We, the community of St. Ignatius School, in the tradition of Mother Marie Rose and St. Ignatius of Loyola, provide a faith-centered Catholic education guiding God’s children toward building a just and compassionate world.
Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
What a joy this week has been as we welcomed students and families back to school! A big thank you to all of our families for attending our Back-to-School Night last night. We appreciate the opportunity to partner with you in educating your children.
We are tremendously blessed to receive $165,348 from our St. Ignatius School Foundation this year!
Foundation Golf Tournament: We are looking forward to a great turnout for the St. Ignatius School Foundation’s golf tournament tomorrow at Stone Creek Golf Club in Oregon City! It’s not too late to register. All registrations must be complete by 9:00 AM on Saturday! 50% of proceeds from the golf tournament are donated back to our school. Please support this fun event if you are able.
Little Big Foot: We wish to give the Diss Family, owners of the catering company Little Big Foot a huge shout-out of gratitude for the delicious food for our school BBQ. If you’re planning an event, consider reaching out to them for your catering needs: bigfootbbqpdx
Welcome Assembly: Our 8th grade leaders have heeded the call to serve by leading our school in the morning announcements and assisting with our Welcome Back student assembly on Wednesday of this week. During our Welcome Back assembly, we heard about our school year theme, We Are Companions on the Journey, and reviewed expectations for the cafeteria, uniforms, and recesses.
Arrival & Dismissal Reminders: We ask that students refrain from playing tag, chasing one another, and running around, especially as our preschool families are taking their children to and from the preschool. We ask that students stay off of the playground equipment before school too. Students may talk with each other in groups before the school bell rings. Thank you for helping us monitor the students before school.
For arrival and dismissal, there are three drop-off or pick-up options:
Use the drive through car line.
Park by the fence closest to Powell and walk up to enter school or wait for your child to be sent to you at dismissal.
Please refer to this diagram to know where to park. Please do not park in the middle spaces of our lot as it impedes the car line.
Park on 43rd and wait for your child to climb in your car. This option is suggested for older students. Students must have a walk/bike permission form in the office to use this option.
Parking in the parking spaces by the gym and parish offices is prohibited during dismissal for safety of children moving to cars parked on 43rd for pick-up.
Please use the drive through car line or wait in your car on 43rd with your dog. Dogs are not allowed in the arrival or dismissal areas.
Thank you for assisting us in promoting safe and quick dismissal procedures.
Club K Upcoming Care Change: Our amazing before and after school provider, Club K, has informed us there are not currently enough families to meet the minimum needed to offer before school service. Unless more families sign up for before school care, Club K will stop providing before school care after September 12, 2025. If you think you may need this service in the future for your kindergarten through 5th grade student, please reach out to Club K to register ASAP!
Accreditation & Calendar Correction: This year, we will host a visiting team in October for our accreditation process. The visiting team reviews our school’s self-study and Education Improvement Plan. The team will visit classrooms, meet with various accreditation committees, and attend our Wednesday school Mass. At the end of their visit, they will report their findings to our staff on Thursday, October 16, a Noon dismissal day. The following day, October 17th is a No School Day for students as our staff prepares for implementation of the accreditation report and upcoming parent-teacher conferences on October 20-21. Our Education Improvement Plan’s will guide our goals over the next six years. The first critical goals we will focus on are as follows:
Throughout this journey, we’ve evaluated our strengths and growth areas and set meaningful goals for the future. Thank you for supporting this work—your input has been invaluable.
A+ Lunches Program: We are blessed to have A+ Lunches back with us for this year. Please place orders by 11:59 PM on Friday for the upcoming week. If you find you miss the Friday deadline and need to make a last minute order, you can do so at a higher cost through the “Late Menu.” A “Late Menu” order must be placed by 11:59 PM the day prior to the order. Just remember to check the menu to make sure you aren’t using the “Late Menu” when ordering weeks ahead within the original deadline. Ordering and menus are through Boonli:
**https://apluslunch.boonli.com/login**
Jog-a-Thon: Stay tuned for this year’s Groove Our Way to $50K Jog-a-thon! Donations are collected through a platform called 99 Pledges. You will receive an email for your family’s 99 Pledges account. Please ask your family and friends to support this kid-driven, fun, community building event while helping our school to provide an excellent, hands-on education for our students. Our school’s jog-a-thon is the afternoon of Friday, September 26th. You can sign up to volunteer at this event through our new volunteer hour tracking platform- **Track It Forward.**
Volunteering for Events- In addition to Jog-a-Thon volunteers, we need assistance with monitoring our lunch recesses from 12-1 PM daily. Many of our volunteers select two or three dates per month to assist. More eyes during our recesses allows for staff members to give their full attention to assisting students in problem solving challenges.
