As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, we extend our heartfelt wishes to all our St. Rose of Lima families for a blessed and peaceful Christmas. May this holy season bring joy, love, and renewal to your hearts and homes. Thank you for being a cherished part of our school community. We look forward to welcoming you back in the new year, ready to embrace all the blessings 2025 has in store! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at St. Rose of Lima Catholic School!

Play Like a Champion Today provides leadership in a worldwide effort to change the culture of youth sports, partnering with sports organizations at the youth and high school levels to provide all children with an opportunity to play sports in a sate, fun and supportive environment. The Catholic Athletic League regulations require that every student athlete have at least one parent attend the training in order for the student to participate. This workshop is a one time training, it you have completed this training in previous years, then you are not required to attend. On Wednesday, January 8th, 2025, there will be the last PLACT Parent Workshop for the 2024-2025 school year, starting promptly at 5:00 PM. See our school newsletter to scan the QR code and pre-register for the workshop. Any questions, you may contact our Athletic Director, Samantha Suarez ssuarez@srlschool.com.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made this year’s Fun Run such a success! Your generous support and encouragement helped make this event a huge success for our students and our school. A special shout-out goes to our incredible HSA for their outstanding planning and organization. We are so grateful for the countless hours of hard work and dedication they poured into making this day run smoothly. We’d also like to recognize the many parents who volunteered their time, energy, and talents. Whether you helped with set-up, handed out water, kept us energized and dancing with great music, or assisted with cleanup, you were an essential part of making this event so memorable for our students. It’s days like this that remind us of how special St. Rose truly is!

Our 8th graders were thrilled to welcome renowned author Gayle Forman for an unforgettable visit! With her captivating storytelling and relatable insights, Gayle took students on a journey through her writing process, sharing real-life inspirations behind her newest book, Not Nothing, and her bestselling novel, Should I Stay. She fielded thoughtful questions and left our young readers inspired and eager to dive into her works. A special thank you to Books & Books for making this incredible experience possible!

As flu season is upon us, we kindly ask for your cooperation in helping us maintain a healthy school environment for all. Illnesses can spread quickly in classrooms, impacting the health and well-being of students, teachers, and staff. We ask that you keep your child(ren) home whenever they’re not feeling well to prevent illness from spreading. Let’s work together to ensure that our school remains a safe and healthy place for learning. Please review the following reminders from our illness policy, outlined in our school handbook: • Reporting Absences: Please notify the school office between 7:30 – 8:30 AM if your child is unable to attend school. You may call us at (305) 751-4257 or email attendance-SRL@srlschool.com to report any absence. • Extended Absences: For any absence of three or more days due to illness, injury, or hospitalization, a note from a licensed medical or psychological practitioner is required. This note must be submitted in hard copy and include the practitioner’s name and contact information, along with specific clearance for your child’s safe return to school. We request that notes not be provided by practitioners who are immediate family members of the student. • Contagious Symptoms: Children with contagious symptoms or any illness that may cause discomfort to themselves or their classmates (e.g., excessive coughing, diarrhea, vomiting, headache, fever) should remain home until they are symptom-free for 24 hours and/or have been cleared by a pediatrician. Please note that the school reserves the right to send home any child who is ill. Further details regarding our absence and illness policy can be found in our Parent and Student Handbook on page 34. By being considerate of others, we can keep our classrooms healthy and ensure an optimal learning environment for all students. Thank you for your partnership in this important effort.