eGazette - May 12, 2010

Principal's Piece

First Communion, Kindergarten Mother's Day Luncheon, the Crowning of Mary, Track and Field Events, Graduation Activities, Library Book Fair, Visual and Performing Arts Recital, Teacher Appreciation Week, Field Trips to Angel Island, San Francisco Chinatown, Oakland Zoo, Ropes Course and Jack London State Park... Whew! These are just a sample of the many activities that have engaged our students, just in April and May. This community is incredibly vibrant thanks to the efforts of so many.

As I mentioned in our last eGazette, one branch of our school support involves our Development Committee, a subcommittee of our School Council. The Development Committee organizes the fundraising efforts for our school through a comprehensive Development Plan. The Development Plan enables us to keep tuition reasonable and our program accessible to all who desire a Catholic education for their child.

This year, we were required to strategically fill the void left by the absence of the Gala by increasing participation in all other efforts and exploring innovative means of support. This careful planning enabled us to stay on budget with all fixed operating costs plus advance our state-of-the-art technology program, provide additional classroom support materials, fund critical instructional assistant positions and offer important co-curricular experiences such as the April technology workshop.

Today, I ask you for your participation in the Family Pledge program. This is our annual fund which serves to fill the gap between charged cost of tuition and actual cost to educate. You were asked to participate when you completed your 09/10 registration form.

It is absolutely critical that we achieve 100% participation from every major stakeholder group in our school: Staff, School Council and Families. To date, we have a 32% participation rate from families, bringing in a total of $15,000. We are below our goal of 100% participation rate and $20,000. It is imperative that you contribute, no matter what amount. There is no gift too small. 100% participation better positions us to apply for grants and major gifts. We can't achieve our goal without you! Please consider an offering of any amount and place it in the envelope provided in your Wednesday Envelope. Thank you to those who have already participated.

As we wind down the year, we have much to be thankful for at St. John the Baptist Catholic School. God has truly blessed us with a dedicated staff, committed families and precious students. Enjoy the many activities Spring offers us. Summer will be upon us before we know it.

With One Voice... We'll Pass the Word Along.

In Peace,
Nancy Jordan
Principal

It's that time again-we are almost to the end of the school year!

Family Club is busy with end of year festivities and once again, we invite you to attend the 2nd Annual "End of Year BBQ/Yearbook Signing Event", organized by our "BoxTop" team. Please join us during the lunch hour on Monday, June 7th for a hot dog lunch. More details to follow.

Save the date: Tuesday, May 18th at 6:00 p.m. at the Napa City Hall
The Napa City Council and Arts Council Napa Valley invite you to an opening of a student art exhibition honoring the 40th anniversary of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Please join us for a reception to celebrate the exhibited art work of our very own St. John the Baptist budding artists. We send out a huge thank you to our art teacher, Suzanne Gibbs for the devotion given to this unique project. We are proud to say, St. John the Baptist is the very first school EVER to have their artwork presented at the City Hall!

Our next Family Club meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 4th. Please join us for our final meeting of the school year and help us work on volunteer plans for the 2010-2011 school year. If you have been looking for that perfect volunteer opportunity, this is the meeting for you! This is also the time where we offer our sincere appreciation to the amazing group of volunteers who have supported us throughout the year. Join us for Starbucks coffee and breakfast treats.

If you have any questions on volunteering for the next school year, don't hesitate to contact Renay Williamson or Judy Franzino.

Open_FC_Meeting_-_May_4_2010_minutes.pdf

A parish wide celebration, on our school and church grounds, commemorating 152 years of service.

Our school, as a large part of the parish (along with every other ministry in our parish) have been asked to take on some responsibility at our upcoming Parish Festival on Sunday June 6. We have been asked to run three stations and we have agreed that 2 of these stations will be games (bean bag toss and the fishing game) and the other will be the running of our school popcorn machine.

To lesson the commitment and spread the efforts among our students, parents and staff, we have broken the day into 1/2 hour shifts; from 9.00am-6.30pm (if you are able to take on a couple more it would be really appreciated). Please consider what time you and your family will be attending our fun, community building festival and chose a time slot that suits you best. It would be appreciated that every school family that attends the festival, take on at least one shift, so that we can avoid few people doing much work. You know the old saying, "many hands make light work", and honestly none of us really want to be tied down for too long at the Festival; the more people that take on a shift or two, the faster we will be able to get back to joining in the festivities.

Please e-mail Jenny Giaquinto, phone her, or stop by her office and advise what time slots you would like to reserve. The master sign-up form will also be on hand this Sunday at the Track and Field event at Justin-Siena, should you wish to take care of putting your name down there.

Thank you in advance for your support,
Nancy Jordan
Principal

Remember to send back your 6 tickets for the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Festival 152 Raffle. Proceeds from the raffle will benefit our Youth Ministry and School Scholarship Programs.

Celebrate on Sunday, June 6, 2010, 9am - 6pm - Church Parking Lot

Ticket cost:
$20 per ticket or $100 for 6 tickets

Prizes:
Grand Prize - 2010 Nissan altima Hybrid Sedan
2nd Prize - 2 night stay in 2 bedroom suite at the Westin Verasa in Napa
3rd Price - $500 cash

Each family is asked to sell their 6 tickets. Ticket numbers have been assigned and recorded for each family. Please send ticket money and/or unsold tickets to the school office by June 1st.

Congratulations to all St. John Track & Field Twilight Track Meet Participants!

