Week of July 5, 2020 * Happy 4th of July!
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We hope your family is enjoying our Independence Day Weekend!
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Principal's Update for Our School from June 26th
The following
letter
went out to all families. It's an important and exciting update on our plans to be back in school on August 25th with all of our students. Please be sure to read.
Office of Catholic Schools Update on Return to School
Please see the following
letter
from the Diocesan Office of Catholic Schools on school re-openings this Fall.
Don't forget to return your Registration Packet!
A new school year always brings lots of paperwork. To help make it easier we pre-filled many of the forms we need from your family.
At the Summer Send Off you received a packet of forms (in a bright yellow envelope) for you to update and
return by last Wednesday, July 1
.
(Registration - 1 per student, Health Clinic - 1 per student, Testing form - 1 per student, Family Information - 1 per household, Parent Involvement Program - 1 per family). We are holding off on the Handbook and Transportation Forms until we have completed more of the planning for the fall - please don't turn those in now. New students will also need to submit a Demographic Form (available on our website
HERE
).
You can drop off the forms in the mailbox at the bottom of the front stairs at school. If you have not yet returned your forms, please do so as soon as possible. Thank you!
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PTO Update -
School Uniform
Shirt Embroidery
We have a grandparent who has graciously decided to once again embroider school uniform shirts for parents in return for a $5.00 donation to the PTO. Please see the link below to sign up. Act quickly, as there is a maximum of 50 shirts that can be done this year!
Yearbooks ARE still available!
Yearbooks have arrived! To purchase a yearbook, fill out the google form - see link below. Please fill out 1 form per yearbook.
There are 3 ways to get your yearbook:
- pick up from the side porch of the church
- have it mailed to your home address ($5 shipping fee)
- receive it in the fall from your homeroom teacher
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8th Graders - GRADUATION UPDATE!
That's right - our in-person graduation for our 8th graders is coming up on
Thursday, July 16
! More details will be coming out later this week!
Here's information regarding ATTIRE for our graduates:
Graduation attire should follow church attire guidelines, which are below:
Gentlemen
- oxford shirt and tie
Ladies
- nice dress, skirt, or pants; skirts or dresses must come at least to the knee; no spaghetti straps or strapless tops. Since the girls' gowns are white, it might be a good idea to choose a light colored outfit that won't show through the gown.
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Summer Reading
We want our students to enjoy a relaxing summer
and
we want to make sure that they are reading good books and practicing their math facts along the way! Our Middle School students will also have a keyboarding certification to complete.
Be sure to check out what you will need to do over the summer now, so you can plan your time accordingly! Our summer reading is available on our website
here
.
Back to School Dates for your Calendar
Monday, August 24th
will be our Welcome Fair (Re-imagined!)
Tuesday, August 25th
will be the 1st Day of School for all students! 12pm dismissal for JK & K, full day 1-8
Wednesday, August 26th
- 12pm dismissal for JK & K, full day 1-8
Thursday, August 27th
- full day all students
A Word about School Supplies...
For those of you early school supplies shoppers out there, we encourage you to hold off for a few more weeks so that we can identify any items that need to be updated on the lists due to our general operating changes in the classroom and at school this year. We should be able to have those items fine tuned by the end of July and will remind you about it at the appropriate time!
Also,
the PTO is coordinating an-Edukits style package for purchase this year. Information will go out to each grade level this week. The PTO is handling the ordering, purchasing and delivery of these kits.
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Important Admissions Update
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Because of the understandable uncertainty at public schools and the challenges they are facing with re-opening plans for this fall, private schools - including ours - have been very busy taking admissions calls. At the same time, we have reduced classroom capacity at our school, as others have, to enable 6 ft distancing.
Currently, we have a few classes that are at or near their new capacity level (between 18-21 students).
If you know of anyone considering our school for this fall - please connect them with
Gretchen
in our Admissions office
as soon as possible
.
Also, if you have an additional child you are considering to have join us this Fall, we need to know
immediately
so we can do our best to accommodate them before we reach capacity. Because of our physical distancing requirements, we will
not
have the flexibility as we have had in the past to accept late enrollments or increase classroom capacity.
And, if you refer a friend and you'll receive a $75 tuition credit! How it works: You will receive a $75 (2020-21) tuition credit on the first day of school for every new family that starts the school year
and
who listed you as having referred them to Saint Benedict. Only one $75 referral credit will be awarded for each new family. If the new family mentions multiple families on their application, only the first family listed will get the credit.
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Please keep them coming!!
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"This is my daughter's first year and just from what I have experienced I have a great feeling of family and togetherness and one goal and one purpose and that is to do the best we can for our children. I am really looking forward to her first year." - Tamara, Mom of Rising 7th Grader
We've been so blessed to receive such kind words of support from families! With school being closed,
please know how important it is for us to be able to continue sharing those testimonials with the broader community.
