St. Peter School Families, September 27, 2021
We know the past few weeks have been uncomfortable, stressful, and tenuous for many of our families.
We also understand the strong sentiments surrounding the subject of masking and we genuinely appreciate
and respect the opinions of every one of our families. The decision to switch to temporary student
masking was not an easy decision and we know it was an unpopular one for many however, it was made
with the best educational intentions of our students in mind. As mentioned previously, we have evaluated
the current COVID situation and after reviewing the local health department data and examining our own
situation in terms of student and staff quarantines/positive cases, we have decided to rescind our
temporary mask mandate and return to optional student masking at this time.
It is important that any decisions being made have tangible criteria and endpoints and we have reached
that endpoint based on the best available data. Over the past few weeks we have developed a set of
metrics that will help us determine when/if we need to return to student masking in the future and we
want to share those with you in order to be transparent. We have established a school-wide threshold of
student absenteeism and/or staff absenteeism that would require us to return to student masking. We
believe these thresholds, if met, would greatly diminish our ability to offer quality in-person instruction
and would require us to return to masking. The absenteeism threshold for students is 30% or
approximately 38 students and 20% absenteeism or approximately three teaching staff members. In
addition, we have revived and revamped our remote learning platform in order to serve any students who
are forced to remain at home due to medical quarantine. Please note that this remote learning platform is
for quarantined students ONLY. Please also note that quarantine rules are still in place which means that
any students who are exposed and were not wearing masks will be required to quarantine for a specified
period of time.
Ultimately, it is difficult to sustain a masking policy in school when there is no current policy mandating
masking outside of school. Additionally, there will always be large gatherings that could potentially
expose students and families to COVID-19 so being selective about masking is not a viable option. We
will continue to monitor this situation and continue to adapt to what comes next. We want to continue to
urge our families to practice the following safety measures at home to ensure everyone is avoiding
unnecessary exposure.
1. We are asking that families continue to keep their child(ren) home if they are not feeling well. It
is easier to make up a few days of school work than to potentially endure weeks of remote
learning.
2. We encourage you to continue to help your child(ren) practice good hygiene at home so that they
can remain healthy as possible.
3. Try to avoid situations outside of school that could result in potential exposure that would result
in quarantine.
Again, we want to thank you for your continued support and patience during these tough times. If you
have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.
With God’s Blessings,
Mr. Blake England
Principal
St. Peter Catholic School
We know the past few weeks have been uncomfortable, stressful, and tenuous for many of our families.
We also understand the strong sentiments surrounding the subject of masking and we genuinely appreciate
and respect the opinions of every one of our families. The decision to switch to temporary student
masking was not an easy decision and we know it was an unpopular one for many however, it was made
with the best educational intentions of our students in mind. As mentioned previously, we have evaluated
the current COVID situation and after reviewing the local health department data and examining our own
situation in terms of student and staff quarantines/positive cases, we have decided to rescind our
temporary mask mandate and return to optional student masking at this time.
It is important that any decisions being made have tangible criteria and endpoints and we have reached
that endpoint based on the best available data. Over the past few weeks we have developed a set of
metrics that will help us determine when/if we need to return to student masking in the future and we
want to share those with you in order to be transparent. We have established a school-wide threshold of
student absenteeism and/or staff absenteeism that would require us to return to student masking. We
believe these thresholds, if met, would greatly diminish our ability to offer quality in-person instruction
and would require us to return to masking. The absenteeism threshold for students is 30% or
approximately 38 students and 20% absenteeism or approximately three teaching staff members. In
addition, we have revived and revamped our remote learning platform in order to serve any students who
are forced to remain at home due to medical quarantine. Please note that this remote learning platform is
for quarantined students ONLY. Please also note that quarantine rules are still in place which means that
any students who are exposed and were not wearing masks will be required to quarantine for a specified
period of time.
Ultimately, it is difficult to sustain a masking policy in school when there is no current policy mandating
masking outside of school. Additionally, there will always be large gatherings that could potentially
expose students and families to COVID-19 so being selective about masking is not a viable option. We
will continue to monitor this situation and continue to adapt to what comes next. We want to continue to
urge our families to practice the following safety measures at home to ensure everyone is avoiding
unnecessary exposure.
1. We are asking that families continue to keep their child(ren) home if they are not feeling well. It
is easier to make up a few days of school work than to potentially endure weeks of remote
learning.
2. We encourage you to continue to help your child(ren) practice good hygiene at home so that they
can remain healthy as possible.
3. Try to avoid situations outside of school that could result in potential exposure that would result
in quarantine.
Again, we want to thank you for your continued support and patience during these tough times. If you
have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask.