We had participants in each grade and represented our school with great runs, jumps and smiles! Thank you to all the parent volunteers and fans for making sure all students made their events.

We look forward to the Catholic Schools meet on Sunday, May 16th at Justin-Siena High School. Come out to cheer on the runners and witness an amazing day of Track & Field. Races run from 9:00-4:30.

Our last practice is this Friday, May 14th at 3:30 at St. John's Lutheran.

Yearbooks are on sale now.

Cost - $20.00 (see flyer in your Wednesday Envelope)

2nd Annual Yearbook Signing and BBQ Lunch - Monday, June 7th.

As the new Scrip year starts, we would like to remind you of ways to meet your scrip commitment:

eScrip -

Register your Safeway Club Card and debit/credit cards online at www.escrip.com. Our school ID is 137617178. Shop at participating eScrip vendors and your purchases will be tracked electronically and reported to the school each month. Be sure to update your account regularly and notify the school office of any family members or friends that have enrolled with eScrip so that their purchases will be credited to your account. See a complete list of eScrip merchants at www.escrip.com

Raley/NobHill -

Raley's/Nob Hill has introduced the Raley's Quality of Life Card. These cards are available in the school office. Present your card to the cashier during your transaction each time you shop at Raley's or Nob Hill Foods. The amount earned on your eligible purchases will be electronically reported back to our school. Raley's/Nob Hill will only report using your card number so it is important that we have your card number on file. Feel free to take cards for family and friends as long as we have your name associated with the cards you take.

Onecause.com -

Register with Onecause.com, formerly Schoolpop.com, and make your online purchases through the various vendors. The amount earned will be electronically reported back to the school.

We also sell various paper scrip and debit cards for certain vendors. These are purchased by the school at a discount and sold to you at face value. The difference is the scrip profit which will be credited to your scrip account. In addition to the various scrip vendors that are available in the scrip box, you may "special order" any merchant that is available through Great Lakes Scrip. Special orders must be prepaid. Scrip box scrip is available in the school office during the school day.

Applebee's - $25
Arco - $50
Baskin-Robbins - $2
Beau Fleurs - $25
Browns Valley Market - $10, $20
Burger King - $10
California Pizza - $10
Chevron - $50
Coldstone Creamery - $10
CVS Pharmacy - $25
Dennis Uniform - $10
Exxon/Mobile - $50
Gap/Old Navy/Banana Republic - $25
Home Depot - $25, $100
Jamba Juice - $10
Kohl's - $25
Learning Faire - $10
Lucky Grocery Store - $25, $100
Macy's - $25
McDonald's - $5
Office Depot - $25
Safeway - $25, $100
Shell Prepaid Gas Card - $50
Starbucks - $25
Staples - $25
Walmart - $25, $100
Wendy's - $10

Dear St. John the Baptist School Families,

Welcome to the St. John the Baptist Confirmation Program. We are excited to journey with your family and your teen towards the Sacrament of Confirmation. We invite you to attend our FINAL Confirmation Registration on Sunday, May 23 from 1:30pm-3:30pm at the Parish Hall.

Enrollment is open to all 8th graders who will enter high school in the fall and all currently enrolled 9th-11th grade students. The session is designed for both parents and their teen. So parents remember to bring your teens! Teens remember to bring your parents!

You will meet the Confirmation and Youth Ministry Teams that will be making this two year journey with you. You and your teen will receive information about the confirmation process including the
Diocesan and Parish requirements.

We look forward to meeting you soon! If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email myself or Luis Juarez. Our information is listed below.

With the heart of a servant,

Kimberly McFadden
Faith Formation Coordinator
707.226.9379 ext. 22
kmcfadden@stjohnscatholic.org

Luis Juarez
Venid Youth Ministry Coordinator
707.226.9379
ljuarez@stjohnscatholic.org

The Box-Top committee would like to Congratulate the Kindergarten class on meeting the goal of 1000 box-tops collected... WAY TO GO KINDERGARTEN!!!

In April we collected 387 box-tops!! The classroom that collected the most with 147 box-tops was...drum roll please!!! - 3rd Grade...YEAH 3rd Grade.

SAVE THE DATE: Our annual Box-top barbeque is June 7th. More details in our next eGazette!! Enjoy the sunshine!!!

Websites that help our school with box tops are:
www.thebigclip.com
www.boxtops4education.com
Both of these sites either have contests for extra box tops, recipes, and links to shopping online which will benefit our school.

Your Box-Top Coordinators,
Lee Tatsuguchi
Rebecca Griffin

Spring into Action
United to Prevent Underage Drinking in Napa
A Town Hall Meeting co-led by local youth

Join us to learn about the problem of underage drinking in Napa and the latest research on what works to prevent teen alcohol use. Youth will help lead the conversation about what influences teen drinking, what happens when teens drink, and how to get involved with local underage drinking prevention efforts. This is an opportunity for families, community members, teachers, officials, and youth to discuss this issue and learn how they can be part of the solution to the problem of underage drinking. Why Not?

What: Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking
When: Thursday, May 13th, 5:30 PM-8:00 PM
Where: Valley Oak High School, Multi-Purpose Room, 1600 Myrtle Avenue, Napa

*Dinner provided
*Event held in English and Spanish

For more information contact Katie Keating, Friday Night Live Coordinator, at (707) 253-4724. Hosted by Napa County Health and Human Services Alcohol and Drug Services Division's Friday Night Live Program

Napa_Underage_Drinking_Town_Hall_Save_the_Date.pdf