when our little classroom prayers are able to somehow help those so far-removed from our day-to-day reality of a home, food on the table, and family who love us. These simple exercises in your children’s classrooms build empathy, a part of their transformation while with us at St. Clare. Before you know it, this habit of heart becomes a part of who they were meant to be: moral and ethical servant leaders.

Stay tuned for partnerships with Catholic Charities, including our recent donation of iPads and older laptops for refugee families fleeing hostile homelands.

LENT BEGINS WITH ASH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2

Please join our TK-8 students on Ash Wednesday for The Liturgy of the Word and Distribution of Ashes. Please enter the Outdoor Church (tent) from the back and remain distanced from students. Our gathering begins at 10:45 A.M.

• Learn more about Lent here: https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/lent
• Here are some Ash Wednesday and Lenten resources from Loyola Press that you can use at home: https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/liturgical-year/lent/ash-wednesday/

TRIMESTER THREE BEGINS MARCH 7

The end of the second trimester is this Friday, March 4. Report cards will be sent out by your classroom teachers the week of March 14 via ParentSquare direct message. We will recognize our trimester Young Christian honorees and middle school honors at our Morning Assembly on Tuesday, March 15. You are invited to join us.

We are so proud of our students and so grateful for the partnership between our faculty and staff and families throughout the school year. On March 13, we commemorate two years of working together through the pandemic. The success we have experienced quickly transitioning from in-person learning to learning remotely in March of 2020, to concurrent learning where some students were in-person and others were learning from home from October 2020 to June of 2021, to in-person learning, while maintaining COVID-19 protocols since the start of the school year is due in large part to our community presuming positive intentions, fostering collective responsibility and seeking first to understand the shifts and changes of the past two years.

We look forward to a third trimester filled with new experiences for our four- five- and some six-year olds and “new” school families who have not yet experienced amazing traditions like the pancake breakfast, Jog-a-Thon in person, and the upcoming Multicultural Dinner, among other things. We look forward to sharing these experiences with smiling eyes and “full” faces, recognizing and respecting our comfort levels as we encounter and accompany.

STAR ASSESSMENT PERIOD BEGINS MARCH 1

Our Star assessment window begins March 1st. Your teachers will communicate scheduled assessments directly. Please avoid scheduling any out-of-school appointments between March 1-15. As always, we recommend making sure students eat a nutritious meal before coming to school and getting enough rest to give them the best possible assessment outcome. More importantly, remember that the Star assessment is one of the many ways to determine your child’s progress. Continue to reach out to your child’s teacher to learn more about areas of strength to celebrate and areas of growth from which to build upon.

BREAKFAST@CLARE’S & WALKTHROUGH OPEN HOUSE

We hope that you have pre-purchased your tickets to join us for Breakfast@Clare’s on Saturday, March 5, starting at 8 A.M. If not, here’s where you can make your purchase: https://www.stclare.school/store

In addition, we hope you will join us to Journey Through St. Clare for a walkthrough open house. Bring a prospective family or an alumni, meet with class representatives and view student work: show your Wildcat pride! Sign up for a time to walk through!

Thank you to Bill & Kristi Britt, Marta & Kevin Farmer, parent volunteers, our faculty and staff for an anticipated successful return of the pancake breakfast and our walkthrough open house! We are happy to be able to open up our campus to gather safely and reconnect for the good of the school. We will report numbers of attendees and the proceeds from Breakfast@Clare’s after the event. All proceeds will go towards our CleanAir4StClare campaign to fast-track the HVAC upgrades to our beloved elementary building. We thank you, our parish community and our alumni families for your partnership in making these events a success.

JOG-A-THON RETURNS TO SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY ON APRIL 27

Stay tuned for our next big fundraiser, our Jog-a-Thon. We are happy to be returning to Bellomy Field at Santa Clara University on Wednesday, April 27. Get ready to sponsor your favorite student or faculty member by visiting the 99Pledges page: https://app.99pledges.com/fund/scs31stjat/

Our goal is $50k to benefit CleanAir4StClare, but we would like for you to consider becoming a sponsor. You can find the details here: https://www.stclare.school/store/jat

REMINDERS AS WE RETURN TO SCHOOL

WE BEGIN MASK-OPTIONAL PROTOCOLS THIS WEEK

Please read the post shared with you the week before Winter Break: https://www.parentsquare.com/feeds/11247348 regarding further aligning our masking protocols with Santa Clara County.

