Monthly Archives: March 2023

Good afternoon, St. John’s Community,

We wanted to bring you an update regarding the incident that occurred at St. John’s on March 7, 2023.

As you are aware, approximately 2 hours after dismissal time, youth playing basketball at St. John’s were approached by a group of older youths. During the interaction a racial slur was directed towards one of the younger youths and a knife was shown. The three youths were able to leave the area on foot and there were no physical injuries as a result of the incident.

The school board has been in continual contact with Waterloo Regional Police regarding the situation and ongoing investigation. Police have arrested and charged the individual involved. They are not a member of the WCDSB community.

To ensure we are providing a high-quality, safe education, we will continue to work with community leaders, families, and the police to minimize safety threats in the future.

WCDSB does not condone hate motivated acts and remains committed to act intentionally to ensure those we serve—staff, students and communities—are treated with respect and dignity. Please refer to our Boards Equity Diversity and Inclusion webpage to learn more  Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: A Transformational Lens – Waterloo Catholic District School Board (wcdsb.ca).

On March 10^th , in response to the situation and as a proactive and supportive approach, additional staff were at the school including administrators, social workers, equity staff, and senior administration. Our social workers continue to be engaged supporting all students and staff who require support.

Students will have varying levels of impact/response and support will be in place.  Should you have concerns about how any of your students are coping or have other concerns, please reach out to your student’s Teacher or the School Principal and/or Vice Principal.  We also share resources for you, our parent/guardian community to support your children at home.  Please see this resource attached.

Tip Sheet Resources for St John Parents Caregivers March 2023

Our deepest gratitude to each of you and the students in your homes. We are so thankful to be part of this community.

In the days and weeks following a stressful event, it is normal to experience physical, emotional, or behavioural changes. Please know that we will continue to support in any way we can.

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out.

Respectfully,

Tonya Reesor, Principal

Lorraine Harris, Vice Principal

St. John’s Families…

Please join us for our Family Math event after school on Thursday March 30th from 4pm – 5:30pm. This is a casual, interactive, game-based, and FUN!! event. We have board games, cards and dice, and some curriculum based activities for you to play with your children. Lots of prizes to give away to families, too!

Please come by the gym when you pick up your child from school or come to the school after they get home. It won’t take a long time; you can spend as little as 15 minutes playing with us. Whatever works best for your family. We will be available until 5:30pm and hope you can join us!

Check out our great Door Prizes & Estimation Jars!

See you tomorrow Thunder!

Summer Learning Opportunities 

In July and August this year, there are several FREE learning options available for elementary students that will ignite, support and challenge students toward success and preparation for the next grade. REGISTRATION is now open and spaces fill up fast! 

Find the programs listed by date and grade that best suit your student’s needs.

Visit https://www.wcdsb.ca/summer-learning/ for program details, dates, and registration links.

Summer Learning Flyer-2023

Family Math event: Thursday March 3oth

Hello St. John’s Families!

We will be hosting a Family Math event at St. John’s CES on Thursday March 30th after school. The event will run from 4pm to 5:30pm in the Gym. A parent/ guardian or older sibling (high school or above) must attend the event with St. John’s students. We will have many games and prizes to give away for those who attend and healthy snacks will be available from our Nutrition for Learning program.

This is a drop in session that will take approximately 15 minutes of your time. The goal of this event is to share ideas and resources with students and families about math in our every day lives. We want to help families engage in meaningful math conversations and learning opportunities with their children (i.e., measurements while following a recipe, telling time at home, engaging in board/ card games as a family, etc.).

We are so excited to welcome our families back into the building after many years apart. We hope you will be able to join us for interactive math games and activities.

If you have any questions, please reach out to your child’s teacher for more information. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday March 3oth between 4pm – 5:30pm.

Mrs. Reesor & Mrs. Harris

Principal/ Vice Principal

Good evening, St. John’s Community,

We wanted to bring you an update regarding the incident that occurred at St. John on March 7, 2023.

As you are aware, approximately 2 hours after dismissal time, youth playing basketball at St. John were approached by a group of older youths.  During the interaction a racial slur was directed towards one of the younger youths and a knife was shown.   The three youths were able to leave the area on foot and there were no physical injuries as a result of the incident.

The school board is in continual contact with Waterloo Regional Police regarding the situation and ongoing investigation.  To ensure we are providing a high-quality, safe education, we will continue to work with community leaders, families, and the police to minimize safety threats in the future.

WCDSB does not condone hate motivated acts and remains committed to act intentionally to ensure those we serve—staff, students and communities—are treated with respect and dignity.   Please refer to our Boards Equity Diversity and Inclusion webpage to learn more  Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: A Transformational Lens – Waterloo Catholic District School Board (wcdsb.ca).

This is serious, and we are confident St. John Catholic Elementary School is and will remain a safe and secure place to learn and work.

Our Administrative team has been meeting since the incident occurred with the Director of Education and other senior WCDSB staff to ensure everyone is supported as we move forward together as a school community.

Our social workers and compassionate care staff are fully engaged in supporting all students and staff who require support.

Students will have varying levels of impact/response and support will be in place.  Should you have concerns about how any of your students are coping or have other concerns, please reach out to your student’s Teacher or the School Principal and/or Vice Principal.  We also share resources for you, our parent/guardian community to support your children at home.  Please see this resource attached.

Tip Sheet Resources for St John Parents Caregivers March 2023

Our deepest gratitude to each of you and the students in your homes.  We are so thankful to be part of this community.

In the days following a stressful event, it is normal to experience physical, emotional, or behavioural changes.  Please know that we will continue to support in any way we can.

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to reach out.

Tonya Reesor                Lorraine Harris

Principal                         Vice Principal

Dear St. John’s community,

Last evening, approximately 2 hours after dismissal time, three youths were playing basketball at St. John when they were approached by a group of older youths.

During the interaction, a racial slur was directed towards one of the younger youths and a knife was shown.

The three youths were able to leave the area on foot and there were no physical injuries as a result of this incident.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) is continuing to investigate the incident.

As always, we take the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff very seriously — and we are cooperating fully with WRPS to assist in finding those responsible.

Anyone who witnessed this incident or has any information about it is encouraged to call police at 519-570-9777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Anonymous tips can also be submitted at www.waterloocrimestoppers.com.

WRPS Media Release March 8th, 2023

We Appreciate Our Lunch Hour Supervisors

The administrators of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board would like to take the opportunity today to recognize all of our Lunch Hour Supervisors!

We are thankful for the daily dedication of our Lunch Hour Supervisor team at St. John’s.

On any given day Mrs. Bundscho, Mrs. Brosseau, Ms. Kaur, Mrs. Benini Fontana, Ms. Hernandez, and Mr. Harsatanaya may be outside rain or shine!

Most importantly, they build relationships with our entire school community! Our schools would not be the same without them! They truly matter, they make a difference and we want to say THANK YOU!