April 5, 2020 * Comet Newsletter
#CometsTogether
From Our Principal
Holy Week Activities
Holy Week is the most solemn and significant part of the Church's year. This year, we will not be able to participate in person with the liturgical celebrations of Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, The Great Easter Vigil, and Easter Sunday. As much as possible, we hope that you will participate virtually in these liturgies. Saint Benedict Parish liturgies can be found  here . 

In addition, here are some wonderful Holy Week resources for families:
  • The Pope's Holy Week schedule can be found here.
  • The Catholic Diocese of Richmond is offering a Diocesan Holy Week Mission April 6-8.
  • Pray the Stations of the Cross as a family.
  • Here are some great Holy Week activities for families from a well-known Catholic blogger.
  • Strong Catholic Family Faith website has a curated list of resources for families to use to pray, learn and celebrate Holy Week, specific for this time of pandemic and shelter-at-home.
  • Experience Holy Week @Home through activities on this site (permission has been obtained).
  • Here are some playlists for the Easter Triduum that include a mix of ancient and more modern songs (you will need either Spotify or Apple music).

Service Project From Home
Let's keep the momentum going to help us reach 100 Acts of Service in celebration of our Centennial! For this week, all you need is paper, pencil, envelopes, and stamps. Think of a family member or friend who might be alone at this time and would appreciate hearing from you. Write a nice letter to them to let them know you are thinking of them. If you can't think of family or friends, write a letter to St. Joseph Home (Little Sisters) or the St. Francis Home where there are always elderly folk who would love a letter. We can brighten someone's day and bring the light of Christ to them!

St. Benedict Virtual Book Club
In an effort to use this challenge to build a stronger St. Benedict community, we have created a Virtual Book Club for our parents . For our first selection, we will read  The Screwtape Letters  by C.S. Lewis, a book that our 8th graders are also reading. Using Lewis's always engaging style and imagination,  The Screwtape Letters  offer us a view of how our souls might be tempted to evil with the goal of helping us create a plan for living a life of holiness. The Virtual Book Club can be found at  https://saintbenedictbookclub.blogspot.com/ . The blog site will set a timeline for reading and offer discussion questions for you to comment about.
Comet Classwork for Week 4
Just click on your child's grade below to get your teacher's lesson plan for the week. All referenced attachments/worksheets will still be found in Parent's Web and/or Google Classroom (if the teacher is using Google Classroom). We also have this posted on our website. We know many families are not able to print materials, so our teachers are working to limit the need to print as much as possible and rely instead on students to use their own paper at home to write down their answers.

Also, parents - if you have been invited by one of your children's teachers to join Google Classroom - please do so this week . Parents in Google Classroom are "guardians" and can follow their student's progress on Google Classroom. Very helpful!






Marylou Carter ( mcarter@saintbenedictschool.org )


Barbara Young ( byoung@saintbenedictschool.org )








MIDDLE SCHOOL:



Michelle Cisik ( mcisik@saintbenedictschool.org ) - English
Michele Barlow ( mbarlow@saintbenedictschool.org ) - Math
Rick Clary ( rclary@saintbenedictschool.org ) - Science
Teresa Lehmann ( tlehmann@saintbenedictschool.org ) - History
Jeff Cronheim ( jcronheim@saintbenedictschool.org ) - Latin/Religion


GENERAL ASSISTANCE

Principal - Sean Cruess (scruess@saintbenedictschool.org)
Administrative - Pam Autry (pautry@saintbenedictschool.org)
Financial/Technical - Elizabeth Hanson (ehanson@saintbenedictschool.org)
Technical Support - Ash Tabrizi (atabrizi@saintbenedictschool.org)
Communications & Social Media/Admissions/Development - Gretchen Ridgely (gridgely@saintbenedictschool.org)
Lunchtime on Zoom at The Comet Cafe!
Grab a sandwich and your device and connect with your classmates for a 30 minute virtual lunchroom on Zoom! Encourage your child to participate in their upcoming lunchroom below!

3rd & 4th - MONDAY at 12pm
1st & 2nd - TUESDAY at 12pm
JK & K - WEDNESDAY at 12pm

CLICK HERE to access your grade's Comet Cafe:

Make sure to have your device set up correctly with audio/video working before lunchtime starts at 12pm. Mrs. Ridgely will be on lunch duty this week!
From Our Finance Office
FACTS Payments: Please be advised that FACTS is experiencing a heavier than normal call volume. 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.)

Service Hours Waived - Spring PTO Service Hours requirement has been waived. Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers!!

Enrollment Update: Given the uncertainty that everyone is experiencing we are extending the contract cancellation deadline for 2020-21 from April 20, 2020 to June 3, 2020.
As a reminder, tuition assistance offers are made based on the retrospective financial information provided in FACTS.  Families with a recent change in circumstances can work with Elizabeth Hanson at ehanson@saintbenedictschool.org for temporary assistance, which will be reviewed quarterly. We love our Comet Family and are here for
Important School-Away-from-School Notes:
Helpful reminders to keep our communications lines OPEN while we are distance learning!

  • Please respond to our emails/surveys in a timely manner. If we are reaching out to you, to support your family and your student, please be sure to get back to us promptly.

  • Read the newsletter EVERY WEEK when it comes out. Links to everything you need to know is right here!

  • If you are experiencing any technology issues email Ash Tabrizi at atabrizi@saintbenedictschool.org or Dr. Hanson immediately at ehanson@saintbenedictschool.org. We are happy to help troubleshoot any issues and make sure your student stays connected.

  • Keep doing your best! We do expect our students to be doing their assigned work in a reasonable timeframe. We are grading work. All teachers are available by email and phone to assist your child throughout the week. Some teachers will also be offering virtual study halls through Zoom. If your child is unable to complete their work within the week, we need you or your student to let your teacher know as soon as possible. You don't want your student to fall behind - and neither do we - so please keep communication lines open with your teachers regularly.

  • #COMETSTOGETHER Get on Facebook (at least for right now), help your child connect on Zoom Conference calls (like the Zoom Cafe!) and STAY CONNECTED. As the days and weeks of being home settle in for our children, staying connected to their classmates will become more and more important. Please help your child stay connected with them and us online, and join us as we stay #cometstogether!!
Distance Learning Support For Your Family
Please take some time to review this helpful information provided as part of St. Benedict's Distance Learning Information for Parents and Students . It provides helpful information about accessing support at the school, suggestions for scheduling your child's day of learning, our technology policy and more.
This Week on Social Media...
To help support our distance learning AND our social media connections we have updated our school website to provide easy access to our weekly newsletter and FACEBOOK! Check out our most recent posts HERE ! (But you still have to login to Facebook to post or comment and we hope you will!

This week! Show us your Easter Egg Decorations and Share Your Favorite Easter Recipe!

Check out pictures from last week's VIRTUAL EASTER EGG HUNT!!
Thank you to all of the faculty for helping to hide those eggs!
Some were REALLY HARD TO FIND!