Dear St. Mary’s Families,
September is streaming by us in a flash. It is amazing to realize we are within a few weeks of the end of the first quarter. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the FoodBank’s OktoberFest this past Monday.
Please keep an eye on the calendar. This week we have our Hispanic Heritage festival on Friday. October is a busy month with the MOSS for 5th and 6th graders, the Spartan Run, Parent/Teacher conferences and the Regional Educators Conference at the end of the month. This is not mentioning the SOS training from Mrs. Maritt or picture retakes…. Busy, busy
As I suggested, please keep a careful eye on the calendar. We want you to be as active and engaged as your schedule allows, without over burdening anyone.
Thank you for all your support, involvement, and engagement.
OUR MISSION:
St. Mary’s School is to provide a Catholic environment that instills academic excellence while preparing the whole child for life-long personal and spiritual growth, empowering them to become global citizens.
Baptism
A number of our families have been reaching out to inquire about baptism. Please contact the Parish office (208) 344-2597 to discuss this or any other questions about the church and ways to explore your faith.
Spartan Run – October 17, 2025 – 1:00-3:00 pm – Parents are Welcome to Cheer or Volunteer
Spartan Run season is upon us and we are officially off to a great start. It is an incredible afternoon of obstacles, running, and community. Everyone is welcome to come, cheer, or volunteer to man a station.
Each student has a personal site to share with family and friends. The main page for the school is here. Please share the link with your friends and family in town and out that may want to support St. Mary’s. Even Cedar has a page to raise funds. 🐶
This year the prizes are:
- Gather 2 sponsors – vinyl sticker
- Gather 75 dollars of donations- Spartan sunglasses
- The highest donor will get a special prize (still working on this)
If the whole school achieves 90% participation, there will be a school wide celebration
The PTO has a high fundraising goal this year, and your enthusiasm and communication helps us have a successful fundraiser!
Thanks for your support, please reach out with questions, comments or ideas.
¡Hola a todos! Just a reminder
Hispanic Heritage Celebration – September 26, 2025 in the school gym at 1:30 pm
What you’ll see on Friday:
- The sixth-grade group displays typical foods from 13 Spanish-speaking countries.
- The fifth-grade group presents their art with Picasso.
- Fourth-grade will be presenting a country
- The third-grade group presents the flags of Spanish-speaking countries.
- The seventh-grade group (Thank you, Mrs. Davis) helps with the six game stations: loteria, pirinola, salta ranita salta, mosaicos de talavera, and La pesca.
The idea is for the children to go to the six game stations and have fun before starting the program.
This is a tentative program:
- 1:30-2:30 display of food and countries, art and games.
- 2:30-2:35 Dance by the sixth-grade group. (caballo dorado)
- 2:40-2:50 Presentation of the Santa Maria dance group (Mrs Gloria Muniz)
- 2:50 Free Tacos (I’ll give you a ticket per child so they can go and get a taco and agua de horchata or piña)
This is the second year of our celebration. Be patient with Mrs. Huerta! (Mexican style )
Gracias!
Security at School
In consultation with security professionals, we are making some changes to our processes at school. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. With each change, we balance the safety of the community and the school with the tradition and culture that is incredibly important to St. Mary’s.
Effective October 6, 2025, students arriving early for before care will enter through the main entrance to the school. They will proceed through the school to the downstairs. We are limiting the entrances to the school to a single point of entry.
Also effective, October 6th, families and students wanting to attend Prayer Square will enter through the main entrance of the school beginning at 7:50. We are not trying to inconvenience anybody nor do we want to discourage anyone from attending Prayer Square. We are trying to adhere to the advice provided by security professionals by using a single point of entry to the building. You are free to exit through the stairwell at the end of Prayer Square.
School Counselor Information – St. Mary’s is very blessed to have Mrs. Brooke Maritt join us this year. Mrs. Maritt is actively getting to know the students, teachers, and school. Below is information about what Mrs. Maritt will be doing during September.
A reminder to fill out the counseling consent form if you have not yet.
Let’s learn to ACT! Mrs. Maritt will be providing the SOS training to grades 6th-8th during the month of October. In order to continue our partnership with parents, Mrs. Maritt would like to offer the option of a parent night to share what the students will be learning. Even though the training is only provided to middle school students, we welcome all parents to attend.
