Office of
Catholic Schools
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Labor Day
God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the worker. Make a place in our hearts for compassion to the men and women who labor tirelessly for basic necessities. Ensure a place for the men and women who are struggling to find work. Grant us your wisdom to greet and care for those who are unable to work due to illness or circumstances that prevent their participation. Be with the children who are not able to run and play, but instead must put in a hard day’s work to help their family afford to eat, to live. Be with us all, Christ Jesus, as we go about the busyness of our work. Hold us accountable not only for our actions, but most importantly to each of our neighbors. May we continue to work together to bring about your reign! We ask this in your holy name, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
(USCCB Pontifical Council of Peace and Justice)
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Next editions of the Office of Catholic Schools Newsletter:
September 18
October 2 & 16
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Look for topics in previous editions:
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Archive of Superintendent’s emails:
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Upcoming Calendar dates to know: |
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Sept. 4 Fall MAP window opens (ends Oct 5)
Sept: 7 Labor Day-Diocesan offices closed
Sept. 8 PowerSchool user group (8:30-10:00 AM)
Sept. 10 New teacher workshop (teachers hired after
Aug. 15-1:00-3:30 PM-see below)
Sept. 14 New School Administrator workshop
(9:00 AM-12:00 PM)
Sept. 15 School campus minister and chaplain
meeting (10:00 AM-noon)
Sept. 17 WRISA Annual webinar (9:00-10:30 AM)
Sept. 18 Third Friday in September enrollment count
Sept. 29 New teachers-Methods-Faith integration
Sept. 30 Meemic Foundation Grant DUE
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If you hired a teacher after August 15 or a new teacher missed the Diocesan orientation, we will have an orientation session on September 10 from 1:00-3:30. The session will be virtual. We know it is difficult to get substitute teachers. If you find this time difficult, please let Jane Schueller know and we can work something out. Register in advance for this meeting:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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The USDA announced on Monday, August 31 the extension of free meals for all students. Food service directors should have received information regarding application for this program.
We have already heard that Chilton Catholic Schools applied and will receive the funding.
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Greetings,
We don't know a lot about the details of this newly announced program and how we can be included, but wanted you to be aware of the opportunity.
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NWEA has many resources available to ensure a productive assessment this fall. Please keep in mind the social emotional needs of your students before entering into the assessment process. Visit the NWEA Community and utilize these resources. Although some of the resources say “remote” the tips are good for in-person assessment as well.
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WRISA Annual Report Webinar
September 17, 9:00-10:30 AM
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Todd Blahnik, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, will lead a webinar to help you complete your WRISA annual report. (See the previous information given under "worth repeating").
Register in advance for this meeting:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
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If you would like an attendance code that specifies a student is learning virtually or remotely, please follow this documentation to set it up for your school or contact Becky Krahn for assistance.
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Diocesan Association of School Administrators SY 2020-2021 |
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NCEA Catholic Leadership Summit |
This year's Catholic Leadership Summit will not disappoint!
Register today for #CLS2020 at NCEA.org/CLS! The event will be September 28 & 29 plus October 20 & 21 and feature multiple talented keynote speakers! Breakout and on-demand sessions will also be available! The cost of the Summit is $250. Title funds may be applied at 75%.
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Using Niche to Enroll New Students |
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Niche is a service that allows families to search for local schools, compare those schools, and even apply to those schools in some cases. The service is extremely popular, with over 27 million families researching PK-12 schools on Niche last year.
Why do so many families use Niche? Because Niche lets families research all their local schools in one place. When a family looks up a school on Niche, they can review the school’s profile, see how Niche has “graded” them across a number of different dimensions like academics, culture, and extra-curricular activities as well as get contact information and a link to the school’s website. Most importantly, Niche provides reviews from real parents and students who have experience with that school.
It’s important for every school to check out their Niche profile and ensure the contact information listed is accurate and up to date. The best way to do this is to go to Niche to access and manage your school’s profile. Make sure that your address is correct, the phone number listed is the best one for prospective parents, and the link to your website is working.
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Drills - Fire, Tornado, Safety |
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Under Wis. Stat. § 118.07, fire drills must be conducted at least once each month, tornado or other hazard drills twice per year, and school safety incidents twice per year.
