School News for June 4-13, 2024

A Note from Mr. Fuerte

Dear St. Louise Families,

As we are nearing the end of the school year and the start of the summer of 2024, I wanted to write all of you a special message of thanks and gratitude. As you all know, after my brief stint as Principal of St. Louise Parish School since October 2021, I have discerned that God has called me in a different direction. In my 22 years of working at St. Louise, I have worn a number of hats and worked in a variety of positions from being a kindergarten aide and 5th grade teacher, to administering as both vice-principal and principal. Although I’ve enjoyed ministering in all of these roles, it is a classroom teacher where I find the most fulfillment, and I believe God is calling me to go back to my passion, which is my love of teaching.

Before we depart for the end of the school year, I want to say thank you – from the bottom of my heart. I have been truly blessed to get to know each of your children and your families. The St. Louise community will always be in my heart, and I will never forget everyone, and all the memories made. I want to also thank my wonderful, dedicated, hard-working, and faith-filled staff. Without their support, we would not be able to handle the transition through COVID and until now. Thank you to the best supportive staff one could ask for!

In my short tenure as St. Louise Principal, we reached several milestones. Some of these major accomplishments included building two new Pre-K classrooms with our Fund-A-Need, enhancing our curriculum with Robotics, funding new state of the art computers in the technology lab and enhanced security features, as well as providing new furniture in the Science Lab. This year, we had the opportunity to go through the new Accreditation Process and setting up our goals for the next 6 years. I trust that the new principal, John Black, will have a great vision and mission for St. Louise Parish School for years to come. I will have my last graduation as Principal tonight, and I look forward to the fun final events from Field Day to the End of Year Liturgy. While being an educator can be challenging, there was never a day that I did not get up excited to come to work and see the students. All of the students will forever hold a special place in my heart. St. Louise Parish School will always be in my heart. I wish them, and you all, success in the future! Friday, June 14 will my last day at St. Louise. After Friday, if you have a school related matter, please reach out to Mrs. Jaster at joellynj@stlouiseschool.org. If there is ever anything I can do to be of support, my personal email is mfuerte96@yahoo.com. Please do not hesitate to stay in touch. Thank you all for the honor and privilege of serving as your child’s principal over the last 3 years. I wish you all health, happiness, and endless success in the future.

Mr. Mike Fuerte

Principal

Final School Days Will include Liturgy, Yearbooks, and a Picnic!

The end of the school year is almost here, with Friday, June 14, being our final day! On this last day, we will hold our end-of-year prayer service, followed by an all-school picnic.

For the end-of-year prayer service next Friday morning, we will come together in church and announce surprise recipients of student awards and recognize our volunteer extraordinaire. We will also say goodbye to departing students and families, as well as teachers and staff. All parents are welcome to join us for the prayer service at 9:00.

Please see the flyer below with some other important “End of the School Year Reminders”.

THANK YOU FOR FULFILLING YOUR COMMITMENTS

Families that have ANY outstanding fundraising commitments and/or unfinished volunteer hours, will receive an email detailing exactly what they have outstanding. Please remember that we will not mail your student’s report card or release any transcripts to new schools until ALL commitments are completed. Those commitments are as follows:

Volunteer Hours:

Don’t forget to log in your 40 hours of volunteering. We still have many families that have not recorded their hours. Please make sure you log in at least 40 volunteer hours HERE or pay off your balance at the rate of $25.00 per hour HERE by June 14.

Annual Fund, Charger Cards, Auction and Walk-A-Thon:

Besides your yearly commitment to give volunteer hours, school families also commit to supporting the Annual Fund, Charger Cards and Walk-A-Thon. Outstanding payments for Annual Fund, and Walk-A-Thon can be paid online at the following links. Outstanding Charger Card balances can be paid by check made out to S.L.C.C. and left in the front office.

Annual Fund

Walk-A-Thon 

Auction procurement for the 2024-2025 school year is due by June 14. You can make your donations here.

Summer Learning, School Calendar & Supplies List

In the next week, you will receive your summer learning information from your homeroom teachers. 

You also received next year’s school calendar and supplies list. You can access the supplies list HERE, and also subscribe to our virtual calendar by clicking subscribe in the upper right corner of our online calendar page HERE.

Mark your Calendar!

Congratulations Class of 2024

Today's Baccalaureate Mass (9:00) and Commencement Ceremony (6:00) will be live streamed!

Announcements

We are hiring for two part-time Pre-K After School Care Positions!

• Do you love working with kids?
• Great for opportunity for college students!
• 16 hours per week (Mon 1:45-5:45; Tue-Fri 2:45-5:45)
• Paid training including mandatory Child Care Basics Class, CPR/First Aid training.
• Must pass MERIT & VIRTUS background check.
• Must be able to show proof of MMR vaccine and TB test.
• Reach out to Mrs. Jaster for more info!

NEW SCIENCE LAB FURNITURE ARRIVING SOON & WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We need 8 strong volunteers to help move the old tables out of the lab on Friday, June 14 from 8-noon. Please sign up to help here.

Chargers C.A.R.E. - St. Louise Class of 1974 Reunion & Annual Fund Update!

The St. Louise Class 1974 celebrated their 50th Year Reunion last weekend! Below are pictures from this past Saturday, as well as from their 10 year and 25 year reunions! Way to stay connected Class of 74!!

Thanks to all the families who have made their donations to the Annual Fund. Because of you, we reached our goal of $170,000.

Maximize the Impact of Your Donation! Many employers participate in matching gift programs, which means they’ll match your charitable contributions. Take a moment to check if your company offers this benefit. By doing so, you can double or triple the impact of your donation!

