Living, Loving, and Learning Our Faith

What a fantastic week we had celebrating Catholic Schools Week! Each day brought joy, smiles, laughter, learning and fun. The students and staff did an amazing job with all of the scheduling adjustments. Shout out to so many people for making this past week possible. All of the extra helping hands, eyes and hearts truly is appreciated and it does build a strong school and family partnership. St. Rita has one of the most strongest school and home partnership-THANK YOU!

In addition, we had approximately 40 new families stroll through our beautiful building seeking more information and possible enrollment for the 2022-23 school year. Please keep spreading the word! We have several fantastic Royal Ambassadors who are available to give tours. If you know of anyone still interested, please send them our way.

As we we prepare for the upcoming Lenten season, where we lift up the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we are all here to help each other and our students stay connected to God through prayer. Our goal is to teach that learning is both a gift and a prayer that they can be lifted up to God. The link below is a video for parents on prayer. Feel free to watch for those parenting tips on prayer!

https://youtu.be/GrV0LP58d_

Stay warm and enjoy the weekend.

Dr. Sue

St. Rita's Mission

Living Loving and Learning Our Faith: Living as members of our Catholic Faith Community; Loving God and all of His creation; Learning for our future on Earth and Heaven.

The Racine Parental Choice Program Enrollment is Now OPEN!

The Racine Parental Choice Program re-enrollment for the 2022-23 school year bis now open. All families are encouraged to complete the online application process before the February 21st deadline. Please remember that February is the only month that will guarantee your child(ren)’s seat in their current school for the 2022-23 school year.

https://sms.dpi.wi.gov/ChoiceParent/

Paperwork can be emailed to Mrs. Lopez at mlopez@sienacatholicschools.org, dropped off at the schools main office, or at Siena's Admissions office on Villa Street.

Questions? Contact your school office or the Siena Financial Aid office at (262) 812-0155. Para preguntas o ayuda traduciendo a español, por favor contacte a Cintia Sanchez al (262) 753-1471.

Siena Catholic Schools Financial Aid Program

Beginning February 1, 2022 all current and prospective families may apply for financial aid for the 2022-23 school year. Your 2021 income information will be needed to apply. Siena Schools covers the $35 application fee for you!

If you have questions or concerns about the financial aid process, contact Kory Borek, Director of Admissions & Financial Aid, by calling (262) 833-5517 or by email at kborek@sienacatholicschools.org.

St. Rita School Open House

If you missed our Open House, you can view our video using the link https://youtu.be/_Ao8KjNlknQ.

Monday- Celebrating Our Community

Our students and staff wore their class colors on Monday to represent their grade.

Grades 3K-2nd made Placemats for St. Monica's Senior Living Facility.

Grades 3rd-5th made Valentine's Day cards for all the residents and staff at St. Monicas's .

Grades 6th-8th made Thank you cards to the Caledonia Police Department, Fire department and Nurses at Ascensions Hospital.

Thank you for all of the gratitude cards of care!

Tuesday- Celebrating Our Students

Students in Grade K-8th grade competed in volleyball games in the morning.

During lunch they were treated to Root beer and Orange ice cream floats.

We ended our day with a friendly volleyball competition, 8th Grade vs teachers. It became a close game , but the 8th Graders Won!

Wednesday-Celebrating Our Nation

St. Rita Celebrated Our Nation by bringing in a Veteran who served in the United States Air Force!

Several of our takeaways were:

Saying thank you to the retired men and women of the Military, serving above self for others and our country and always tell a Vietnam Veteran Welcome Home.

Oh and that F-16’s can fly very very fast!

Thursday- Celebrating Vocations

Sister Kathy Sleaser from the Dominican Sisters of Racine joined us after Mass. She shared with us how she entered into her vocation, her faith journey and about service to God and community.

Friday- Celebrating Faculty & Staff

Students had a Pajama/ Comfy clothes OOU Day.

Students had a Dance party in the gym.

Altar Servers & Mass

This week's Altar Servers were Javier and Ella from 6th grade.

Second Graders Have Been Working Hard!

We do a lot of partner activities throughout the day which they really enjoy.

The kids have grown both in their reading skills and math skills. We are working on money and time right now. When they are finished with their work, they can play a variety of different math games and activities.

