Our 2021-2022 School Theme: Writing Our Next Story: Pencils in the Hand of God
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Dear Parents,
The first week of school has truly been a joy! The students and teachers have already enjoyed many learning experiences and special times for prayer. Our opening school Mass was last Friday followed by a whole school picnic which was an exciting way to end the week. We will continue to attend Mass in the church weekly on Thursday at 9:00 am as a whole school. (Kindergarten will attend approximately one time per month. Teachers will inform you). Parents wishing to attend Mass with their child(ren) may sit with them in East or West alcoves. (Due to Covid protocols parents will not be able to sit with the class.) Parents, please make contact with the teacher to make sure they know that you are taking your child to sit with you and also make contact with the teacher upon returning your child to the class. You do not need to sign your child out in the office, but you are always allowed to do so.
Through our new FACTS Student Information System, we have a new and updated Parent Alert emergency text, email and phone call communication system. We will be using the parent contact information that is currently listed in FACTS to contact you via text message, phone and email if there is an emergency (e.g. closing, cancellation, delay, etc.). We will be testing this system this Thursday at 12 noon to ensure everyone receives these messages. Please refer to the story below for more details. If you do not receive a test text, call, and email on Thursday at noon, please update your information in FACTS (see instructions here) or call the school office.
Curriculum Night this year will be done virtually. Parents will receive an email on Friday, September 10 with links to videos and packets detailing the curriculum and expectations for the 21-22 school year.
Blessings,
Kathy O’Reilly
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COVID: Positive Case Communication, When to Keep Your Child Home |
When the school is notified of a positive COVID-19 case related to a student or staff member, the school will notify the entire school community within 24 hours.
The email will list the grade level and/or homeroom of the positive case. Prior to the whole school notification, close contacts will be individually contacted and will be given more information regarding symptoms to monitor and if quarantining is needed. According to the latest guidance from the Ohio Department of Health, "If a child is exposed to the virus, but if that child is vaccinated or if that child was wearing a mask during the exposure and maintained three feet or more distancing, that child does not need to be quarantined."
Dashboard
Our COVID-19 school dashboard will also continue to be updated with positive case counts every 24 hours (as needed). This can be found on our Safe Together webpage (this webpage also contains all other COVID-related policy and procedure information).
Symptomatic Children
If your child is having any symptoms, please refer to this updated flow chart to determine when to keep your child home. This can also be found on the Safe Together webpage.
If your child is staying home, please notify attendance by either emailing attendance@stbrigid-school.org or calling the school office at (614) 718-5825; to speak to/ or leave a message for the nurse, use ext. 239.
Questions
As always, feel free to email Allison Mensching, our school nurse, to discuss pertinent information regarding your student: mrs.mensching@stbrigid-school.org.
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Blue Ribbon School 2020: Finalists Informed of Status in September |
September could be a very exciting time at our school!
Almost a year ago, we submitted an application for the United States Department of Education's National Blue Ribbon Award for Academic Excellence. This award honors the highest performing schools in our country. Our school has been chosen to receive this award two previous times, in 2008 and 2014.
During the 2020-2021 school year, we submitted our application for this year's award. We know that our school has been named as a finalist, but we don't yet know if we will be named a 2021 National Blue Ribbon School. We will find out if our application has been chosen sometime in September, so we know the decision will be made sometime this month! The announcement will be made by the US Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona. We can't wait to find out if we will be named a Blue Ribbon School for the third time since 2000!
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Parent Alert: Emergency Notification System |
As part of our new FACTS Student Information System, we have a new Parent Alert system to help facilitate rapid alerts and emergency communication with our families. Parent Alert will allow us to send out communications via Text, Email, and Voice Messages to parents and staff. These alerts will be used primarily as a fast efficient way to communicate with our families in case of an emergency, such as a school closing or delay. Any text alerts from our school will begin with SBK-OH and calls will show from 614-718-5825.
Note: Per Telephone Consumer Protection Act we have to provide all recipients the option to Opt Out of receiving our alerts. Anytime we send out a text alert you will see “Stop to End”. If you reply “Stop” you will no longer receive our text alerts regardless if we select you as a recipient.”
We will be sending a TEST emergency text message, email and phone call on Thursday at 12 noon. If you do not receive these messages Thursday at 12 noon, please update your contact information in FACTS (see instructions here), or contact the school office to ensure we have your correct information.
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Home & School: Sign Up to Be a Room Parent - Deadline Friday! |
St. Brigid Home & School is looking for room parents, and there are also many other fun volunteer opportunities!
To sign up to be a room parent or to volunteer with Home & School in other ways, click the sign-up button below. If you have questions about being a room parent, contact Amy Creekmur (amycreekmure@gmail.com), Laura Farnham (lfarnham@erpartners.net) or Kelly Scott (kellynicolescott@hotmail.com).
Room parents will be randomly chosen after this Friday, September 3.
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Hey Wolfhounds! We listened to your requests and we have some exciting and unique new spiritwear coming your way!
Rah-Rah is a Dublin-based spiritwear company that is offering super-soft, vintage-inspired, uniquely designed spiritwear made just for us!
Check out the link below to order:
The site is live NOW through midnight Wednesday, Sept 15. You can have any items shipped directly to you for the best and quickest delivery. Standard shipping rates apply.