Fire drills must be conducted at least once each month that the school is occupied with pupils. If all classes are virtual and there are no in-person classes, then drills do not have to be performed. This is similar to what occurs during the summer when classes are usually not being conducted.
If in-person classes are held, then drills must be conducted in accordance with the requirements. If there are concerns about having that many students in the hallways at one time, then drills may be conducted in phases so each classroom is eventually covered.
According to statute, schools must annually file a report pertaining to such drills, on a form furnished by the Department of Safety and Professional Services, with the chief of the fire department. When no fire drill is held during any month, or when only one or no tornado or other hazard drill is held in a year, the person having direct charge of the school shall state the reasons in the report.
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By the First Day of School
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Private schools participating in the Choice Program must complete background checks prior to employing any individual at the school and every 5 years after the date of the previous background check (see Criminal Background Checks Bulletin and Training 6-12: Criminal Background Checks).
September 1 – School Directory Application Opens – allows schools to update their contact information.
September 18-Third Friday Count
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All schools participating in the Choice Program take the third Friday in September count of Choice students enrolled in their school. Schools use this information to complete the third Friday September Count Report in OAS (see Training 9-1: Payment Process, Pupil Count Report & Audit Overview and Training 9-3: 3rd Friday in September & 2nd Friday in January Count Reports).
- Please make sure your Powerschool data has been updated to reflect all students enrolled.
- WISEdata requires schools to verify that all Choice students are properly flagged in the school's SIS for the third Friday of September Count Date. For a student to be included in the third Friday of September Count in the SIS, the student must be enrolled in the school by the count date and the student must be assigned to a valid grade for his or her school.
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The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) will require Choice and SNSP schools to record attendance for the 2020-2021 school year for in person, virtual, or remote instruction.
Click the button below for examples on how to determine attendance in different formats.
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Private School Report Due October 15 |
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Every private school in Wisconsin (Choice or non-Choice) must complete the PI-1207 Private School Report. The report is a requirement of Wis. Stat. Sec. 115.30(3) and 118.165(1). The deadline for the submission of this form is, by state statute, October 15 of each year. To request the link to your school’s report, please create a help ticket, choosing School Directory – Enterprise from the Application dropdown. There is no user ID or password required to access this report.
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Herb Kohl Scholarship and Awards |
Teacher and principal nominations for this year’s Herb Kohl Awards are open. The nomination deadline has not yet been announced, but it will likely be in fall.
If you nominated a teacher or principal last year after the nomination deadline, their names will be advanced for this year’s competition.
Please note that only nominated individuals can access the online application.
You or your school parents can nominate a teacher or principal here:
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Integrate science in your ELA class with the Article-A-Day sets below! 🔭 🌱
ReadWorks is free for everyone because we believe in barrier-free access to reading material for ALL children—regardless of ability to pay.
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Guidance Regarding School Masses |
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We have been receiving questions regarding holding school Masses. We spoke to Shaun Johnson, Director of Divine Worship, with some of the more common questions and asked him to provide the Diocese stand on these items. Here is his response to the questions we have received so far.
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Choirs – the school can have a musician and cantor that are socially distanced. The school should not have a full choir. Students may sing but masks should still be worn.
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Parishioners at School Mass – Our parishes are still required to observe the 25% capacity level unless they have received permission to by the Diocese to increase that number. Parishioners should be told that students will be at Mass and that the capacity limits will be maintained. This allows our more vulnerable elderly population to determine if they should be attending Mass.
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Seating – students should be socially distanced at least 6 feet from each other during Mass. Having children shoulder-to-shoulder in the pew defeats the purpose of social distancing. Here are examples of what some schools are doing to seat their students and insure safety:
- Schools with smaller numbers are placing 3 children per pew with an empty row in between.
- Schools are looking at having Mass outside so children can socially distance and be in an open air space.
- Schools with larger numbers are having various grades attend Mass on different days each week. For example:
- Tuesday – Grades K – 2
- Wednesday – Grades 3-5
- Thursday – Grades 6-8
As always, the final responsibility and decision on how the Mass will be conducted rests with the priest. If you are concerned about the decisions, please feel free to reach out to Lori Paul so she can help facilitate a plan.