They are also getting a chance to be "Math Detectives" and solve a case using their money skills. 2nd graders also spent some time learning about different arctic animals. We are also having fun celebrating Catholic Schools Week!

Student Ambassadors

For those that didn't make it to Open House, we want to present to you our middle school Student Ambassadors. They spent some time training last week and did an amazing job. Open House was a great turnout and our Royal Ambassadors were busy giving tours to new and current families.

100 Day Celebration

4k celebrated their 100th day by decorating crown to wear throughout the day.

Lunch Prayer and Cake

During Lunch time, the students continued their celebration with some yummy cake!

Looking for Gently Used Books

Lent is not far away and the library is starting to collect for our annual Used Book Sale. If you have any gently used books you would like to donate please just drop them off inside the airlock doors at school. If you have a larger donation and would like help, please email or Facebook me. As soon as I have a concrete schedule I will announce it.

Thank you,

Mrs. Schotz

fschotz@sienacatholicschools.org

Children’s Liturgy and Family Resources

In the first reading, we hear that God, while surrounded by angels ready to act on his behalf, requested that a human being named Isaiah help with the mission of sharing his word with others. Sometimes when we feel a call from God, we can feel ill-equipped or unworthy as Isaiah, Paul, and Peter each did in the readings this weekend. It’s easy to forget that God’s grace is stronger than our fears. Many of the people God called throughout history felt unfit because of their human failings, but God worked through them to lead others to Jesus. God calls each of us, as Peter was in the Gospel, to be “fishers of men”. May we be open to God’s grace as we work to bring others to his kingdom.

Bringing the Gospel Home:

*Through their words and actions Isaiah, Paul, and Peter helped others to know about God. Who has helped you learn about God? Say a prayer of thanksgiving for them and thank them for how they have helped your faith to grow. Who can you tell about Jesus?

*Learn about why the fish or ichthus is a symbol of our faith. The Meaning of the Jesus Fish Symbol (ICHTHUS)

*Watch a video about Peter: God's Story: Peter Fishes for Men

Girl's Softball Camp!

On Saturday February 26th St. Catherine's will be hosting the Wisconsin Lutheran College Girl's Softball Camp for all Siena girls ages 18 and younger. The camp is only a few hours and completely free! It's an excellent opportunity to get Siena grade school students in our building, interact with our high school students, and see the pathway from Siena grade school, to Siena high school, to college.

The camp will be overseen by myself, my varsity softball team, and led by our own Rachel Vogt (JPII) who coaches at WLC.

Please Clink on the Link to sign up.

2022-23 Tuition Contracts Coming Soon!

Tuition contracts for the 2022-23 school year will be available mid-February with a March 5, 2022 deadline. Watch your email for your invitation to sign into Enrollment Management to sign your new contract(s) for the upcoming school year.

If you need help with your login or password, please contact Kory Borek, Director of Admissions &. Financial Aid at either (262) 833-5517 or kborek@sienacatholicschools.org. Para preguntas o ayuda traduciendo a español, por favor contacte a Cintia Sanchez al 262-753-1471.

Substitute Teachers

Hello Siena Families,

As a community, it is important for us to be able to come together to support each other during trying times. This school year continues to be a challenge, and Siena Catholic Schools remain committed to keeping our students in school and providing what is the best possible education. With COVID-19 cases impacting our students and staff members at a higher level this year, we continue to follow directions from experts to keep everyone in our schools safe.

At this time, we could use your help and support in a different way than we have asked in the past. Like many districts across the nation, we are in need of Substitute Teachers. If you have an interest in supporting our students, a Bachelor's degree, the ability to follow lesson plans, and a calm demeanor, we would like to talk with you. Our Substitute Teachers earn $115 per day and are an important part of our system.

If you have an interest in learning more, please contact Becca Schurman at bschurman@sienacatholicschools.org.

Siena Catholic Schools: Inclement Weather Policy

As we approach winter, we wanted to remind you of our procedure for closing schools due to inclement weather. Siena Catholic Schools of Racine follows the decision of RUSD with regard to weather-related closings, delays, and cancellations. When school is canceled, all scheduled athletics/activities and before/after school care are also canceled. All families will receive an email, phone call, and a text message announcing the closing; these announcements will also be posted on all school facebook pages. Depending on the forecast, decisions about closures may be made as early as the afternoon before or as late as the morning of. Please monitor local television/radio/news sites for any announcements.