With God’s Blessings,
Mr. Blake England
Principal
St. Peter Catholic School
Click HERE to view the current Ohio K-12 Quarantine Information.
Click HERE to read the Diocese Letter Regarding
2021-2022 School Year and COVID-19 Policies
2021-2022 School Year and COVID-19 Policies
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Parent Newsletter #5 9/27/20
Happy Fall y’all. We here at St. Pete’s hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful fall weather. Enjoy it now because we all know what is right around the corner. As we approach the halfway mark of the first quarter and dive deeper into the school year, we want to make sure that we are being as transparent as possible with students’ grades and schoolwork. We encourage all of you to continue to be vigilant and take an active role in your child(ren)’s education by continuing to communicate and reinforce academics and socialization on the home front in order to maintain an overall consistent education. A key part to this is staying connected via your child(ren)’s Gradelink and Google Classroom account. Each classroom teacher has worked hard on creating a Google Classroom that provides families with supplemental resources to assist with academic matters. Please take the time to log in to your child(ren)’s Google Classroom account and check out new information and coursework that teachers have posted. We believe this is an important practice that allows us to provide as many resources as possible. If there is anything that we can do to help in this regard, please do not hesitate to ask. We want to give our families the support and collaboration you need to continue to challenge and encourage your students to be the best Christian citizens they can be. Thank you again for your continued support and belief in our mission here at St. Pete’s. We are continually humbled and grateful for the support. In Case You Missed It... ● Our 4th grade students received their Bibles at our special liturgy last Wednesday. This is an important part of what we do here at St. Pete’s and we are so proud of our 4th graders for their efforts in being good Christian citizens. ● Please remember to send an excuse note to school upon your child’s return after an absence. Also, please remember that our school policy states that if a student is absent or sent home with an illness, they must be symptom-free for a minimum of 24 hours before returning to school. This is especially important as we continue to navigate the COVID-19 health and safety protocols and keep track of the health of our students.● We are still in need of volunteers for lunch and recess. It can be moms, dads, sisters, uncles, grandmas, we accept them all. Any way you can help out goes a long way and we are extremely grateful for all of the help we get. Please contact the school office if you are interested in helping during lunch and/or recess or library. ● On Friday, St. Peter School students were treated to a virtual NED Kindness Adventure. This show taught our students about the importance of standing up to bullying, being a good friend, and being respectful of other cultures and differences. It was a unique show with a great message that we were excited to offer our students. We will also be selling Kenyan-made trinkets from the show all week and a portion of the proceeds will go to creating clean water systems in Kenya. Let us know if you would like to buy something. ● Please note that due to national food shortages, there may be some slight changes to the upcoming school lunch menus. While we don’t anticipate drastic changes, we have been told to expect some changes based on food availability. Any changes that happen to the menu will be communicated with families ASAP. Thanks for your patience and understanding. ● Due to high demand and problems with inventory, we will only be selling ice cream on Fridays during lunch. We can still accommodate whole class birthday treats as long as we are notified in advance to ensure we have enough available. We apologize to the students as this has been devastating news to them. ● Reminder that students will be permitted to wear shorts to school until the end of the first quarter which concludes on November 4th. Please refer to this policy in the family handbook posted on our website. ● Scrip orders are due today. Just Thought You Should Know… ● Midterm grades will be available on Gradelink this Friday, October 1st. Please routinely check your family’s Gradelink account to monitor the academic status of your child(ren). Please let us know if you need help accessing this site or if you have any questions or concerns about grades. ● Our fall picture day will be Tuesday, October 5th and retake day will be November 4th. Order forms were sent home but if you need an additional one, please let us know. Even if you are not buying school pictures, your child’s picture will be taken for the school yearbook so please wear your Sunday best. Please contact the school office if you have any questions. ● Our September myON and Redbird challenge ends Thursday. The individual student and class who log the most pages read and minutes completed during the month will be rewarded and recognized for their efforts at the end of the month. We encourage you to root your child(ren) on in this competition and play an active role in their education by staying engaged with our available learning resources. ● Our annual St. Peter School discount card fundraiser continues this week and we are asking each family to sell at least ten cards. Additional cards are available if needed so please contact the school office if you need more. If you are unable to sell all ten, we ask that you please return any unsold cards in the envelope they came in. The three families who sell the most cards will be rewarded with pizza gift certificates. In addition, if school-wide sales reach $5,000, each class will receive an additional recess. If sales reach $6,500, each class will be treated to an ice cream party. Finally, if sales reach $8,500, the students will have a popcorn and movie day (socially distanced of course). The contest ends on October 8th. ● Our Scholastic Book Fair will take place on October 4th and run until October 8th. Information about purchasing books will be available soon so stay tuned for more details. ● The 3rd grade class will be leading our next liturgy service on Wednesday at 8:15. There are no longer any seating restrictions for these services so parents are welcome and encouraged to attend. These services will also be live streamed on our school Facebook page, like last year, for those who are unable to attend. ● Our next For the Love of Pete raffle drawing will take place on October 1st. There are still tickets available to get entered into this month’s drawing. Please contact the school if you would like to purchase a ticket. Ticket price is $100. ● Happy Birthday this week to: no birthdays this week ● Please check the school website at www.stpeterupper.com for latest updates, schedules, or changes. Quote of the Week: “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” – John Wooden 
Free Meals Extended Through the End of the 2022 School Year! We are pleased to announce that students will receive free lunch for the remainder of the 2021 school year and the 2022 school year.. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Ohio Department of Education announced extensions of nationwide waivers permitting school meals to be served at no cost through June 30, 2022. Students have been able to receive free meals since September 14, 2020, and will now continue to be able to eat lunch at no cost until the end of the school 2022 school year. Any questions, please contact me or Mrs. Melissa Rall our Federal Food Coordinator. Thank you! Blake England Principal St. Peter Catholic School (419) 294-1395 
CALLING ALL ST. PETER SCHOOL ALUMNI!