All volunteers for school activities must be up-to-date C.A.S.E. training with a current background check. Parent volunteers must pass a background check every two years..
For new volunteers, we will host an in person initial C.A.S.E. training next Wednesday, September 10 from 6:00-8:00 PM. **Sign up here** if you are a new volunteer in need of this child protection training. You may take the in person initial C.A.S.E. training anywhere in the Archdiocese and submit a completion certificate to our school office. Here is the link to the training schedule for the whole Archdiocese-
**https://archdpdx.org/case-training-schedule**
Church Greeters: At St. Ignatius, we want everyone--parishioners and visitors-- to feel welcome from the moment they arrive at our church. One thing we can do to welcome people is have greeters at each Mass to actually greet people as they walk in. We may never know the impact of a smile and a greeting in someone's day. We would love to have family greeters for each of our weekend Masses. This only entails getting to Mass 10-15 minutes early, standing just outside the doors (or just inside if the weather is awful) and saying "good morning" or "hello" or "welcome" as people walk in. The greeters also hand out bulletins after Mass,so it's like people get to receive both a hello and a good-bye. Here’s the sign-up for this opportunity:
***https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4AAFA829A6F5C61-58319780-mass***
University of Portland Nursing Program: We are excited to share that we are again partnering with the University of Portland’s School of Nursing. During this fall trimester, we have two nursing students on our campus on Thursdays. During their time with us, they will conduct a vision screening for our students in October, teach students lessons on handwashing, nutrition, and other health topics, and teach our staff more in-depth lessons on health related content. We enjoyed welcoming Nurse Dani and Nurse Sharmaine this week!
Transition Projects- We are once again taking up the call to provide 80 sack lunches for Transition Projects. ****Transition Projects has recently partnered with the Oregon Food Bank which has shifted some of their requirements for serving lunches. Therefore, instead of our school delivering the sack lunches to Transition Projects, their community canvassing team will pick them up each week and deliver the lunches directly to those in need living on the streets of Portland. Please consider signing up to make a batch of twenty sandwiches, if you are able. We also need donations of granola bars, chips, and fruit cups too.Thank you for supporting this whole school service learning opportunity.
Make sandwiches: https://tinyurl.com/schoolwideservicesignup
Fill the pantry amazon wish list: https://tinyurl.com/TRANSPROWISHLIST
After School Programs Reminder: Many of our afterschool activities are starting this coming week and all are actively registering participants with extended deadlines through the end of September. Flyers with more information are listed below. Please remember each program needs a minimum number of students to register in order to host the class!
New Preschool Staff: With 34 preschool students this year, we have completed hiring of additional preschool staff. Please join us in welcoming Benny Rodriguez and Emily Gabrish to our preschool team!
As we reflect in gratitude for this first week of school, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Peace be with you.
Carol Pausz
Principal
Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon, exist to give witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As an apostolate of the Church, Catholic Schools minister the salvation of Jesus Christ, exercising His mission to teach (Mt. 28:19-20) by providing Mission Passionate Catholic Education.
Many hands are needed to make this a success and continue this long standing tradition. You can help in one of the following ways:
Thank you so much for your continued support of this important service project!
We hope you’re as excited as we are for the new school year! With the season quickly approaching, we have a few updates — and a special request for your help.
We Need a Cross Country Coach!
If you or someone you know loves running and working with kids, this is a great way to make a difference. No prior coaching experience is required — just enthusiasm and a heart for our athletes. Practices will be held at Creston Park.