As far as instruction goes on any snow days, students in grades 3K-8 will have true snow days. While teachers or principals may have a fun activity planned that students can participate in from home, there will be no instruction. Students at St. Catherine’s High School will have one snow day. Should the weather cause school to close more than once, high school students, faculty, and staff will switch to virtual learning. This is due to the hours of instruction required by the State of Wisconsin.

What doe this mean for St. Rita's?

For St. Rita's, no one with the possible exception of maintenance is expected to report to work. Staff will receive an all users communication from Siena/Ms. Kimberly Gardner.

Handbook Language we will follow:

The school will be closed including CARES supervision, on days when Racine Unified School District is closed. Closings are announced over local radio (WISN 1130, WTMJ 620 / 94.5, WRJN 1400), television (FOX 6, TMJ4, CBS58, WISN 12), and their media websites. Parents/Guardians will not hear our school name announced on public media unless there are specific circumstances affecting only our school or only all Catholic schools.

School closings will be announced in the media as Siena Catholic Schools of Racine. Staff will receive an email from Ms. Kimberly Gardner. Rarely used, but if a delayed start is announced for Racine Unified School District, St. Rita will follow the same schedule and delay the start to the day.

Parents may use their own discretion to decide whether to keep their children at home for safety if at anytime a closure is not called and school is in session but believe it is too dangerous or hard to get to school due to the weather circumstances. This absences will be recorded as an excused absence.

PARENTS-It is important to ensure that we have your correct email and cell phone in our system for weather alerts. Please log in to your PowerSchool account and verify.

Need your child during the school day? Picking up for appointments and emergencies or when sick?

Please remember to call Ms. Lopez in the main office at 262-639-3333. We handle all student departures during the school day. THANK YOU!

Facebook

Be sure to check out our Facebook page and all the great videos we post! We need you to "LIKE" us!

https://www.facebook.com/stritaschoolracine

Catholic Social Responsibility Guidebook

Please see the newly released Catholic Social Responsibility Guidebook from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee under the direction of Dr. Kathleen Cepelka. It is available at https://www.archmil.org/Education/Catholic-Social-Responsibility.htm.

COVID NOTICE

Hello Siena families,

As we committed to do throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have needed to respond to the changing needs of our students, families, and staff and want to ensure the safety and health of all. Our leadership team recently met in order to reassess Siena’s COVID communication procedures to ensure that families are well informed.

In addition to communicating directly with families who experience a positive case and those who are considered close contacts, a letter will now be shared with the entire school community when we are made aware of a positive case in our building. We hope that this additional layer of information, along with our COVID dashboard, will help families keep a closer eye on any symptoms your child(ren) might be experiencing.

Please regularly monitor your children for COVID symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell, fatigue, headaches, diarrhea, etc. If anyone becomes symptomatic, please keep them home and call your healthcare provider to inquire about testing.

Thank you for your partnership in keeping our school communities safe!

Sincerely,

Kimberly Gardner

Chief Advancement Officer

Siena Catholic Schools of Racine

COVID REMINDERS

We do want to ensure that each child that comes to school is healthy and ready to learn.

Please review the following:

If a vaccinated person is a close contact of a positive individual, they do not have to quarantine UNLESS they have symptoms.
Masked individuals who are close contacts of a positive individual who was also masked during interactions will not have to quarantine per the CDC.
Quarantined individuals will be able to get tested six (6) days after exposure and will be allowed to return seven days after exposure with a negative test UNLESS the County Health Department shares something different with the family.
Students who TEST POSITIVE or who are considered close contacts will receive a letter from the school.
Siena Catholic Schools also has a dashboard updated weekly showing where numbers are by school.
IF your child is in quarantine and/or positive, please work with your child's teacher regarding classwork.

Inclement weather on school days

In rainy or subzero weather, students need appropriate outerwear. Students are outdoors several times a day. A hooded sweatshirt for example is not as adequate as a winter jacket. If the outdoor temperature is 10 degrees or below, wind chill factor of “zero” degrees or below, hard rain or blizzard like conditions, recess is most likely to be indoors. The decision is up to the Principal and at times in collaboration with supervisory staff. While outside, if any playground supervisor determines that the weather is too severe for outdoor recess (as our weather changes often), the outdoor supervisor is authorized to bring the students inside.