News & Announcements

Dear Parents,

Our partners at Frameworks of Tampa Bay are hosting an online session for families on nurturing healthy friendships.

Making friends. Keeping friends. Handling conflict. Dealing with hurt feelings. Knowing when a friendship is healthy, and when it isn't. Friendships can be complicated at every age. This practical workshop explores how we can help our kids build the skills they need to develop and maintain healthy friendships.

• Wednesday, October 14, 2026
• 6:00 – 7:00 PM
• Online on Zoom — register to get the link

View the flyer: English · Español

Questions about the workshop? Contact Frameworks at 813-514-9555 or [email protected].

We have received School Readiness forms that let families enroll in aftercare at a greatly reduced cost. If you are interested in afterschool care, we strongly encourage you to apply for School Readiness and the YMCA. Families who qualify pay significantly less for aftercare. See how to apply.

If your child is not in the YMCA or another afterschool activity, please pick them up by 3:30 PM. Starting October 1, a late pick-up fee will be charged for any child still here after 3:30 who is not in an afterschool activity.

For reference, YMCA aftercare is $15 a day per child.

• Late pick-up, 3:30 – 3:45 PM: $15 per child
• 3:45 – 4:00 PM: $25 per child
• After 4:00 PM: $1 per minute

• 12:30 – 12:45 PM: $15 per child
• 12:45 – 1:00 PM: $25 per child
• After 1:00 PM: $1 per minute

In honor of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, bring your pets to be blessed by Deacon Jorge Suarez. All families are welcome.

• Friday, October 2, 2026
• 2:00 PM
• St. Joseph School Pavilion

Bring a stuffed animal or a drawing of your pet, and it will be blessed in their place.

Please keep pets on a leash or in a carrier.

For 41 years, Mrs. Whaley has given her devotion, dedication and service to St. Joseph Catholic School. We will celebrate her with an All School Mass in her honor, and Mrs. Whaley will be in attendance.

The Mass is open to everyone at St. Joseph Church. If you would like to show Mrs. Whaley your gratitude, please join us.

• Thursday, November 12, 2026
• Mass begins at 8:30 AM
• St. Joseph Church — open to all
• Following Mass, a commemorative plaque will be revealed on campus

Questions? Call the front office at 813-879-7720 or email [email protected].

Dear Parents,

Picture Day is coming to St. Joseph Catholic School on Wednesday, September 23. A team from Joe Photo will be on campus, and each child will be photographed in two or three poses.

The photos will be sent to the contact information you gave the school at enrollment. You can view the photos and order directly from the link Joe Photo Tampa sends you.

• Kindergarten through 8th grade: regular school uniform, even if your child has PE that day.
• VPK: the uniform they wear every day.

Questions? Call the front office at 813-879-7720 or email [email protected].

Thank you to everyone who joined us Thursday night. Everything we handed out and linked to that evening is gathered in one sheet, so you can go back to it whenever you need it.

What it covers:

• Uniforms
• Sacraments
• Disciples in Virtue
• MAP testing and goals, in English and Spanish
• Afterschool Care Handbook — in your FACTS portal
• The Parent Night presentation itself, in English and Spanish

Open the Parent Meeting information sheet — every link above is on it.

Missed the meeting or have a question? Call the front office at 813-879-7720 or email [email protected].

Dear Parents,

We are starting to get School Readiness letters in to help pay for afterschool care.

• Do you struggle to get to school by 3:30 PM each day?
• Will it help you to know that your children have supervision up until 6:00 PM at St. Joseph?
• Is the cost a barrier for you to allow them to attend?

If yes, then apply for School Readiness to eliminate that worry. That way you do not have to rush to school each day, knowing that you can be charged a late fee if you arrive after 3:30 PM and are not registered for afterschool care or another afterschool activity.

Questions or ready to apply? Call the front office at 813-879-7720 or email [email protected] — se habla español.

Full details on how to apply are in our August 26 announcement: School Readiness — help paying for YMCA aftercare.

Dear Parents,

The annual Parent Meeting for Kindergarten through 8th grade is Thursday, September 17, at 6:00 PM in the cafeteria. There will be two sessions.

