Office of
Catholic Schools
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In the Midst of Winter
Lord:
In the midst of Winter, when the days are cold and wind can pierce remind us of the warmth of your love.
In the midst of Winter, when days are short, dawn comes late, and dusk arrives early remind us that in the darkness your light still shines.
In the midst of Winter, when the flowers of spring still lie hidden in the earth, when leaves are off the trees, and the world can seem bleak remind us that Easter is but a short time away.
And when in our lives we feel as if we are experiencing a season of winter, reach out to us with the power of your resurrection so that we may feel the warmth of your love and see your light that alone can take away the darkness of our soul. - Cal Wick
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Dates at a Glance (articles below or *in previous edition*):
- Feb. 11 Powerschool user group (8:30-10:00)
- Feb 14 Deadline for Rural life poster contest
- Feb. 24 Principals Meeting (VIRTUAL) Morning Session 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
Afternoon Session
1:00 PM-3:00 PM
- March 4 New Teacher Methods B in-service
- May 5 Principal and Pastor day
Mark Your Calendar
September 24, 2020 - All Schools Mass for grades 3-12 at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help.
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Here is the 20-21 Office of Catholic Schools Calendar.
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Second Semester Newsletter Dates:
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Here are the dates for the second semester Catholic Schools Updates:
Feb. 7 & 21
March 6 & 20
April 3 & 17
May 1 & 15
June 5
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Current Events about Coronovirus and illness
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Alert:
There is much illness going around. We are stand behind the leadership of Nathan VandeHey in his closing the school due to illness. Please remind parents that if children are sick, they need to stay home. Please read the information in the WCRIS Current Events that was issued yesterday.
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Information about the contracts for the 20-21 school year will be in the next newsletter on February 21, 2020. There are a couple of changes that were made.
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School Choice Portal is Open
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The school choice portal opened on
Monday, February 3
. The link to the site is
https://sms.dpi.wi.gov/ChoiceParent/
.
Please remember that all students who currently receive a voucher must renew through the system to continue to receive the voucher. Current students will only need to supply proof of residency. The site has both English and Spanish capabilities. The portal closes
April 16, 2020
.
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Save the Date - Engaging Millennial and Gen Z Donors
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April 23 from 1:00 - 3:00 at Lourdes High School
Join Brenda Haines from Blue Door Consulting on understanding how generational shifts are affecting giving, how to reach givers through various information sources, and the top 3 tips you need to know to reach the next generation. Registration details to follow. There is no charge for the presentation.
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All are Welcome: Teaching in a Culture of Inclusion
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A team of school resource and support personnel are putting together a professional development day geared to helping teachers and resource personnel understand and teach children who learn differently. The day long workshop will be
Tuesday, June 9, 2020, 8:30-2:30.
The place will be determined on interest. There will be a fee of approximately $30 which will include lunch. Some of the topics being developed include: Developing a Culture of Inclusion, Creating Learning Services Plans to Support Learners, Using Best Instructional Strategies for All, Working with Children who are Dyslexic, Tool for Differentiated Instruction and Accommodations, Tackling Behaviors: Social Emotional Learning, Conscious Discipline, Knowing the Laws and Regulations for Students with Special Learning/Behavior Needs. (Audience: Teachers, Supportive Consultants, Counselors, Administrators, Resource Teachers, Instructional Aides, anyone who works with children) In the next update, we will have more information about providing a “ball park” number of people you think might attend from your school.
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March 6
Treat yourself to a professional day away. Join your religious and independent school colleagues for the fast-approaching annual WCRIS Leadership Conference on March 6 at the Ingleside Hotel in Pewaukee.
Register
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Simple K-12
Ten of our schools used the online professional development platform, Simple K-12. There have been positives from the users. We are looking to renew the contract for next year and will need to know if more schools are interested in participating. (more people less cost). This year the participating schools paid approximately $80 per teacher for PD all year. Title II funding can be used. Perhaps you may want to offer it to teachers and allow them to choose. Please email
Lisa Gruber, lgruber@gbdioc.org
your interest in Simple K12 and the number of subscriptions you might want.
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The Office of Catholic Schools will be running a promotion in the
February 21st Compass Issue
that goes to ALL Catholic households. The ad waives the registration fee for
NEW FAMILIES (K-12)
that are not currently enrolled in any other Diocese of Green Bay Catholic school. Families must bring in the ad. Please do not cut out a bunch of them and use them – we are trying to measure the effectiveness of the campaign. If you have any families that qualify you need to submit the following:
1. Copy of registration form showing student name and grade they are entering.
2. A copy of the original coupon from the Compass.
3. An invoice with the amount due to the school.
4. Choice students are not eligible for reimbursement as the school cannot charge registration fees under Wisconsin regulations.
