ATTENDANCE
The official start of winter this year is designated as December 21st. Frequently, the start of winter correlates with the beginning of the cold and flu season which results in increased student absences. That makes this an optimal time to revisit the policies and procedures for absences, tardies, and student attendance.

The school shares the responsibility with parents/guardians in teaching students responsible habits of dependability through regular and punctual attendance. Such habits have a pertinent carryover to daily life and adult employment. The process of education requires regular continuity of instruction, classroom participation, learning experiences and study benefits for individual students. Frequent absences from regular classroom learning experiences disrupt the continuity of the instructional process.

Per policy from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee (5113(a)), and with compliance with Wisconsin State Statute 118.15:

This means that state law allows a parent to excuse their child from school in writing prior to an absence for up to 10 days per school year. These 10 days can be a combination of absences and tardies, as a student must be present for the entire school day. All absences beyond 10 are deemed unexcused. That said, a written note from your doctor does not count towards those 10 absences. If you have a doctor's note from a previous appointment please feel free to send it in, and we can adjust your child's attendance record. Family vacations that are approved by the principal also do not count towards the 10 days, so I encourage you to please fill out an Absence Request Form in the office, even for short trips.

We will be adjusting things on Power School to ensure accurate attendance, so please bear with us if you notice any changes in your child's attendance record.

In accordance with the Wisconsin Compulsory Attendance Law, a parent must be sent a written notification when the child has been absent or tardy without an acceptable excuse for a total of five days in a semester. A second notice regarding habitual truancy shall be sent when a student has been absent 10 or more days in the school year. If your child is approaching or has exceeded ten excused absences, Saint John Vianney will be notifying you directly via a mailed letter to inform you of this and we ask that you take necessary actions to help correct this.

Thank you very much for your cooperation in the matter, as it is vital that our students are attending school as much as possible. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

BABY D IS ALMOST HERE!
I also wanted to inform you that my wife and I are expecting our first child to be born in the very near future, as the due date is January 3rd. I plan to take two weeks off to be at home after the baby is born. It is difficult to say exactly, but there is a strong chance that my absence would occur the first two weeks in January. In my absence, our school president, Mrs. Pyzyk, will serve as school principal. She will be located in the principal's office and will be happy to address any concerns or questions you might have during that time. Thank you for understanding, and I'll be sure to pass along news of Baby D!

Positively SJV,

10:30-11:15am- K5-4th grade

1:00-2:30pm- SJV Middle School

"My primary message to students is three fold: bullying is not just joking around, it damages you for life; bullying just isn't the mean things you do, it's all the nice things you never do; and if you're being bullied or shunned, there's nothing wrong with you, it's everything that's right about you that makes you a target, and that you shouldn't change for anyone, it is those who put you down who need to change."

"The parent/teacher workshop is a comprehensive, ninety-minute immersive experience during which I offer specific strategies and initiatives along with scripted verbiage adults can use with kids."

 

We are excited to have have lots of new books for our students to read!  They have been catalogued and are ready to be shelved.  Whether you have have five minutes or an hour, please stop by!

Thank you to our families who supported SJV by ordering SCRIP cards!  We wish you a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year!   We encourage you to continue using SCRIP in 2016.  Over break, we will not order any physical cards, but if you use PrestoPay, you may continue to order online, print your cards at home and reload existing cards.  Our next order date for physical cards will be Monday, January 4.

This morning the Advent wreath in our church caught fire. Only the wreath was damaged and no one was hurt. However, we have had to hire a professional cleaning service to clean up the residue of three fire extinguishers. It is quite extensive and will take several days. Everything is covered with white dust and soot and there is a smell of smoke throughout the building both in church and in the church hall.

Consequently, we are forced to close the church until Mass at 4:30pm on Saturday. The cleaning will be far enough along by then to allow us to pray in there at that time - at least we hope so. A funeral for Dr. Ronald Horkheimer at 10:30am on Saturday will now be celebrated at St. Dominic Parish. There will be no adoration on Friday and no Masses on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday morning.

I feel blessed that no one was hurt and that no serious damage was done to the building itself. We're hoping the organ, piano, bells, sound system, and video system will also be cleaned and operative by the weekend.

And finally, I remind you that this is Commitment Weekend for three different appeals: your Stewardship offering for 2016, your pledge to the Door to Our Faith Capital Appeal, and your gift to the Cure D'Ars Annual Fund. Please continue to pray and discern what you are planning to give. You will be invited to process to the altar with your gift.

Liturgy needs 8th grade volunteers (and older) at all the Christmas Masses to help hand out free books to parish members at the end of Mass. Can you help out? Please contact the Liturgy Office to let us know if we can count on you-262-796-3947 or email Angela Bravata.

There are many ways to help decorate the church for Christmas and we need many volunteers. You can help the Liturgical Environment Committee on Wednesday morning  December 23 at 10:00am with the installation of the live trees in the church and the assembly of artificial trees in the narthex.  That afternoon at 1:00pm, help will be needed with decorating narthex trees with student and parish family ornaments.  Work will continue in the church and outside the chapel until it is finished.  Wreaths will be hung, pine garland strung and we will be setting up the nativity. Email Angela Bravata for more details or call 262-796-3947. All are welcome and encouraged to participate!

SJV Alumni- Michael Dobrzynski
After his time at Saint John Vianney, Michael attended Brookfield Central High School, graduating in 2015.  While at BC, Michael was a four-year member of the volleyball team and two years on the baseball team.  He served on the Student Council Executive Board chairing the annual Spring Fling and spearheaded the End of the Year School Carnival.   Michael also served as the Student Council liaison to the Elmbrook School Board.  A great opportunity to reconnect with his SJV classmates came with his CYM volleyball and basketball teams.  

True to his commitment to St. John Vianney and his Catholic faith, Michael was a coach for Faith-a-Thon and a facilitator at the annual Faith-a-thon competition at the Tyme Out Center for all four years.  After his confirmation, he joined the God Squad for his senior year. During that time, he was a retreat leader for the spring and fall Confirmation retreats. His time on the God Squad reaffirmed his faith and prepared him to take the next step in his life journey. 

Michael is currently attending the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater, where he is pursuing a major in Biology.