We need your help. We are compiling a contact list of our alumni in order to keep you all up-to-date on the happenings here at St. Peter School. This is part of our continuing effort to further connect our past with our present so we would greatly appreciate your assistance. Please click on the link below and fill out the contact information and we will be sure to keep you in the loop! Thanks for leaving a great legacy that our future and current generations can look up to. Click HERE to submit your contact information. 
Click HERE for more information.
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Sept. 29 Liturgy Gr. 3
Sept. 29 Mid Term Oct. 1 For the Love of Pete Drawing Oct. 4-8 Scholastic Book Fair Oct. 5 Picture Day Oct. 7 School Advisory Council Meeting 7:00pm at the rectory. Nov. 4 Picture Retakes Click HERE to view Sept. Calendar 
We are so excited about our new STEM program and our kids were excited to design and build their own bridges. They even got to test them out in our earthquake simulation. Keep up the good work kids! 
Bible dedication ceremony for our 4th graders.
The Catholic Ladies of Columbia presented St. Peter School with a $500 donation from their Charitable Contributions as well another $500 donation from the group's rummage sale proceeds. The second grade students at St. Peter School accepted the checks on the school's behalf. Pictured are the 2nd grade students and CLC President Fairy Wagner, CLC Agent Kayla Weaver, and CLC members Cheryl Culver and Cookie Davidson. We are so blessed to have the support of our local CLC and Knights of Columbus.
Next drawing: Friday, October 1st, 2021 
Click below to purchase your
For the Love of Pete tickets on line. 
Our annual St. Peter School discount card fundraiser begins today and we are asking each family to sell at least ten cards. Additional cards are available if needed so please contact the school office if you need more.
The Hinesmans will be selling discount cards after church Saturday. Mass Delays / Cancellations:
If school is delayed on a Wednesday, the 8:15 am Mass will be celebrated at 1:00 pm. Monday Scripture and Communion Services will follow the School Schedule. If school has been canceled for the day due to weather, holidays, teacher’s meeting, etc., we will not have the Scripture study/Communion service. All other weekday Masses will still be held at their regular time. When a weekday Mass is canceled it will be posted on Social Media. Please call the Parish Office or Father Conrad if in doubt. 502-931-9303 Weekend Masses will be canceled for a County Level 3 Snow Emergency and will be announced via television, radio, and internet. Whenever weather is questionable please use your own judgement 
Now, we can keep you informed in real time. If you would like to receive periodic messages from Transfiguration of the Lord or St. Peter School (or both) just follow the link below to sign up. Once you complete your profile and select "Text" or "Email" you are in the loop. It's great for last minute schedule changes (which will be targeted to effected parties) or news to share about the parish and school or perhaps an inspiring video message. We are excited to have you better engaged and to share opportunities for involvement. Thanks for all you do. eva.us/godisgood 
St. Peter’s School is now registered through Amazon Smile. This program is a fundraising program through Amazon.com. Each time a purchase is made through this program, Amazon donates .5% of the purchase price back to the School. Please consider using this each time you purchase an item on Amazon. There is no limit on the usage, and this can be used by anyone who currently has an Amazon account. Please go to https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_ge_ul_lm_raas for more details on the program. 
Click HERE for more information. 
Reminder to St. Peter School families who are enrolled in Smart Tuition to please check the due date for tuition payments to ensure they are paid on time. Smart Tuition charges a $50 late fee for all delinquent payments so please pay attention to due dates. If you have any questions please let us know. Thanks. |