This must be submitted to
Lori Paul
no later than
March 13, 2020
in order to receive reimbursement. All invoices received after that time will not be compensated.
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Congratulations to Divine Savior
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Divine Savior has received the
Lead, Learn, Proclaim Award
from the National Catholic Educational Association. This award highlights the outstanding work being done in Catholic school communities across the country. Awardees are a mix of individual diocesan leaders, teachers, principals, school presidents, as well as boards and associations entrusted with the faith formation of our school communities. The Award recognizes individuals and organizations that, on a daily basis, are guides of Catholic identity and emissaries of Catholic school education.This award will be presented to Kerry Sievert on Tuesday, April 14 at the Annual Convention in Baltimore.
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Ananias Training for Campus Ministers
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Inspired by the important role Ananias played in St. Paul's journey to Christ, the goal of our Ananias Training is to form people equipped to journey with others. This training is facilitated by the Catherine of Siena Institute.
When: Friday, April 17
This workshop is to learn "the art of spiritual accompaniment".
For more information about Ananias Training and to register,
click here.
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The Drug Alliance in collaboration with Community Action for Healthy Living, is pleased to invite you to attend:
“In Our Community: an honest conversation on drugs and vaping”
on
Tuesday, February 25 at 7:30am at the Tundra Lodge Conference Center.
The focus of the event will be on health-related issues, specifically drugs and vaping. Over breakfast, we will provide attendees with an overview of the issues from expert presenters, including perspectives from those personally affected. You are cordially invited to attend.
We expect an audience of about 100 people, including community members, advocates, parents, seniors, direct support workers, local business representatives, and other health care professionals.
We have contacted local media and are seeking the widest exposure possible.
We know how busy schedules are and how many requests you receive. We appreciate you taking the time to be a part of this community event.
If you have any questions, or if I can provide more information, please call me. It would be most helpful if you could
confirm your participation by February 11. You can easily register here:
http://inourcommunity.eventbrite.com/
.
Eric Weydt
Catholic Social Justice Coordinator
(920) 272-8344
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SNSP Intent to Participate
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The Intent to Participate in SNSP is open.
The form can be completed by the principal but Father (as the head of the school’s governing board) will need to ultimately click the “YES” button.
Both new schools as well as existing schools need to complete this document. Please contact
Lori Paul
if you need any assistance. The deadline to complete is
March 1, 2020
.
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The amazing Antigo Scrip Team will be providing a webinar on
February 20th
starting at 1:00 pm. They will share how they have built their program from $0 to almost $2 million!
Please click on the link to register:
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Our next New Teacher in-service for those teachers who are new to Catholic schools will be
March 4 from 9:00-2:30
at the Diocesan Office. This session will be the second part of the Methods B course for Faith Integration. Please register your new teachers or send them the link to register. Thank you.
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The ACRE IFG Religion survey for fifth, eighth, and tenth graders takes place in March. The website for ordering materials is
https://www.nceaifg.com/
Click on FAQ’s for all the answers to questions you might have about the survey ordering or administration. The survey can be administered online or paper (online is cheaper).
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New Report on Catholic Education
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You may find some good statements for marketing in this article:
I commend to you the attached awesome report on Catholic Education from the Manhattan Institute, which was issued last month. It includes some shocking context and compelling history of Catholic Schools in detail that is commonly glossed over. It provides a wonderful vision of education reform.
Bottom line: The modern focus on test scores stems from an effort to find a common value system in education. But real values education (character, how one ought to live) is truly the common denominator in what enables our children to succeed when it comes to academics.
It's a 10-minute read that is worth your time.
Sharon L. Schmeling
Executive Director
WI Council of Religious & Independent Schools (WCRIS)
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Lent
will be here before we know it. Ash Wednesday is February 26. Here are a couple of links to great
free
Lenten resources. Please share/edit/use as much or as little as you like.
NEW:
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The billing will be sent to you for WCRIS dues. It is based on 2018-2019 PK4-12 enrollment.
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Keith Ahrens from the Ahrens Group represents several publishers. Before Christmas he and I had the opportunity to talk about some of the new resources available. Some of you have asked about writing programs. He was excited to share two products:
Jump Into Writing: A Workshop Approach
by Zaner Bloser and
Being A Writer
by the Center for Collaborative Classroom. There are some opportunities to pilot these products.
