September School News
Salem School News
A Message from Mr. Klatt to Start the Year
“Together in Christ” Ephesians 2:21-22
In Christ the whole building is joined together… and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives.
Division is a separator. It separates students into teams for a game. It separates pieces of cake, so everyone gets a slice that is the same size. It separates a group of individuals inside a large organization. However, it can also separate individuals from each other for a variety of reasons. Maybe you have seen this in your life or someone else’s.
The family that lets an age-old argument keep them from getting together for holidays, birthdays, or just for fun. The neighbor who rakes their leaves into your yard in the fall and now you won’t even look at them when they are outside with you. When reading these events, it is easy to laugh at how small and trivial they may be, but this happens to us all the time. We take these small instances that make us mad and the devil smiles. He knows that division causes hurt, chaos, stress, and hate.
At Salem, we too have moments where the devil tries to divide us. He throws little events into the school day that he knows will make us angry at a fellow teacher, student, parent, or whoever it may be. He tries to get us to divide ourselves from each other, but we again have the solution through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through his death and resurrection, we are united now and forever. He showed us just how much he loves us, his family.
This creates a lasting bond between us and other believers. That is the bond we create in our school among students with each other, students with teachers, and teachers with parents. Many of you have heard the adage strength in numbers. This is true in many situations, whether it be a cord, a team, or a battle. How much stronger our connection and strength are when we have Jesus, our Lord, and Savior, as one of our numbers. Through him, we are held together, and I look forward to continue creating this bond between students, teachers, and the families of Salem.
Welcome our New Teachers with a Gift Card Shower
In order to welcome our new teachers to our Salem Family, we would like to have a gift card shower for them. Daniel Bredendick is our new 5th and 6th-grade teacher. Tom and Michelle Stob are our new 3rd and 5th-8thgrade teacher. This is a great opportunity for us to welcome our new teachers with special gifts. Please drop off any gift cards to the church or school office by Friday, September 10th.
Tom Stob - Teacher in 3rd Grade, Athletic Director, Michelle Stob - Part-time Teacher 5-8 Grade
Tom is a native to the area, growing up in Star Prairie, WI, and attending school at Osceola Public School for grade school. He is a graduate of St. Croix Lutheran High School class of 2010. From there he went on to attend Martin Luther College in New Ulm, MN where he majored in Elementary Education and K-12 Physical Education. After graduation in December of 2015, he received an assignment to teach 3-5 grade and Athletic Director at Zion Lutheran School in Denver, CO.
While at MLC he met his wife, Michelle. They got married on August 2, 2014. While in Denver, the Lord blessed them with three children: Matthias (4), who will be attending Salem as a preschooler, Eleanor (2), and Abel (1). As a family, they enjoy doing different things such as kayaking, hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, and snowmobiling. They are excited to serve at Salem and look forward to getting to know people in our new school community.
Daniel Bredendick - Teacher in 5-8, Technology Director
I was born in Neenah, Wisconsin. I graduated from Fox Valley Lutheran High School and then went on to the University of Wisconsin in Madison where I hoped to study chemistry. The Lord had a different plan and the following year I went to Dr. Martin Luther College in New Ulm. After graduation, I married my high school sweetheart, Kristi. I was assigned to Messiah Lutheran School in North Hollywood, CA, where I became the principal and upper-grade teacher. After eighteen years at Messiah, I took a call to St. Paul’s First Lutheran in North Hollywood to be the seventh-grade homeroom teacher, junior high American history teacher, technology instructor for grades 2-8, and Director of Technology. I spent seventeen years there, before moving to St. Paul’s Lutheran School in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin to be the principal.
Along the way, my wife and I had two daughters, Amy and Rachel. Amy graduated from MLC and is married to a Captain in the United States Army. She has two children and is currently living in El Paso, Texas. Rachel lives in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. She works as an operating room technician and hopes to go on to medical school to become a doctor.
