Newsletter from Our Principal

January 29, 2026
Our celebration of Catholic Schools Week has been a fantastic celebration of being united in faith and community. We have had fun in ways big and small, which reflect our family atmosphere and faith community. Many hands went into planning the celebration, and we are thankful to all our teachers and staff for helping make it special.
A special thank you goes to Mrs. Hardesty for her coordination of the food that was enjoyed this week including donuts for parents and students; popcorn for yesterday’s movie day; and pizza for tomorrow. As a reminder, pizza for all who ordered will be served tomorrow for lunch. 

The Winter Carnival served as the prelude and kick off of the week. Thank you to the many volunteers, students and adults, who helped make this fabulous event possible! We are thankful to those that gave of their time and/or baked goods, donated items, etc. We couldn’t have held the event without you! A special thank you goes to Melissa and John Click for their donation of the delicious hot dogs and to the Bridges Family for the donation of the stuffies for the stuffed animal adoption center. A Chili Cook-off was also held at the Winter Carnival! Congratulations to Stu Buchbinder for preparing the winning Chili! Thank you to all who entered and to all who served as judges. All entries were delicious, making the judging extremely difficult! 

Our week began with the celebration of our parish and faith on Sunday at 10:00 AM Mass where students from our school assisted with mass. Thank you to Kaiser Buchmann, Angela and Theresa Mang, Macy Pena, and Theresa Tuangsamte for serving as readers. Thank you to Anne and Nathan Nelson and Esther Siam and Cecilia Hoih for passing out bulletins! Thank you also to the Chin Samte family for bringing up the gifts. If you didn’t receive a bulletin, please check it out here: January 25 bulletin. Each of our classes shared a thank you photo to our parish for their support of our school. Thank you to all who attended Mass wearing their uniforms. What a beautiful testament of faith and beginning to our celebration of Catholic Schools Week.

Our Open House was held on Sunday, and we welcomed 10 families to our school to show them why St. John the Baptist may be the place they want to choose for school. Special shout outs go to our student ambassadors, G Kular, Teddy LaDuca, Viviann LeMay, Sophia Moreci, and Anali Soto. Fortunate are we to have students who freely give of their time to SJB while enthusiastically providing tours to our prospective families. Mrs. Hardesty greeted and welcomed our guests in the gym, the starting point for the tours while I met them and answered questions at the end of the tour in St. Cecilia Hall. Please pray for the families who attended as they make their decisions about enrolling their children in school. Several have already submitted their application. Additionally, our Band debuted at 1:00 PM with their first performance of the year. 

As a special treat for our youngest learners and their families, Miss Jamie performed farm themed songs. It was a wonderful time of singing, dancing, and moving to the music. Our time together provided much warmth on a cold and snowy Sunday afternoon.

On Monday, we launched this year’s One Book, One School selection, The Secret of the Scrolls: Race to the Ark. We hope that you are enjoying the book with your children. Click here for chapter 4 read by eighth grade student, Madelyn Buchmann. Chapter 5 will be shared tomorrow and the remaining chapters will be shared next week.

On Tuesday. Fr. Steve Borello, Vocations Director for the diocese, presided at our School Mass. He shared a beautiful homily about having awe and wonder in Jesus and in turn seeing the awe and wonder in each other. At the conclusion of Mass, eighth grade student, J. Sullivan’s essay entitled, “Living Catholic Values at St. John’s” was selected to be shared to commemorate Catholic Schools Week and celebrate the gift of Catholic Education and St. John the Baptist Catholic School. His essay very well written and truly embodied the spirit of SJB! After Mass, our faith families made Valentine’s Day wreath door hangers for the residents of Alva Care of Winfield. In all 144 wreaths were lovingly made to bring joy to others. 