• The English session takes place first, in the cafeteria. If you prefer the Spanish session, please go to your child's classroom first.
• The Spanish session takes place second, in the cafeteria. This gives families who attended the first session time to visit their child's classroom.
• Following the second session, families may visit the other teachers' classrooms.

Dear Parents,

We have early dismissal next Friday, September 18. If you are looking for something to do with your children from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM, United Skates of America is sponsoring a St. Joseph Family Skate Afternoon. You can buy your tickets here.

If you are interested in having your children receive the Sacrament of Baptism or First Communion, please read the requirements below.

Requirements: birth certificate and godparents.

Students from EC4 through 1st grade who wish to be baptized must notify their teachers by October 1 so the appropriate arrangements can be made.

Students in 2nd grade must notify their teachers by October 1 if they wish to be baptized this year. Any child who has not requested baptism before October 1 will not be able to receive the Sacrament of First Communion this year.

Godparents must be Catholic. If single, they must be confirmed. If married, they must have been married in the Catholic Church only, with a marriage certificate.

OCIA classes: for children in 3rd through 8th grade who have not received Baptism, First Communion, or Confirmation and wish to receive them, please notify teachers by October 1. Preparation takes place during the year, and the sacraments are received during Holy Week.

If a student in 8th grade wishes to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation but has not received First Communion, notify the teacher by October 1 that your child wishes to prepare for First Communion.

The YMCA is approved for School Readiness, a program that helps pay for after-school care for students 5 years old and up.

• Check eligibility — complete the School Readiness pre-qualification screening.
• Gather your documents — proof of income, proof of Hillsborough County residency, employment or school enrollment verification if it applies, and documentation for the children who need care.
• Create a Family Portal account.
• Submit the School Readiness application and upload all required documentation through the Family Portal.
• Watch for follow-up requests — the Early Learning Coalition may ask for more information before determining eligibility.
• Once you are approved, give your School Readiness information to the YMCA so they can finalize your child’s aftercare enrollment.

For additional help, contact the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County at 813-515-2340 or visit their financial assistance page. Let us know if you need help with the process.

A meeting for class parents was held on August 20.

If you would like to serve as a class parent this year, let your child’s teacher or the front office know.

This notice went home as a printed flyer. Call the front office at 813-879-7720 for the details — se habla español.

West Tampa Little League posted its registration deadline. West Tampa Little League is one of our school partners, and their table is at Meet the Teacher each year.

The deadline for this season has passed. Call the front office if you would like to be connected with the league for next season.

This notice went home as a printed flyer. Call the front office at 813-879-7720 for the details — se habla español.

The Tampa Tarpons are sponsoring a St. Joseph night on September 4 at 6:30 PM at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Each ticket comes with a lower reserved seat and a Meal Deal — a hot dog or chicken tenders with a choice of a 12 oz beer, a Pepsi product, or Aquafina bottled water.

Come cheer on the Tarpons and their pitching coach, Mr. Casadiego, the parent of both a current student and a graduate of St. Joseph.

Seats are limited, but if there is enough interest we should be able to reserve more.

Get tickets

We are glad to welcome your children back to school for another year. A few reminders for the first day:

• Drop-off and pick-up
• Lunch program
• Uniforms
• Parent acknowledgements, if you have not completed them yet

A few notes on how mornings and afternoons work.

The back gate on Walnut St. opens at 7:15 AM and closes at 8:00 AM, and is for student drop-off.

The front gate opens at 7:30 AM and closes at 8:00 AM, and is only for parking and walking your child to the classroom.

The school office closes each day at 2:30 PM to prepare for dismissal. You will not be able to pick up your child early after 2:30 PM.

Dismissal runs from 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM. Students who do not go to after-school activities should be picked up in the car line at the back gate on Walnut St.

Any student not picked up by 3:30 PM goes directly to after-school care.

Do not make left turns into the car line at the Walnut St. entrance. Right turns only.

Families new to St. Joseph should have received an email from [email protected] on Friday morning with a QR code for each student. Please check your spam folder if you did not receive it.

When you arrive for dismissal, show the code to the coach or teacher, who will scan it. That lets your child know it is time to head to the pavilion.

The parent who received the code should share it with anyone else who will pick up the student.