My wife graduated from DMLC and has taught preschool through high school. This past year she taught at Lakeside Lutheran High School in Lake Mills, WI. This coming year she will be teaching first grade at Crown of Life in West St. Paul.
We are looking forward to our move to the Stillwater area. My wife is looking forward to starting a garden next year. I have many interests such as hiking, backpacking, woodworking, photography, old cars, and construction, to name a few.
Order Your Salem Wear
Great News from SPTO -
There is a new website ready for our families to order Salem apparel from Heritage Embroidery & Design. The web store is open now through 9/8/21 at 11pm. Just use this link to order:
https://design.hedusa.com/salemlutheran
Orders will be delivered to Salem at the end of September. Heritage is separating all orders by student and grade for us so they can easily be sent home with your child.
All proceeds will go towards the SPTO fundraising.
Picture Day is September 20th
Please note that picture day is on a Monday. Have your child dress in their favorite outfit and put on their best smile! Preschoolers that do not usually attend on Monday may come in just for a photo or wait until retake day which is October 28th.
COVID Update
The School Board created a Back to School plan that was shared with the school families. The main points are that masks will not be required, but will be left up to each individual family. The increase of cleaning and handwashing will be maintained, and the students will still take their temperature upon entering the building. For the full list of COVID protocols, our school is following feel free to go to the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SXodfLnXsYgVTKmj_mdy1ZNyCm9DqLWzyyRBVxoAfdc/edit?usp=sharing
School Building Updates
Updates over the summer:
- New Display Boards were purchased and installed in the remaining classrooms, replacing the Smartboards currently in place.
- New carpet has been installed in Mrs. Kaiser’s and Mrs. Stilwagon’s rooms.
- New counter areas in the 4-year old room and in the 7th and 8th-grade room.
- The school parking lot has been redone and looks amazing.
- Teachers renewed their licenses for First Aid/CPR.
St. Croix Joint Ministry with Salem
We will be sharing an update in September about the items that have been worked on by the committee. We want to make sure we are communicating what is happening and will most likely have some open forums coming up this school year. There won’t be a formal proposal until the January Voter’s Meeting.
Upcoming Events
August 30 - First Day of 2021-2022 school year
September 3 - NO SCHOOL- Labor Day Weekend
September 6 - NO SCHOOL - Labor Day Weekend
September 20 - Picture Day
September 24 - Grandparent Day TBD
Referral Program
The School Board approved a program that gives an incentive to recruiting new families for our school. If a family who has children enrolled refers a new family to Salem, they will receive a $200 tuition credit at Christmas per family they have referred. A church family who refers a new family will receive a $200 script gift card also at Christmas per family if they so choose. There is no limit to the number of families you can refer. If you have any more questions about the program, speak to a School Board member or Mr. Klatt.
No More Clipping Box Tops
Boxtops has come up with a more technological way to earn money for Salem Lutheran School. Instead of clipping the box tops and sending them in, you can now scan your receipt through the app on your phone and the points will be awarded to your school. The website to sign up on is https://www.boxtops4education.com or you can download the Box Tops for Education app on your phone.
We Are Also Collecting Aluminum Cans
Aluminum cans benefit our athletic program and can be bagged up and placed in the wooden bin that is next to the garage facing Panama Ave. on our property. Thanks for helping our school!
SCRIP
Have you checked out the ShopWithSCRIP.com website? You can now order your own SCRIP any time, anywhere you need it. You can also now order with your credit card! All you have to do is login and sign up! If you have students at Salem, the rebates earned can be applied to your child’s tuition. There will be a flat 5% fee on all orders. This will cover the shipping and administrative fees involved in the orders. You can also apply your profits to your child's lunch account as well as tuition. We have also added an option to direct your profits to church. Contact the church office for more information.
Prayer
One way we usually forget about how we can help our school and church is to pray for them throughout the year. Your prayers are always a blessing and it is great to know that you are asking God for his blessings in our school year.