Here's a recap from some fantastic fun we had during Catholic Schools Week!

• Tuesday, February 7 - Parents in Prayer (8:15am - St. Anselm)

• IMPORTANT!! Friday, February 10 - Re-enrollment Contracts Due. We hope ALL of our Comet families will be rejoining us next year! Please understand, however, that we MUST have your child's re-enrollment contract/s completed and returned by THIS FRIDAY. We have to release open spots to new families the following week. With our school being near capacity, please understand that we do anticipate most - if not all - grades being full this fall. Thank you for allowing us to serve your family! Questions? Please contact Mrs. Ridgely.

PLANNING AHEAD:

• Friday, February 17 - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS; Parent-Teacher Conferences (see below for details); 3rd Quarter Interims
• Monday, February 20 - President's Day Holiday - NO SCHOOL
• Wednesday, February 22 - ASH WEDNESDAY - Lent Begins; Day of Fasting & Abstinence; School Mass 8:30am
• Thursday, February 23 - PTO Special Feature Presentation on Protecting Our Children on the Internet AND Gala Meeting. 6pm - St. Anselm
• March 1: Financial Aid - 1st Round Deadline. See info below.

Parent Scholars

Over the past few years, many parents have mentioned that they wish they had received a classical education and would love to further their own education. With this in mind, we have put together a parent reading list to help you get started, and we're calling this our "Parent Scholar" program. This list of great books will get you started in joining the timeless conversation of those seeking the Truth. We hope your journey with great literature doesn't stop there. As an incentive, those who participate in this program can earn points for your (and your student's) House!

Click HERE for the list of great books!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for Friday, February 17th from 7:30am-12pm. There will be NO SCHOOL for students on that day. We especially encourage parents to sign up for a conference if there is an academic or classroom concern. Specials (elective) teachers are not part of Parent-Teacher Conference Day. Please contact them directly if you would like to set up a time to meet. The scheduling system will close on Wednesday, February 15th at 12pm. Call Mrs. Autry in the office if you have any questions, (804) 254-8850. Thank you!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0D49ADA62FA6FF2-parentteacher

February Parents in Prayer will be Tuesday, February 7 from 8:15-9:00am in St. Anselm Hall. We will be praying for the fifth grade class. (We pray for one class by name each month.) We will have coffee and Lent materials for families to take home. Kids are welcome! 

Prayer Intentions for February

Comet Shop Needs Volunteers!

Unfortunately, your PTO has had to keep the Comet Shop closed to shoppers because we haven't had any volunteers to run it the last few weeks. If you can help out on Friday's during lunch, please click on the link below to sign up! Thank you!

PTO Hour Reporting

Families - please remember that we all SHARE a responsibility for contributing to the life of our children's school. If you have earned volunteer hours, please be sure to ENTER THEM IN PARENTSWEB now. The PTO will be sending out notices in February to any family that has not volunteered at least 10 hours so far this year. Please remember, all families are asked to contribute a total of 25 volunteer hours throughout the course of the year and there are MANY, MANY varied ways to do so. Click below NOW to do your part in helping out this Spring with volunteer needs, and remember, if you didn't help at FallFest, you are expected to help out with our upcoming Gala. This is a very important fundraiser for our school and many hands are needed in a variety of ways to make light work.

Thank you for contributing to our Comet Community!

As we encourage our Parent Scholars to crack open some great reads, we thought it would be good to highlight the wonderful works our middle schoolers read in 6th, 7th and 8th grades - with the excellent guidance of Mrs. Cisik in English and Mr. Cronheim in Religion!

6th Grade:

Gospel of St. Matthew

Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Adaptation of Homer's The Iliad

Shakespeare: King Lear

7th Grade:

Gospel of St. Luke

Ten Boom and John and Elizabeth Sherrill: The Hiding Place

Adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey

Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

8th Grade:

Gospel of St. John

C. S. Lewis: The Screwtape Letters

Rosemary Sutcliff: The Eagle of the Ninth

Adaptation of Virgil's The Aeneid

Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Families - your PTO needs volunteers to serve on the following committees to support the success of this year's Gala - to take place at the Science Museum of Richmond on Saturday, May 13th. If you did not volunteer for the PTO's FallFest, you are expected to support the Gala in one of these capacities. Thank you to everyone who has signed up to serve on the Art Committee - that committee is full! For more information and to sign up please contact Georgia Riccobono or click on the Volunteer Opportunities above. THANK YOU!

Tuition Assistance - All returning families, seeking to apply for financial aid for the 23-24 school year, without significant business/self-employment income must apply for tuition assistance no later than March 1st. Those with significant business/self-employment income have until June 1st. That being said, the sooner you complete your application, the sooner you will hear from us. You will have two weeks after receiving the tuition assistance decision to cancel your contract and receive your deposit back. Please know that because the tuition assistance model assumes that the only change on your tax return is your W2 income, in years with a lot of changes in your life the model struggles to be accurate; therefore, we may reach out to you and discuss waiting for your 2022 return to be complete before making a final decision. That being said this does not change the deadlines for applying.

• March 1st Deadline:
• Returning Families with W-2 income and without significant business self/employment income (2021/2022 Return and 2022 W2s)
• Returning Families who do not file taxes - March 1 - other documentation of income
• June 1st Deadline:
• Returning Families without W-2 income who file a tax return (2022 Tax Return)
• Returning Families with W-2 income and significant business/self employment income (2022 Tax Return)
• 
  

Contact Brian Wingfield, Director of Finance if you have a unique situation, or questions

about the process (bwingfield@saintbenedictschool.org or 804-254-8810 x 110).

Our next St. Benedict Middle School Youth Group will be on Wednesday, February 8 at 6:30pm in St. Anselm Hall. All those in grades 5-8 are welcome to attend.

Families - whenever you are in need of basic school information, please check our website! We try to keep everything you need to know easily accessible there. Most information is located under our SCHOOL LIFE tab, but here are some ready links:

Calendar

PARENTS WEB 

FACTS

Past Issues of Newsletter

Uniform Guidelines

School Handbook

School Supplies List

Summer Reading & Assignments

Forms

Faculty & Staff Contacts

Online School Directory (log into ParentsWeb, select Directory)

And some other helpful info (non-website)...

Need to book Afterschool or Morning Care?

Need to pick up your child early from school?

Is grandma or someone else picking up your child?

Email Mrs. Autry: pautry@saintbenedictschool.org or call 804-254-8850

Tia Lukanova - School Counselor

And don't forget to follow us on Social Media!

Instagram

Facebook

Executive Order Two requires that as of January 24, 2022 parents make the decision about whether their students wear masks in school.

ONLY COME TO SCHOOL IF….

• Your temperature is under 100.4 degrees.
• You do NOT have other symptoms of COVID-19, without an alternative diagnosis. Other symptoms include chills, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, muscle pain, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea.
• Please notify the school about a positive COVID test or possible exposure by sending an email addressed to pautry@saintbenedictschool.org, mmeadows@saintbenedictschool.org and scruess@saintbenedictschool.org.

Helpful resources for our families:

School Covid Guidance as of April 2022

COVID-19 Testing Information

Free At-Home COVID Tests

Richmond/Henrico Testing

Chesterfield Testing

How to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine

Richmond Health Department