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SMCS Employment Opportunities 2020-21 School Year: |
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· Long Term Substitute Teacher – High School English Class
· Director of Ministry (full-time)
· Bus Driver AM/PM Routes (part-time)
· Food Service Lead Cook - High School (part-time)
· German Teacher – Middle School (part-time)
· After School Care Provider – St. Gabriel and St. Margaret Mary Elementary (part-time)
· Substitutes for Teachers, Food Service and Aides
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Vocations, Vocations, Vocations!
Issuing a personal invitation
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Fr. Mark Mleziva, Fr. Adam Bradley and Taylor Geiger, of the Diocesan Vocation Office invite you to invite them to your parish to present talks, teachings and panel discussions about vocations.
Their office has also launched a brand new website dedicated to fostering vocations.
One upcoming event to promote is the annual Andrew Dinner on Wednesday, September 23. Use the links to learn more!
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Foundational Catechetical Certification (FCC) |
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All teachers in Diocese of Green Bay Catholic Schools are required to continue their faith formation journey through programs offered and/or approved by the Diocesan Religious Education Office. The Foundational courses are Creed, Sacraments and Liturgy, Morality, Methods B (faith integration), Prayer and Spirituality, and Bible. The recommendation is for educators to take one course each year. Once the Foundational courses are complete, teachers have the opportunity to participate in an Ongoing course, of choice, each year. |
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From Sister Jacqueline. . .
Sr. Jacqueline Spaniola, OSF, formerly the Director of Religious Education here at the Diocese (now serving in the Diocese of Marquette), is offering a 10-session course featuring Jesus: The Way, The Truth & the Life (Ascension) via Zoom. This qualifies as an Ongoing Formation course (catechetical certification). Once course is completed, submit an Ongoing Completion Application to Office of Children & Youth Formation.
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Do You Need/Want the BIBLE Course for FCC credit?
Here's Your Chance!
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BIBLE is the only Foundational Catechetical Certification (FCC) course that we cannot currently make available online as we are not licensed to use the material (Jeff Cavins' Journey Through the Bible) online.
Ascension Press has a new version of the same curriculum with Jeff Cavins called, Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible, and they are making a free, online 8-week live streamed version of this available starting at 8:00PM Eastern Time on September 16th.
They will be making each session available to view for free on their website for a week before the subsequent live lesson. So participants would have a week to view the lesson at their convenience. And Ascension Press will likely have it available on their Facebook page for even longer. To get the most out of the study they are selling a study guide book that goes along with it, but this is not required in order for you to benefit from the study.
For those of you who still need FCC Bible or have already completed all of your FCC requirements and are looking for ongoing formation, this 8-week study will count. All we would require as proof that you have taken and successfully completed the 8-week study is a 1-page reflection for each week of the study (each reflection paper focusing on what were your top 3 take aways from that session) and that you fill out and return to us our ongoing formation completion form (if you are taking this to count toward your FCC/Ongoing Formation requirements please write "Toward FCC" at the very top of the form). Here is a link for that form.
If you are just interested in taking it for your own personal edification then you do not have to do anything with the form.
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Sample E-Mail Notification of Staff Close Contact |
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As requested, here is a sample e-mail notification you can send out if you have a staff person quarantining for close contact.
As we continue to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, we would like to share that we were notified (Day of week), (Date) that a staff member has probable close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. (NOTE: we do not name the staff members or the parishioners for privacy purposes) (staff member) is isolated and will be self monitoring for 14 days as a precaution. (staff member) is cooperating fully with the school and has taken a COVID test (which was negative).
If you are experiencing any symptoms, please contact your medical provider and consider being tested. In keeping with the health and safety guidelines issued by the diocese, we will continue to strongly encourage everyone to take the precautions of wearing masks, observing social distancing, frequent hand hygiene, and sanitizing and disinfecting common areas and high touch surfaces.
Please contact (Name-email-phone) with any further questions.
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Enlist the help of Children's Wisconsin's COVID Conquerors: Mighty Mask, Dynamic Distance, Wonder Washer and Captain Cough to reinforce the important actions students need to take to keep themselves and those around them safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID Conquerors materials are available free of charge and include sets of printed posters and fact sheets for use in schools as well as downloadable PDFs to share digitally. Everything available by clicking here. All materials are available in both English and Spanish.