If you are interested, feel free to contact
Keith Ahrens
Ahrens Education Group
920-460-0099
Companies represented: Zaner-Bloser, Booksource, Sundance-Newbridge, Okapi,Stenhouse, Collaborative Classroom, InquirED, ThinkCERCA For Special Discounts, Workshops, Professional Development, Samples, or Digital Access please go to our website at:
www.ahrenseducation.com
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By February 28
- State aid payments sent to schools based on January count.
The Qualifying Income Levels for the Choice Program for 2020-2021 have been released. They are:
Family Size Max Yearly Income Single Family Max Yearly Income Married Family
1 $27,478
2 $37,202
3 $46,926 $53,926
4 $56,650 $63,650
5 $66,374 $73,374
6 $76,098 $83,098
For each additional child – add $9,504
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Four Ways to Get Faculty Involved in Enrollment
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As a school leader, managing your school’s enrollment is a hard and, sometimes, lonely job—and there never seems to be enough time to get everything done. Often, your colleagues at the school don’t understand the impact of your school’s enrollment numbers on the financial well-being of your school. If they do, they have few opportunities to collaborate or even understand how they can help make a positive difference in recruiting and retaining students. Here are some ideas to help this process:
- Talk and brag about your faculty.
Parents want to know that the people teaching their children are qualified, smart teachers. They trust that they are going to help that child grow both academically and socially over the next year. But most parents know very little about the teachers at your school. Your first step is to make sure that you have compiled bios on all your teachers. These should be a mix of things that establish the quality of your teachers; the level of education, where they went to school, types of degrees, years teaching, etc., as well as fun facts, hobbies, favorite experience as a teacher, what inspired them to work in a school, etc. Then publish these on your school website faculty section as well as feature a faculty member each month on social media.
- Use your staff as subject-matter experts.
Set up a simple editorial calendar by asking each of your staff members to write one or two articles a year that you can use in your marketing. Put these articles on your school website or Facebook page.
Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Should students specialize in one sport or play multiple sports? - Athletic Director / Gym Teacher
Best educational toys for a third-grader – Third Grade Teacher
The books that every 6th grader should read – Sixth Grade Teacher or Librarian
How much screen time is too much? – Guidance Counselor
Signs that your child is ready for kindergarten – Kindergarten Teacher
- Get staff involved in recruiting students.
The personal touches in your student recruitment are often going to make big impressions with prospective parents. When a student tours your school (and you’ve collected their contact information), as part of your follow-up process, have one of the teachers who will be working with that child in the upcoming year write a short personal note thanking them for coming and describing a little bit about what the next year will look like. This doesn’t have to be a long letter, but it is much more about the thought and the fact that the teacher personally reached out to the prospective parent.
- Increase the amount of positive communication between the teacher and students.
Parents love to know how their child is doing in school. Most parents will check grades, but it is the emotional development milestones that they don’t hear about as often. Parents will love your school if you ask every teacher to send a short email to the parents just saying something like, “I wanted to let you know what a pleasure it is to have Alex in my class. He is such a good helper and is always being a friend to the other kids.” You better believe that is going to be the topic of conversation in the home that night!
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Please remember that the DIGICOPY portal contains a great deal of templates for you to use for flyers, newsletters, etc. If you need assistance in creating them, please contact
Lori Paul.
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The Sophia Institute has once again secured a grant to have two offerings of faith formation for teachers in the Diocese of Green Bay. We have secured
June 10 and 11.
The topics will be Proclaiming the Kingdom (Missionary Discipleship) and Behold Your Mother (Mary). The location will be at the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help.
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Rural Life Essay or Drawing Contest
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For students in Grades 1-8: Create a picture or write an essay (200 words of less) on the topic:
"How does faith impact the work of farmers?"
Include student's name, address, grade and school/parish on back of an 8.5X11 drawing or essay. One entry per person. Deadline to enter
February 14th
.
Winners receive a Culver's gift card and entries published in the Rural Life issue of the Compass.
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Just a reminder that if you need to use the IT help desk, submit a request on-line at
gbhelpdesk@gbdioc.org
. The tickets are tracked and a report given to Deacon Conrad, IT Director, each week on what issues schools and parishes are having. If you email a staff person, Deacon Conrad will not see that and cannot track frequency of issues.
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Haven't Had Enough Yet?
There's More!
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NCEA webinars cover trending and need-to-know topics relevant to your career in Catholic education. All participants will receive the recorded webinar and presentation files for reference and inclusion among other professional learning resources.
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And more . . .
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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