If you prefer to pick up your order, you may do so at:
Tartan Fields (home of Lesley Beran)
6905 MacNeil Drive, Dublin
All pick up orders will be placed in a large tote on the side porch. Orders will be bagged and marked with your name.
If you selected shipping to your home, those orders will be shipped mid-October. Non shipping orders will be available for pick up starting Wednesday, Oct 20th. Any orders not picked up by Sunday, Nov 22nd (the Sunday before Thanksgiving) will be donated to our Spiritwear exchange.
Additional Spiritwear Options for Sale Until Friday
Please note: If vintage-inspired spirit wear is not your jam, please know we will continue to offer spiritwear options from our current vendor (Morganheimer/Premier) throughout the year as well! Their current spiritwear store is open now through this Friday, September 3 at this link:
Thank you for supporting St. Brigid School and Parish!
Any questions? Please contact: Stacy Austin 317.694.6202 or Lesley Beran 614.257.9791
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Schoolbelles Uniform Update |
Below is an update regarding Schoolbelles orders from their owner, Bruce Carroll:
This truly has been the most unprecedented year in the school uniform business since my mother, Mary Carroll, founded Schoolbelles in 1956. Months ago, we were unsure if in-person learning would even be possible coming into the new school year! Thankfully, school is in session and students are learning in class. The increase in enrollment, the restraints of the global supply chain delays, the COVID-caused slowdown of our vendors’ ability to rebuild inventory, and the struggle many retailers face to staff, are all impacting the amount of time it is taking to fulfill your families' uniform orders.
We understand the frustrations many of you are experiencing, and we ask for your understanding during this challenging time. Our production team is working overtime to get orders out as quickly as possible and your Schoolbelles sales reps are watching open order reports closely.
As always, I am available to talk with you and answer any and all questions.
We cannot thank you enough for your understanding and grace while we finish out this incredibly difficult season.
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Welcome back! It is great to see all our returning families and some new families here at St. Brigid. The school is just not the same without the kids in the building.
I will be sharing some quick safety and security tips for your family, along with some important information I may need to send out to you throughout the year. Look for the SECURITY HOUND TIPS logo and hopefully you will find it beneficial and sometimes entertaining.
I look forward to working with you kids in the classrooms once again this year! Please let me know if I can ever be of help for your family. You can reach me at:
Bruce McKenna, 614-718-5825 ext. 276, mr.mckenna@stbrigid-school.com
Be Safe and Have Fun.
HELPFUL SAFETY TIP FOR YOUR CHILD:
If your child has a presence on Social Media, please review the photos they may have posted. Besides the obvious personal information not to share, please check in the background of the pictures for ways to identify your address, school, or other personal information. Vehicle license plates can be run by anyone through a simple records request form with Ohio BMV.
HELPFUL SAFETY TIP FOR YOUR HOUSE:
Even if you do not have a dog, placing an old beat up, chewed on dog dish with an intimidating name written on it such as “Brutus” on your back porch could deter burglars. Small pristine new dish with the name “Fifi” ……not so much. Sorry Fifi.
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Calling All Girls Interested in Girl Scouts |
You're invited to join Girl Scouts! If your little lady is interested in joining Girl Scouts, and did not already sign up at Meet the Teacher, please contact the following for more information:
Kindergarten, 2nd, 3rd grades: Laurie Wirt - lwirt@gsoh.org
1st Grade: Natalie Mitchell - natalie.cygan@gmail.com
4/5th Grade: Wendy Metz - wendylrich@hotmail.com
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Football returned last Saturday to Brigid's Green and it was good to have the players, parents, grandparents, and the fans of our Wolfhound Football Teams back for a great day. Both teams did really well in their scrimmages in two hard hitting defensive minded scrimmages.
The next Wolfhound home games are on Sunday, September 12th at 2pm for Varsity and 3:45 for Senior Reserve. Come out and enjoy some football.... GO HOUNDS!
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Congratulations to our 8th grade girls Sasha Smith, Ashley Moreland, and Lillian Glatz on winning both the regular Diocesan season and the tournament championship.
These girls were part of a combined St. Agatha, St. Brigid, and St. Andrew team.
Great job girls!
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Adult Volunteers: Protecting God's Children Class - Updated Sessions |
The Diocese of Columbus will be offering Protecting God's Children (PGC) training sessions at the following times. All of these sessions are in-person.
- 8/23 Our Lady of Victory at 6:00 pm
- 8/31 St. Catharine at 6:00 pm
- 9/8 St. Francis DeSales 6:00 pm
- 9/11 All Saints Academy at 9 am
- 9/25 Trinity Elementary at 9 am
Please visit www.virtus.org for registration and meeting instructions. Click on First Time Registrant, View a list of sessions, choose Columbus, OH (Diocese) and create a Virtus account.
Potential volunteers with children and youth must also complete a St. Brigid volunteer application, and submit a signed code of conduct, copy of photo ID, and submit to a criminal background check.
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Submit Materials for Wolfhound Wednesday |
If you have information you'd like included in the next Wolfhound Wednesday, email it to Allie Wing at mrs.wing@stbrigid-school.org.
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www.stbrigidofkildare.com |
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