Dear
Parents:
National
Catholic Schools Week runs from January 26th through February 1st.
Please mark your calendars for our Family Mass, Open House, and Book
Fair, and other exciting events this Sunday, January 26th.
As
a faith community, we will gather together on Sunday, January 26th
at the 10:00am Family Mass. Let's use this opportunity to reflect on
the importance that we all place on Catholic education. Our kindergarten
students and families will take the lead in preparing this special Mass, which
is the opening activity of the celebration of National Catholic Schools Week. We
look forward to seeing you all there.
A
schedule of all these events and the times of classroom observation during this
week can be downloaded from our website. Feel free to drop in and see what’s
going on around the school. Please share the schedule with friends who may be
interested in our school.
All orders will ship directly to school for
free when the Online Fair has ended.
CYO HALL OF FAME: As previously mentioned, this year John Bickle has been
chosen as one of the honorees for the 7th Annual Catholic Charities CYO
Athletics Hall of Fame dinner. This event will take place on Saturday, February
8, 2014 at the Father O'Reilly Catholic Charities CYO gym at St. Emydius.
Please consider joining us to recognize and honor John’s legacy at this event.
Tickets can be purchased through the CYO website. Individual dinner tickets are
$90 each. If you wish to join together with some other families and purchase a
table at one of the sponsorship levels this will include a pre-dinner
reception, premier seating and a tribute in the printed event program,
recognition on-screen and sponsorship acknowledgment in all printed materials.
COLDS AND FLUS: As we continue our way through the flu season,
please remember that students MUST be fever free for at least 24 hours before
returning to school. PLEASE, PLEASE,
PLEASE - if your child is showing ANY symptoms of illness such as headaches,
cough, dizziness, fever, or stomach aches, keep them at home. This will
avoid spreading these symptoms to others.
SANDWICHES-FOR-THE-NEEDY:
Our
next collection for the Martin de Porres House is this Friday, January 24th,
when the 3rd and 4th graders will take the lead. We
encourage ALL families to provide an extra sandwich. Some of our older students
will prepare 50 additional sandwiches in our school kitchen to add to this
collection.
REPORT CARDS/HONOR
AWARDS:
Report cards will be sent home with your child on Friday, January 31st.
We would like to invite everyone to join us at the honor awards ceremony on
Friday, January 31st immediately following the 8:30am mass.
SPELL-A-THON: Just a reminder that pledges for the Spell-a-thon are
due to your child’s teacher by dismissal on Monday, January 27th.
Keep those pledges coming!
2014-2015 KINDERGARTEN: We thank
you for all the referrals of new families who have now applied to the school.
Kindergarten screening of our Utopia applicants is well underway. This Saturday
we will meet with those new to the school and sibling applicants for their
screenings. The first round of kindergarten acceptance letters
will be going home shortly.
2014-2015 UTOPIA PRESCHOOL: Our preschool program for the 2014-2015 school year is now close to
capacity. We do however still have a few openings for the afternoon sessions.
Preference will be given to school families if applications are received in a
timely manner.
CIOPPINO 2014: Work continues in
preparation for our BIG fundraiser on Saturday, February 22nd. We
have only had a handful of families send donations into the office. We cannot
do this without your help. Most of the items we use in our baskets – keep the
donations coming! Consider getting together with other parents from your
child’s class to purchase a table. This event is a lot of fun. Remember,
childcare is available for a nominal fee. Please respond as soon as possible as
we believe this will be a sell out event again this year. To purchase tickets,
please use the flyer you are receiving today and return it to the school
office. As an added bonus, every school parent who
buys a ticket for Cioppino will receive a FREE DRESS PASS for their
child/ren to be used on Monday, February 24th.
PARENT HOURS: As a reminder, each family is
required to volunteer for a minimum of 10 hours for Parents' Club activities and
supervise 4 sessions of yard duty. Each family may sign up for a maximum
of FOUR hours per qualifying event however there is no limit to the amount
of time you are willing to give to our students and staff! As per the Financial
Policies, failure
to complete a minimum of 10 parent participation hours and 4 yard duty sessions
as assigned by the Parents’ Club and/or the St. Thomas More School
administration will result in a $450 fee to be paid before a child can
re-register for the following school year.
Yard Duty:
All yard duty time slots serves as 30 minutes. You must be signed up on
"Sign Up Genius" to be qualified to fulfill your sessions. If
you want to show up to a yard duty session, check and sign up to confirm
availability prior to showing up at the school.
Qualifying
Parents’ Club events: Fall Festival, Santa's Secret Shop, Holiday Fair, Book
Fair, Cioppino and Coaching.**
**Coaching: Registered coaches, with approval of
Athletic Board/Director, for full-season sports will receive credit for their
required hours. Yard duty is a separate requirement.
WARRIOR TICKETS: The Warriors tickets are in! If you ordered and paid for tickets, you
will need to pick them up at the front office and sign that they have received
them. Tickets will not be sent home with your child. Go Warriors! See you on
Friday Night!
SAVE THE DATE: Please
save the evening of Tuesday, March 11th at 6:30pm for a mandatory
parent meeting for all families of preschool through 7th grade. Students
will not be allowed to attend this meeting. We will offer free babysitting for
those unable to make other arrangements. We will provide more details as we get
closer to the date.
FACTS: Since the stability
of our school and the quality of its programs are of the utmost importance, we
are always seeking ways to make improvements to benefit everyone. After much
research and investigation, we have decided to partner with FACTS Management
Company to help us manage our tuition payment program and financial aid
assessment for the 2014-2015 school year. FACTS is used by many schools locally
and over 5,000 schools nationally. We are excited to be working with them and
are confident this program will offer greater efficiency and financial
stability for the school while providing convenience to families. More information
will be available at the mandatory parent meeting in March.
TUITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: Families that applied
for the STM TAP will be receiving an application form today.
Funds will be distributed on the basis of those families who need the most
help. To qualify for temporary tuition assistance, families will need to show
proof of financial hardship and funds will be distributed on a discretionary
basis by the school administration. Please let Mrs. Fitzpatrick know in
writing if you are interested in receiving an application form. We
will continue to accept application requests through the end of January.
STUDENT HOLIDAY: Plan ahead - Please
remember that the school will be closed on Friday,
February 7th. This is the day set for the annual Archdiocese
Professional Development for all Catholic school teachers and administrators.
See
you on Sunday!
Sincerely,
Marie Fitzpatrick
Principal