Tomorrow we will watch the wonderful gifts and talents of our students in our Talent Show. It starts at 1:00 PM and you are welcome to join us. There are 13 acts. If attending, you can park your car in the parking lot as for pick up and enter door 3, the gym entrance. You will sign in there. Thank you, Mrs. Murray, our fifth grade teacher, for coordinating this project, and thank you to eighth grade student, Christopher Woodbury, for serving as the emcee and J Sullivan, for assisting with the music. Afterwards Minute to Win It activities will take place. Thank you, Mrs. Pierscionek, our eighth grade homeroom and 6-8 Math teacher; and Mrs. Reed, our Preschool teacher, for organizing and preparing the challenges.

Re-enrollment for the 2026-2027 School Year

Enrollment and Re-enrollment packets will officially go live tomorrow in FACTS. Please be on the lookout tomorrow for an email from me with the steps you’ll need to complete. 

FACTS Tax Summary Information

With the end of January comes the start of tax season, please review the attached document for instructions on how to locate your tax summary documentation within the FACTS System. If you have any questions, you can reach a FACTS customer service representative at 866-441-4637.

Knights of Columbus

SJB is blessed with the generosity and support of the Knights of Columbus. They do far more than you know, and we are truly grateful for them and all they do for our school. The Rescheduled Free Throw Contest for ages 9 and up is on Friday, February 6 in the morning. If your child would like to participate, please make sure that you complete a permission form. You will find the form on page 2 of the attachments. 

Don’t miss the Knights of Columbus Pancake Breakfast this Sunday from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM in Sebahar Hall.

School Effectiveness Survey

Many thanks to those who have completed the School Effectiveness Survey. There are two days left to complete it if you have not already done it. Please check your email for the unique survey link. The survey closes on January 31, 2026.



Athletics Update

Away Basketball Games – Friday, January 30

7:00 PM - 7^th grade boys @ St. Joan of Arc 

8:00 PM – 8^th grade boys @ St. Joan of Arc 

Go Wildcats!

Home Basketball Games – Saturday, January 31

1:00 PM – 6^th grade boys vs. St. Petronille

2:00 PM – 7^th grade girls vs. St. Cletus

3:00 PM – 7^th grade boys vs. St. Isidore

4:00 PM – 8^th grade boys vs. St. Isidore 

Come, cheer on our Wildcats!

ACRE Testing for Grades 5 and 8 – next week

Next week our fifth and eighth grade students will be taking the Assessment of Catholic Religious Education (ACRE) test online. The ACRE test measures knowledge of the faith as well as beliefs, behaviors, attitudes and practices of the faith, and is given annually to all students in fifth and eighth grades in our diocese.

♥ Grandparents Day – Thursday, February 12, 2026 ♥

Our Grandparents Day is right around the corner. Grandparents are cordially invited to attend on Thursday, February 12. The day starts with a small reception in Sebahar Hall at 8:15 AM. Our School Mass will follow and grandparents will be treated to a short program and a visit in the classroom. More details and an RSVP form can be found in the attachments. 

♥ Valentine’s Day Parties- Friday, February 13, 2026 ♥ 

Our Valentine’s Day parties will be held in the morning on Thursday, February 13, 2026. Don’t forget that we dismiss at 11:30 AM. Room parents, please double check with the homeroom/classroom teachers on the exact time of the party and arrival time as well as share your party ideas. As a reminder, all volunteers must be compliant with the Safe Environment requirements. It is compliance time and unfortunately, we have several parents who are not compliant as of this writing. We have two weeks to fulfill the requirements. Volunteers who are not compliant will not be able to volunteer until all requirements are met. I ask that all volunteers please log into your Virtus account at Virtus and check to make sure that everything is in order. 

A Night at the Races Gala

Thank you to all who have purchased their Gala tickets. We really hope that you will be able to attend this spectacular event. It is SO much fun! Purchase tickets here

As you can see, we had a busy and fun-filled week and truly celebrated being united in faith and community which our Catholic school provides. We are blessed indeed at St. John the Baptist. Thank you so much for choosing SJB and partnering with us for your child’s faith formation and education. We truly are embraced by a tremendous community!

Don’t forget that tomorrow is spirit day! Let’s show our SJB pride and spirit. We are SJB!

May you receive many blessings this weekend! 

In His Service,

Joanne