If you have not fulfilled your required contribution, please do it here

Parents' Club News - Charger Shop & Parents' Club Board Openings

Join the St. Louise Parents' Club: Enriching Education and Building Community Together!

The funds raised by the Parents' Club at St. Louise support a wide array of activities and enhancements that directly benefit our school community.

Through various events such as the Father/Daughter Dance, as well as fundraising initiatives like the Walk-A-Thon and Charger Cards, we generate resources that enrich the educational experience for both students and staff.

Specifically, our funds provide enrichment grants for teachers, enabling special field trips and inviting expert educators to conduct workshops for students and parents. We also organize hospitality events, including teacher appreciation lunches, and maintain emergency supplies for the school. Additionally, the Parents' Club funds annual holiday gifts for teachers and staff.

During our Annual Fundraiser, we make significant contributions towards new curricula and essential classroom supplies. We also support a variety of initiatives including the installation of new security systems, such as cameras and intercoms, to enhance the safety of our school.

Ultimately, our efforts help create an outstanding and affordable educational environment at St. Louise, benefiting all students and families.

We are currently looking to fill several positions on the Parents' Club Board. If you are interested, please email Marta Masferrer at masferrer@gmail.com. The open positions are:

President-Elect:

• Represent PC on STL School Commission 
• Plan Parent Education Workshops
• Shadow and support President in order to take over the position the following year
• Take meeting notes publish to the web

Volunteer / Enrichment Grants Coordinator:

• Connect STL parents to a variety of volunteer opportunities
• Answer miscellaneous questions about volunteer hours
• Help administer the school-wide Sign-Up Genius account
• Coordinate the Enrichment Grant Applications in the beginning of the school year

Committee Liaison:

• Manage fundraising goals and budgets for Committee Chairs
• Check in with each Chair to understand “what’s working and what’s not” and work with PC to discover solutions

We LOVE our Volunteers!

The St. Louise Chess Club is looking for parent volunteers to manage the club next school year.

Chess club has partnered with Excel with Chess who provides coaches and are responsible for all activities during the session. As manager for Chess club the main activity is to coordinate with Excel with Chess to setup the dates for upcoming sessions, and to support before/after chess class with student check-in and check-out directly or through parent volunteers. Parents need to be present 10 minutes before class at 1:50 p.m. and stay until last student is check-out, typically about 15 minutes after class ends around 3:15 p.m. No chess knowledge is required.

Please reach out to Mrs. Jaster if you are interested and you will be contacted by one of our chess managers for an information session.

Notes from Fr. Gary and Parish Happenings!

Dear Families,

Friday, June 14, is the last day for the St. Louise School year. We have three long-time instructors, Mary Herridge, Jeff Glaser and Terri LaRussa-Banton who are retiring, and numerous others who are moving to other positions, including Mike Fuerte who has served at principal for the past two and half years after many years of serving as a teacher at St. Louise School. Next year, Mr. Fuerte will teach fourth grade at Sacred Heart School in Bellevue.

Mr. John Black will serve as our new principal. He is here in Bellevue this weekend and will be at the school all day on Monday. He and his wife will move to Bellevue from California at the end of this month. They have five grown children and are looking forward to living in the Northwest. He officially begins on July 1.

July 1 will mark the beginning of several other transitions for the parish and school. As you know, Fr. Tom Belleque will officially begin as the parish priest and will live with me here at St. Louise. Even more significantly, on that date Loretta Sursely will begin as Pastoral Coordinator for our parish family, including both St. Louise and St. Madeleine Sophie. I will serve full-time at the Archdiocese as Vicar for Clergy. I will visit parishes and priests to offer support frequently during the week and some weekends. I will be here at St. Louise and at St. Madeleine Sophie to offer Mass and other sacraments, and I will continue to live here, but I will not be on the parish staff.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for us to come together in prayer and faith as we prepare for what it means to live as a parish family. I am extremely grateful to those who are saying that they are ready to step forward to help. There are many great possibilities. In particular I am thinking about the message of the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin as he announced to her that she was to be the mother of Christ, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” (Lk 2:27)

With gratitude,

Fr. Gary Zender

Partners in the Gospel Question Five: Who will do the administrative duties under the new leadership? Who will be the spiritual leader?

Answer: Loretta Sursely, as pastoral coordinator, will assume the administrative duties that a pastor normally does. There will be enough administrative tasks for the parish family that Jonathan (JT) Taasan will also continue with many of the duties that he currently handles at St. Louise. Fr. Tom will be the only full-time priest in the parish family and so will be the primary spiritual leader; Fr. Tony, whose main job is serving at the Tribunal as the primary canon lawyer for the Archbishop, will continue as parish priest, but now for the combined parish family instead of just at St. Madeleine Sophie. Fr. Gary will be full time Vicar for Clergy and priest in residence at St. Louise. One important difference between Fr. Tony’s and Fr. Gary’s positions with the Archdiocese is that Fr. Tony generally works at the Chancery and doesn’t need to go to parishes for his ministry, whereas Fr. Gary will need to be at other parishes on most Wednesdays and occasionally on the weekends. All three priests will rotate between the two parishes in our parish family for Masses. Bear in mind that pastoral and spiritual leadership is shared with everyone on the staff, whatever their formal job title. For instance, Loretta’s administrative role as leader of the parish family is also pastoral and spiritual, which is reflected in her title of Pastoral Coordinator. JT’s administrative role is not only that; his work too has pastoral and spiritual aspects, and this is true of each member of the staff.

Thank you St. Louise Sponsors!

Antezana Garvizu Family