Returning families: the code you used last year works again this year, with the same procedure.

Beginning with the 2026–27 school year, parents of students awarded a Step Up for Students scholarship must complete a public-school enrollment attestation in their EMA portal before each quarter.

The attestation confirms that the student is not enrolled full time in public school. Because your child is enrolled at St. Joseph Catholic School and is not enrolled full time in a public school, you must select “No.”

If you select “Yes” by mistake, your child’s funding may be affected. Step Up then requires the family to get a Withdraw from Public School form from the county where they reside and upload it to the family’s EMA portal. Parents should complete the attestation once the hold on the account is removed. All of this must be completed by August 15, 2026 to receive your first quarter payment.

If you selected “Yes” by mistake, please contact the school so we are aware of your situation.

This attestation must be completed for each awarded student in your household. Please review your response carefully before submitting it.

The school will continue to offer a lunch program. Lunch can be purchased at school for $4 — we are fortunate to have kept the price the same as last year.

Parents may also send their child to school with a lunch. A few notes if you do:

• Students will not have access to a microwave and will not be able to reheat their food.
• Please do not send fast food such as McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A. You will be asked to provide an alternative lunch.
• Please do not send food through DoorDash or other delivery services. You will be asked to provide an alternative lunch.

See this month’s lunch menu.

As you prepare for the school year, please know that all students from Kindergarten through 8th grade will have PE twice a week. That means they need their regular uniform three days a week and their PE uniform two days.

Uniforms are available for purchase at Risse Brothers, 4228 N Armenia Avenue. Used uniforms are also available in the school office.

Please take the time to review the updated handbook and code of conduct for the school year. When you are done, sign and submit the form.

Open the acknowledgement form

For Kindergarten through 8th grade, you can drop off your materials and meet your new teacher on Thursday, August 6, from 5:00 to 6:30 PM.

We will also have tables set up in the cafeteria for your questions — Coach Dodge, Mrs. Foley, Title I, the YMCA aftercare program, Homework Help, West Tampa Little League, the Parent’s Club, and other school partners. Visit all the tables in the cafeteria and you earn two service hours.

We look forward to seeing you then.

The front office keeps reduced hours over the summer break.

Call 813-879-7720 before coming by, and we will make sure someone is here to help you — se habla español.

This notice went home as a printed flyer. Call the front office at 813-879-7720 for the details — se habla español.

On Wednesday, May 27, we will send home envelopes containing supply lists, summer work, uniform information, and standardized test scores.

If you still owe a balance for tuition or lunch, the envelope will be held in the office until the balance has been paid. Please call or stop by to pay off any outstanding balance.

The Tampa Bay Sun offered summer soccer clinics for students.

These clinics have finished for the season. Watch this page in the spring for next year’s dates.

This notice went home as a printed flyer. Call the front office at 813-879-7720 for the details — se habla español.

We are having a Book Fair on campus from May 11 through May 15.

All purchases through the Book Fair benefit our school. Thank you for supporting our kids, and happy reading.

Book Fair website · Set up an E-Wallet

Thank you for all your support in raising money for the truck drawing. Because of your efforts, the school came very close to our goal of selling 800 tickets, falling only 22 short.

Congratulations to 2nd grade for selling the most tickets. Their bowling field trip is next week, and because they exceeded their class goal, Kindergarten will be going with them.

Students who sold four tickets have been entered into a drawing for a series of prizes. That drawing will take place soon.

Congratulations as well to the member of the church who won the truck on Sunday. To the rest of us, there is always next year.

The teachers have shared a list of their favorite things — view the list here.

Two days left to find four buyers for your Ford Maverick drawing tickets. Tickets are also available online.

Buy tickets online

Two weeks left in the Ford Maverick drawing. Tickets are available online.

Buy tickets online

The application for YMCA aftercare is open for the 2026–27 school year. Enrollment is free until May 31.

St. Joseph anticipates being able to provide access to scholarships covering most, if not all, of the cost of aftercare next year, but we need a list of students in order to apply. We expect scholarships to become available in July for students who have enrolled.

You will not be charged for aftercare until August, and you can always cancel before school starts if you wish.

Enrollment is handled through the Tampa YMCA. Call the front office if you need the enrollment link.