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REMINDER: COVID-19 Surveillance and Monitoring |
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To assist the COVID-19 Monitoring Team at the Curia, we are asking that you report any COVID-19 activity to the Office of Catholic Schools using the form below:
Here is the link to the DHS Spreadsheet in excel format to track illness and report to your county health department.
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If a Student or Staff Member Has Been Exposed to the CoronaVirus . . . |
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For your consideration, these guidelines have been provided by several health organizations. Please make sure to check with your local health agency to determine what they are recommending.
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If someone has been exposed and tested positive - Schools will notify public health and public health will begin contact tracing starting from 2 days before illness onset or asymptomatic (no symptoms) patients. They will instruct the confirmed person on quarantine. If you are not contacted by public health there would be no reason to quarantine/isolate. Public health will not contact the school unless there are more than 2+ cases in a close time frame.
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If someone has been exposed and tested negative - Public health will contact the employee/student and inform them when they can return to school. It will be the responsibility of the employee/student to inform the school of a return to school date. Public health will not contact the school.
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Protocol to Send-Home: COVID 19 Symptoms |
DPI has devised a chart depicting the protocol to send home children who are displaying symptoms of COVID-19. |
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On August 19, the Department of Public Instruction’s Deputy State Superintendent, Mike Thompson, shared the information below related to new DHS Guidance, DCF Resources, and digital equity.
This email provides updates on new guidance from the Department of Health Services (DHS) on COVID-19 outbreaks in schools, new information from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) as you work with child care providers, and information to support digital equity.
DHS Guidance on COVID-19 Outbreaks in Schools (DPI 8/19/20)
- · physical distancing,
- · wearing face coverings,
- · absence policies,
- · information on how to identify cases and close contact among students,
- · information on when to exclude students from in-person instruction,
- · how to best isolate and quarantine,
- · effective cleaning and disinfecting practices, and
- · template letters for schools to use in the situation of confirmed cases or close contact.
This guidance builds on existing guidance provided by the Department of Public Instruction in Education Forward.
DCF Guidance on Working with Child Care Providers
DCF has produced a series of guidance documents to help child care providers and local educational agencies as families, schools, and child care providers navigate the reopening of school this fall. Two new documents you may find of interest include:
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Mental and Behavioral Health Screening |
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The goal of screening is to generate new and useful information so that students can be better served in interventions that prevent or mitigate mental health challenges and promote resiliency. Thoughtful selection and implementation of a screening measure is critical to meeting this goal.
Regardless of the chosen measure, all screening should be:
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School Safety Grant Training Requirement |
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Schools that received a round 2 state school safety grant must train 10% of their staff on adolescent mental health by Dec. 31. The deadline had been August but the state moved it because of the pandemic. Go to this DOJ page and scroll down to "Round 1+ 2 required Trainings" for an explanation.
The DOJ has a free training next week with 35 slots open. So, if a school has not yet complied, this would be a good opportunity.
The DOJ says "a lot" of the private school grant recipients haven’t fulfilled this requirement yet, and many of them only need to send one or two staff to be in compliance.
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Accreditation Annual Report |
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We understand how busy you are with getting ready for the school year in the midst of COVID 19 and appreciate all your efforts. Although the annual report is not due until October 1, there are parts that you can do well before that. Here are some guides to help you know what you need to do for the report. Hopefully, your Administrative Assistant would be able to assist with the demographic information and update the teacher information. Just a reminder, if you have any new hires you need to include a copy of their license. For teachers who have to have a plan or exemption because they are not teaching in a licensed area, those also need to be included. Feel free to visit the website for more information. If you need further assistance, feel free to reach out to our office.
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All employees (regardless of position/job title) and all adult volunteers who have contact with minors as part of their duties are required to:
- Have a Diocese of Green Bay-approved background check
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Complete a VIRTUS "Protecting God's Children" Adult Awareness session. Online VIRTUS training is now available.
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Review and sign either the Our Promise to Protect (employees) or Diocesan Code of Pastoral Conduct for Volunteers.
Instructions on how to complete each step can be found:
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For more information please contact Deb Knaus at the Office of Safe Environment.
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NCEA Newlsetter Link
Click on icon below to read the latest issue of Catholic School Matters Newsletter from NCEA and Dr. Tim Uhl.
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Office of Catholic Schools
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