In addition, those signed up for weekly testing will get a reminder about our return from break onsite testing on Monday starting at 10:30. Volunteers: please arrive as close to 10:30 as possible so that we can get your screening done before students arrive for theirs. Thank you. Once students start screening, adults will be asked to wait their turn. Thank you for understanding.

COURTESY WHILE DRIVING AROUND CAMPUS

Please continue to be courteous to one another during drop off and pick up, keeping our roads and loading zones safe areas for our students and teachers.

CHOICE LUNCH OFFERS PIZZA ON MONDAYS AND FRIDAYS
Please see Ms. McKinnon’s post: https://www.parentsquare.com/feeds/11259389.

Opportunities to serve pizza on these days are open to those still needing to complete 30 hours of ServingStClare.

RSVP TO BE PRESENT FOR THE MARCH PTG MEETING

https://www.parentsquare.com/feeds/10923168

I’m offering this EdWeek article to help speak with your children about what they might be hearing in the news. In the meantime, I hope that we will answer the Pope’s invitation to pray for peace in Ukraine and for an end to war.

Praying for continued perspective as we contemplate our role in bringing about peace in our world.

Mrs. Cecile Mantecon, Principal

We thank our families who have donated. Most of our gifts have come from Friends of St. Clare. No matter the amount that your family is able to contribute, your engagement in our efforts to raise funds to complete this project signifies your partnership and commitment. I thank you in advance to consider a donation as soon as possible!

Donations are tax deductible and eligible for matching. Please send a check in any amount to the School ℅ CleanAir4StClare or visit https://www.stclare.school/cleanair4stclare to make a donation.

Below, you will find the Calendar Grid for the school year. Some find this difficult to navigate, so I’ve created the Calendar Highlights document which I hope will make it a bit easier for you to consume.

Some changes since the end of the school year: we added September 20th as a NO SCHOOL DAY and our School Year will end a day earlier. The original calendar had us attending 183 days of school, knowing that we had three days over the required 180 days. We are keeping the 181 days in the event we have to close for an emergency due to poor air quality.

Other options to view the calendar include a Google calendar synched to ParentSquare, or subscribing to the St. Clare School Public Calendar below:

Google Public Calendar

You are invited to subscribe to the St. Clare School *PUBLIC* Google Calendar which is also synched to ParentSquare.

PUBLIC URL TO ACCESS FROM A WEB BROWSER

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=drexelschools.org_u0vj6uj1r91qlk8hu9uk1t7qro%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America%2FLos_Angeles

PUBLIC ADDRESS IN iCAL TO ACCESS FROM OTHER APPS

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/ical/drexelschools.org_u0vj6uj1r91qlk8hu9uk1t7qro%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

Feb. 28 | Onsite Covid Screening, 10:30-11:15A

Mar.1 | DUE: Re-Registration | PowerSchool Infosnap Updates

Mar. 1 | Star Assessment Window begins

Mar. 2 | Ash Wednesday | Liturgy of the Word/Distribution of Ashes, 10:45 A.M. Outdoor Church

Mar. 4 | Onsite Covid Screening, 8:15-9:15A

Mar. 4 | Weekly Mass | 10:45 A.M. Outdoor Church

Mar. 4 | End of Trimester 2

Mar. 5 | Breakfast@Clare's 8A-Noon, Hall | Journey Through St. Clare School Open House 9A-Noon

Mar. 6 | Synod at. St. Clare | 2P, Outdoor Church

Mar. 11 | Weekly Mass | 10:45 A.M. Outdoor Church

Mar. 14 | NO SCHOOL/NO CKZ | Teacher In-Service Day

Mar. 15 | Report Cards are sent home

Photo by Ed Carlo Garcia www.edcarlogarcia.com

Email: office@stclareschool.org
Website: https://www.stclare.school
Location: 750 Washington Street, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Phone: 408 246-6797
Facebook: facebook.com/stclareschoolsantaclara