| | | | | Dear Parents,
The question is often asked, how do we do school when we are not at school and how do we do church when we are not at church? As we are trying to navigate these unsettling and unusual times we are continuing to build relationships, just in a new way. Our main focus continues to be the relationship between St. Thomas More School, our students and their families.
We are always here for you and will support you in any way we can during the coming weeks. Please reach out to me, to your child's teacher, to our school counselor, Dr. Colorado, or to any other member of our staff. Our office staff, Betty, Carla and Nancy are working everyday to keep the school running smoothly, to pay bills and to prepare for next school year. Mrs. Wong's technology skills are pivotal to all that we do to make distance learning work from our end. She is always happy to assist you with any tech challenges you may have. We are also planning with our Learning Support Teachers, Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Rupple, so that they can begin online meetings with the students that have been working with this year. Our teacher aides who primarily work in the primary grades will also be connecting with some students who need extra assistance with completing and turning in assignments.
We know that each of you, our parents, guardians and grandparents are superheroes trying to juggle work, family and distance learning for your children. Your main focus should be to do what works best for your family. Distance learning is working for most of you, but please don't feel that your child's education is going to suffer, because they could not connect to a zoom session or their assignments were late occasionally. All students will be moving onto the next grade level, nobody is going to seriously fall behind, and we will all have developed new skills that were not originally on the curriculum for 2020.
Last Sunday, I attended a beautiful mass with Fr. Brendan McBride at St. Philip Church in San Francisco (https://bit.ly/2WSZicP). Consider joining Fr. Brendan for the celebration of mass for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. We will forward the link when it becomes available on Saturday evening. If you have other mass or liturgical celebrations you would like to share, please let us know.
The school closure has also had a serious impact on our finances.The loss of fundraising revenue from the Golf Tournament, the Parent Social, Mother and Son events and other scheduled fundraisers has left us short about $40,000. We expect that cash flow will be somewhat disrupted over the next few months as you, our families, grapple with job loss and other financial challenges.
However, there is some good news too! We had two construction projects in place for this summer. We had planned to refurbish the boys' and girls' bathrooms on the first floor. Additionally, we had permits to add a lift from the gym lobby to the first floor to bring the building up to ADA standards. Both of these projects have been cancelled for the moment. The funds we had set aside for these projects will be better used to ensure we can continue to meet payroll each month, keep up with pension and workers comp payments, pay bills, and purchase education materials and textbooks for the coming school year. We believe that with your support and continued assistance, we will not need to reduce staff or cut any of our programs for next year. | | SCHOOL CLOSURE UPDATES Due to the recent revised shelter-in-place orders for San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin counties, all Archdiocesan schools will continue with distance learning through May 1, 2020. Please read the attached letter from the Bay Area Health Officers. | | | GRADES 4-8 ZOOM SESSION MANDATORY ATTENDANCE Grades 4-8 student participation in Zoom sessions is mandatory. Students will be marked half day absent, if they do not attend scheduled Zoom meetings. Please email your child's teacher if your child experienced technical difficulties and was unable to attend a Zoom session. | | | STM STORY TIME YOUTUBE CHANNEL Check out STM Story Time YouTube Channel featuring our STM librarian, Ms. Sancada, and teachers reading students' favorite books from our school library. | | |  | SPELL-A-THON PLEDGES Please submit your Spell-a-thon pledges by Friday, April 17, 2020. Mail checks only, please; do not send cash. - Make checks payable to St. Thomas More School.
- Write your child's first and last name and grade on the memo line.
- Mail checks to:
- St. Thomas More School
- 50 Thomas More Way,
- San Francisco, CA 94132
You may also submit your Spell-a-thon pledge online. Any outstanding pledges will be billed to your FACTS account on Monday, April 20, 2020. Please contact our office assistant, Betty, if you have any questions at bquinlan@stmsf.org. | |  | | Please log into your Choice Lunch accounts to ensure that they have cancelled all orders from now until May 1, 2020. | | CANCELLED EVENTS
Mother & Son Bowling - Refunds have been automatically issued today. Please check your inbox for a refund confirmation from Aware3 or FACTS. It may take 3-5 business days to process. | | | | Wednesday, April 1 - Preschool Re-registration deadline Thursday, April 2 - Bronco/Sports Day
Friday, April 3 - Character/Superhero Day
Thursday, April 9-Friday, April 17 - Easter Holiday
Monday, April 20 - Distance Learning classes resume Finish Up Fridays Friday, April 24 and Friday, May 1 are Finish Up Fridays. No additional online school work will be assigned on these two days, but teachers and students will have the opportunity to follow up on assignments. Students and families may use this day to check out virtual field trips. Please continue to submit your attendance on these days. Attendance link: https://www.stthomasmoreschool.org/attendance.html
Check out our Parent Calendar for upcoming events. | | | SCHOOL COUNSELOR Dr. Colorado, our counselor, is now back at work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and available to any student or parent who needs her. To book an appointment, email Dr. Colorado directly at hcolorado@stmsf.org. For more information, refer to the letter from Dr. Colorado. | | | | Thank you again for your patience, kindness and flexibility. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any concerns. Next week I hope to set up a few parent Zoom sessions so we can "talk in person". Meanwhile, I enjoy seeing the students on their daily Zoom seasons with their teachers. Here are some virtual hugs to share with the children.
 Sincerely,
Marie Fitzpatrick
Principal | | | | | | | | |