Boise’s Favorite – October 6 (Noon) through October 24th
St. Mary’s has been nominated as Boise’s Favorite Private School and Boise’s Favorite PreSchool. We are defending the title we earned last year. Voting begins October 6th and runs through October 24th. You can vote once per day (per device). Please prepare your devices and write out a schedule to be sure to vote each day during the voting window. GO SPARTANS!
We have had a great start to the school year. We are working hard to live up to our mission and encourage everyone to be curious. Curiosity leads to all sorts of knowledge and wisdom, not just for students, but teachers, staff and families.
If you know anyone who might be curious about St. Mary’s – Here is a one page summary highlighting some of the great things about St. Mary’s.
Calendar of Events
- September 26 – Hispanic Heritage Fair – 1:30 pm in the Gym
- October 6-10 – MOSS 5th and 6th Graders
- October 6 – 24 – Voting for Boise Favorites
- October 8 – Picture Retakes
- October 16 – S.O.S Training 6:30 pm – Thank you for your input
- October 17 – Spartan Run
- January 31, 2026 – St. Mary’s Annual Gala – Please save the date
God Bless and Take Care
Kevan Grant
St. Mary’s Catholic School – Principal
Go Spartans!
Other Things
- School Choice – The Idaho Tax Commission is working to educate the public about House Bill 93, the bill designed to help families with the expense of non-public education. The link above will bring you to the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit page. It provides information about the bill along with courses to help families understand the finer details.
- Mexican Dance – Wednesdays – Open to All Students – Gloria Munoz at the Parish office graciously donates her time and expertise to our aspiring dancers. The group practices weekly on Wednesdays after school. No experience necessary. The group performs at events at St. Mary’s and throughout the city, including Dia de los Muertos, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Festival of Trees.
- After-School STEM Club – Spartaneers – Tuesdays – Jason Jaszkowiak is giving his time and experience to lead students in an after-school STEM program after school at St. Mary’s. Please refer to the link above for more information.
- Partnership Page – St. Mary’s school initiated a partnership page on our website to share information about businesses that are associated with and support St. Mary’s. If you are looking for something, I encourage you to check out the directory. If you are interested in listing your business, please contact Mandy at the front office. We would love to continue to grow our partnerships and encourage support for our local businesses.
- Safe Environment – Virtus – Safe Environment training is required for any volunteer that will be around students in the school. Please be sure to keep current with your safe environment. You are asked to complete an on-line training session to renew using Virtus each year. Background checks are scheduled to be renewed every five years. If you have never been through Safe Environment, you will need to attend the in-person class first.
- To find the list of in-person training, please follow the above link to Virtus, create an account and follow the prompts to the available classes.
- Return to School Policy – Each year the nurses evaluate and provide a return to school policy to keep us as healthy as possible during the school year. Please be sure to review the linked letter.
- St. Mary’s and Niche – Marketing the school is incredibly important. We utilize a number of avenues to let others know about St. Mary’s. One tool we use is Niche. Niche is an on-line school directory. Each month we have people from all over the country and some international families visit our Niche website to discover more about St. Mary’s. If you have a moment and want to share your experience, please complete a review of the school using the link above.
- Technology and Social Media Last year, I sent this linked letter to our families about some of the struggles we have experienced using technology, social media, or even gaming. As we enter into a new school year, it is a good idea to review or establish the necessary controls with respect to home technology usage. In addition to the tips provided in the letter, St. Mary’s has invested in the Social Institute to provide meaningful lessons to our students. The website allows for family access to the vast resources of tips, tricks, settings, and other controls to help families keep their children safe.
- To sign up for access, you can use the QR code on the document ( The Social Institute – Family Tool Kit ) or you can access the website directly to sign up to access the family resources. Please use the following school code: Code 3d1bC5B9403C65
- The site provides families resources to spark engaging conversations as well as application playbooks, which help you understand and set the necessary controls to restrict usage and/or functionality.
- Nationwide and statewide there are a number of programs supporting families and providing best practices to help keep our children safe. One initiative is Wait Until Eighth. Below is information concerning students in Idaho and nationally with respect to smartphone usage.
Bishop Kelly Athletics – Bishop Kelly has a plethora of athletics happening throughout the year. The BK website has a link to team pages with game schedules.- Get your Uniforms and Spirit Wear from Educational Outfitters
