Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! The staff and I truly appreciated all the outpouring of love and gifts from all of you this holiday season. Many thanks for your kindness. I’d also like to thank Mrs. Jessica Garcia and all the students and teachers for putting on a lovely Christmas Program on 12/15. Congratulations to our Cash Raffle Winners: 4th Prize $250 – Omar Alejandro, 3rd Prize $500 – Barbara Rafael, 2nd Prize $1,000 – Erika Trujillo, Grand Prize $2,000 – Ishna Thomas. Thank you all for your participation!
We welcome 2022 and pray for a safe and blessed year ahead. We are so grateful to have reached our EFG Fundraising goal of $35,000 this December, and we look forward to our All School pizza and ice cream party! We also continue to keep everyone affected by COVID-19 in our thoughts and prayers and we hope for swift recoveries during this January surge. Thankfully, we don’t plan to be in lockdown like this time last year. Many of our families have been vaccinated and even boosted, and this helps with our school’s overall immunity. The CDC and ADLA continue to highly encourage vaccinations and boosters for all eligible individuals.
As we return from the break, we are in the midst of another COVID surge, this time due to the Omicron variant. We are asking that all families have their child test weekly, regardless of vaccination status, in the month of January. Sports practices and games will be postponed until further notice. Any non-essential in-person activities will be postponed for now.
If you have COVID symptoms, please do not come to school. If you tested positive in the past 90 days and have no symptoms, you will not have to quarantine. More info is coming after my 4pm Zoom meeting tomorrow, Tuesday 1/11, with ADLA Superintendent Paul Escala, as we review changes in the guidance from the state that came out last Friday. I will continue to send emails and update you on the SAP School app, so please make sure you have the St. Anthony of Padua School Gardena app on your Android or iPhone for the latest.
Based on the recent advisory notice from our ADLA School Superintendent Paul Escala and the LA County Dept. of Health, we are reopening cautiously, but are still planning our best to reopen schools safely, as we all believe in-person schooling yields the best outcome for our students. This first week back, you will have the option to Zoom from home, but after this week, we look forward to everyone being back on campus. Thank you for your continued understanding and cooperation. Your child’s teachers will email you with more information.
Catholic Schools’ Week is coming up and our Family Mass is at 11am in the Church on Sunday, January 30. Our Annual Open House will be virtual this year, but we still appreciate you referring your friends and family to our school! Teachers will be making short video tours of their classrooms. I will be conducting private tours and can schedule Zoom meetings with prospective families. If someone you know would like to schedule a tour on campus or have an informational Zoom session with me, please contact me at agrey@stanthonygardena.org.
Just a reminder that there is NO SCHOOL next Monday, January 17, due to the MLK, Jr. Holiday. Pacific Toxicology will be back on campus for weekly testing on Tuesday, 1/18. Please be sure to sign up via Sign Up Genius by this Thursday, 1/13 for next week’s testing. Our 2nd STAR testing window will continue from January 5 and will be extended through 2/8. We will have one more STAR testing window at the end of the year to measure student progress.
Please turn in all TTS forms to your teachers if you haven’t done so before the break (we need all signed permission slips in so we can start our lessons that are due by mid-February). We also ask for all students who qualify for Title services to have their parents sign their parent authorization form for release of information to check for eligibility. Once these are in, we can start receiving services for our school. Thank you!
Finally, please pray for the repose of the soul of Madonna Castro, our beloved Director of Religious Education, who passed into eternal life on 12/31/21. Her viewing is on Thursday 1/20 from 10-6pm, then services are on Saturday 1/22 with 11am Mass at the church, burial at Roosevelt Cemetery, and reception in the Parish Hall. Eternal Rest grant unto Madonna O Lord, and may Perpetual Light shine upon her. May she Rest in Peace. Amen.
Mrs. Grey, Principal
SCHOOL CALENDAR 2021-2022
(Be sure to always check www.stanthonygardena.org and your child’s teacher’s blog, along with our SAP School app for the most current information.)
- January 10 – February 8: STAR Window 2
- January 13, 2022: Sign up for Pacific Toxicology Testing for 1/18 on Sign up Genius link https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4FA4AE22A5F5CE9-covid19
- January 11: Culture Project Human Dignity Talk for Junior High (Virtual) 10am
- January 12: Yearbook Pre-Sale Begins and ends Feb 25
- January 15: Kindergarten Round-Up (8-4pm Interviews and ESGI testing with Ms. Strohm and Mrs. Grey)
- January 17: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Holiday: NO SCHOOL!
- January 20: Culture Project Sexual Integrity Talk – 7th and 8th graders only (Virtual) 10am
- January 21: Progress Reports go out for 2nd trimester
- January 24: Culture Project The Social Media Talk for Junior High (Virtual) 10am
- January 25 and January 27: Musical Auditions for Frozen, Jr. 3:15-5pm (students will likely have to wear face shields/masks and follow all social distancing protocols)
- Sunday, January 30: Catholic Schools’ Week begins Family Mass at 11am, Open House for Prospective Families
IMPORTANT EARLY KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION!
If you have a child that will be entering Kindergarten next year and is NOT at St. Anthony’s Day Nursery – please contact me right away to let me know so I can include him/her on the early registration list. If your child is already at the Nursery School, you have already received info and should have turned in all applications by now. First come first serve.
SCHOOL DONATIONS AND SERVICE HOURS
For families looking to pay off their service hour commitment, our school gives the option to buy Scrip/gift cards and donate them to SAP. We buy a lot of materials and supplies from Office Depot, Walmart, and Target for much needed supplies, so if you buy Scrip valued at $10/hour and donate it to the school to offset costs, we will credit your service hour account. (Next year our service hours will be worth $15/hr. to keep up with the minimum wage.) Parents who volunteer on Saturdays (every 2-3 weeks) can earn service hours cleaning our school with the Interior Maintenance PLC. Please join the group! Thanks in advance!
TEACHING TOUCHING SAFETY (TTS) FORMS AND LAUSD PARENT AUTHORIZATION FORMS DUE ASAP
We are very happy each year to conduct the “Teaching Touching Safety” Classes to our students. This is a course that we teach by mid-February each year, and it covers an age-appropriate curriculum to bring awareness to students regarding issues of sexual abuse and dangers. It teaches them the lines of “appropriateness” within particular contexts and how to avoid and respond to possible situations that could endanger them. *PERMISSIONS SLIPS WERE SENT HOME BEFORE THE BREAK AND MUST BE RETURNED ASAP so lessons can start this or next week. Thanks in advance!
IMMUNIZATION REPORTS AND VACCINATIONS
Routine vaccination is an essential preventive care service for children, adolescents, and adults that should not be delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 7th graders should have their more recent TDAP shots. Parents, if you haven’t already, please submit these forms to the office along with your child’s most recent vaccination record. You can email them to Mrs. Sarah Ray and me at sray1@stanthonygardena.org and agrey@stanthonygardena.org. If your child has the COVID vaccine, please submit proof to the school. Weekly testing is required for all individuals till further notice. Those vaccinated do not need to quarantine unless they have symptoms or were a direct contact to a positive case. Guidelines may change.
EFG FUNDRAISER
Our school has raised $35,000 toward our goal.This is INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much for your participation. This fundraiser was a phenomenal success because of YOU!
St. Anthony of Padua – Pray for us
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