If you have a minute and can send a few words about what your family appreciates about St. Benedict to Gretchen at
admissions@saintbenedictschool.org
it would be VERY appreciated and you will receive
1 PTO Volunteer Hour for the 20-21 school year!
That's an easy hour and does SO MUCH GOOD for your school in this time! THANK YOU!!
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Welcome New Families and New Siblings!
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Junior Kindergarten Uniforms
Reminder! Junior Kindergarten students will now be wearing standard school uniforms beginning this Fall. Please refer to our uniform guidelines on our website
HERE
.
New Family Orientation via ZOOM has been
POSTPONED
until late July (TBD).
With the big influx of families right now, we have decided to postpone our upcoming New Family Orientation a couple of weeks, so that we can have this important conversation with as many of our new families as possible. We will post the new date in next week's newsletter and there will be plenty of time to get ready for August 25th. In the meantime, families can find information about
school supplies,
summer reading,
forms and immunization
records
,
and
uniforms
here! Should you have any questions, please reach out to Gretchen at admissions@saintbenedictschool.org who will be happy to help!
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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I wanted to let you know of an upcoming staff change. After two years of dedicated service, Kevin Corcoran is stepping down from his role as Director of Evangelization and Catechesis to take up full-time dad duties. Kevin was moving in this direction a year ago when I arrived, and I asked him to stay one more year to help with the transition. His help has been invaluable to me and to the parish, and I want to thank him for all he has done for St. Benedict. Kevin will keep his position until early August, and he and Emily and Aine will remain active and involved parishioners. Thank Kevin when next you see him!
I am also pleased to announce that Kevin's successor will be Ben Fleser. Many of you will remember Ben from when he did a Summer internship at St. Benedict in 2015. Ben brings a broad range of ministerial experience and an excellent theological education to this position, and he will fit right in. Ben is now married to his wonderful wife Ginny (I presided at their wedding!). He will start in early July (overlapping with Kevin for a smooth transition), and he will introduce himself to you when he arrives.
Please pray for both Kevin and Ben in this time of joyful transition.
God bless you,
Fr. John David
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Principal - Sean Cruess
(scruess@saintbenedictschool.org)
Administrative - Pam Autry
(pautry@saintbenedictschool.org)
Financial/Technical - Elizabeth Hanson
(ehanson@saintbenedictschool.org)
Admissions/Development/Communications - Gretchen Ridgely
(gridgely@saintbenedictschool.org)
If you need to stop by the school, PLEASE CALL THE OFFICE FIRST
at 254-8850 or email pautry@saintbenedictschool.org.
Our school is a construction site right now and our office hours vary based on work currently underway.
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Nurses Corner...Get Ready for Fall!
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It is a state requirement that
all students
entering Kindergarten and new to the school in grades 1-8
have a physical, including up-to-date immunizations, completed by their local doctor within the year. There is a state-mandated form (
found on the school website here
) that needs to be completed by the doctor at that visit.
We will need an immunization record from a health provider for
all incoming JK students
.
All students entering 6th grade
are required to receive a Tdap booster and must provide the clinic with a copy of this immunization update.
And a reminder to all students with emergent/as needed medications kept in the clinic, such as Epipens and inhalers, the required medication administration forms, found on the
school website
, need to be completed by a physician within the year.
All of the above forms are required for the first day of school (but turning them in sooner is greatly appreciated). Stay healthy!
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This summer, plan to honor your child's birthday (or any special occasion) with an act of charity that benefits the school library.
The Birthday Book Club is still active! Select a book from our wish list and personalize it with a donor bookplate. Your child will receive the new book at school in the fall, and when he/she returns it, the book will go into circulation for everyone to check out!
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Time to get ready for next year!
The Business office is almost done setting up new billing arrangements.
As a reminder you will have two FACTS accounts, one for tuition and one for incidentals. FACTS is our student accounts system of record and all charges and payments are recorded there.
Going forward Incidental charges will be entered in FACTS and be due on 5th of the month. Unlike the tuition account, the incidental account can be changed so payments are not automatic.
Incidental invoice emails will contain a payment button that allows you to make payment without logging into to your FACTS account. Consequently, the email can be forwarded to allow someone else to make payment if you desire.
For 2020-2021, families who are paying tuition in one lump payment will pay $10 to have both a tuition account and an incidental account. Families who are paying tuition monthly will pay $45 to have both a tuition account and an incidental account. Families who need a second incidental account will pay $10 the additional account.
If you make a partial payment, it is applied proportionally to charges that are due. If you need the payment applied another way, you should make the payment by phone with a FACTS representative or send in payment to the school office.
FACTS Payments:
If you need to adjust a payment date you have the following options:
1. Log into FACTS and
-- for payments on the tuition plan, move the payment up to 10 days yourself
-- for payments on the incidental plan, you can turn off automatic payments
2. Email
ehanson@saintbenedictschool.org
. You will normally get a response within 3 hours, but you should allow 24 hours. Be as specific as you can with your request.
(Please be advised, that if you call FACTS, the first thing they will ask is if you have reached out to the school.)
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