Living, Loving, and Learning Our Faith

What a busy week! We have been so thankful for the many hands that have stepped in to help during this cold, flu and COVID season. Please stay warm and healthy!

We are moving into the final stretch of January, please check your child's report card in PowerSchool (PS) on January 25. 3K,4K, K-2 reports will be coming home with your child. Quarter 3 started January 20 and we are moving forward.

We are gearing up for Catholic Schools Week! Please see further down in this newsletter our OOU days for staff and students. We will have some fun activities throughout the week celebrating each day.

For example:

Saturday/Sunday-Celebrating Our Parish and Faith Formation-Any student who attends Mass or serves in some capacity at their church will receive and OOU for the following week. We ask that you submit a family picture via class DOJO or email your classroom teacher. OOU passes will be issued for the following week.

Monday-Celebrating Our Community-Each class will engage in service learning projects.

Tuesday- Celebrating Our Students-Class competitions by grade levels such as VB or other games pending grade level. We are looking forward to the annual Staff vs. 8th Grade Volleyball Game! Go Royals. In addition, our RPSA will be serving orange and root beer floats during all lunches. Yum.

Tuesday-OPEN HOUSE! We invite everyone, especially our new families that are are considering St. Rita's Catholic School for their child(ren). Open House is on Tuesday, Feb. 1 from 5-7PM. We will have some activities in the gym and all of our Faith Fair projects will be on display. Please join us!

Wednesday-Celebrating Our Nation-Looking forward to hearing from a veteran regarding serving our country and showing our gratitude.

Thursday-Celebrating Our Vocations-Sister Kathy Sleaser will be speaking to our students about her vocation.

Friday-Celebrating Our Faculty and Staff-We are looking forward to a little dancing fun!

We then head into February. February 10 is noted as an "Optional" Parent Teacher Conferences. If you are interested in a parent teacher conference, please send a message (DOJO) or email to your child's teacher. Likewise, if a teacher is in need to schedule time with you, your child's teacher will reach out. Again, these are optional. We love the family and school connection, so please consider checking in!

Stay healthy and warm!

Blessings,

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.

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.

St. Vincent Depaul's Food Drive

What: Stuff the Bus for Catholic Schools Week

Who: All St. Rita’s staff and community

Where: St. Rita’s School

When: Starts January 10 and ends February 4

Please find the chart below of what your child's class will be collecting.

Mrs. Lovejoy's Kindergarten Class

January has been a busy month in 5K! The students have been doing a great job on their IXL math skills!

We have been bringing in items for “Stuff The Bus”. The campaign runs through February 4 so keep up the great job!

We also made very cute snowman for our “meadow”.

Grades 6-8 in the Gym for Math Centers

Thursday Mass Altar Servers

This week's Altar Servers were Javier and Ella from our 6th Grade class!

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

Open House Post Cards

These postcards are coming home as a reminder about Catholic Schools Week. We ask that you share these with at least one person who may be interested in attending a Siena Catholic School. On the back of the postcard you will find the dates and times of each school's open house.

CELEBRATING CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK!

Any student who attends Mass on January 29 and/or January 30 and serves in some capacity at their parish church will receive an OOU pass for one day following CSW.

In order to receive this OOU, the student is required to:

Email or Dojo picture to their classroom teacher for verification near the Parish sign with their family of their service.

OOU pass will be issued by Ms. Lopez for the following week after CSW.

Basketball Tournament: Parent Helpers Needed

Mr. Ferguson is asking for parent volunteers to help in the St. Rita Basketball Tournament. If you would like to help out please use the sign up link. 2022 St Rita Basketball Tournament

BASC is looking for DVDs

Our Before and After School Care program is looking for donations of G rated DVD movies.

If you have any DVDs that you can part with, please send them with your child and/or drop them off to the BASC Staff.

Please only DVDs no Blue Rays

BLACK HISTORY MONTH T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST

St. Catherine's will be having a t-shirt contest for Black History Month.

Please submit your design on a 8" x 11" size computer paper. Designs CAN NOT use more than 3 different colors.

If we select your design, we will make your design into a t-shirt.

Submit designs as PDFs to lprideaux@sienacatholicschools.org or to the main office at St. Catherine's High School.

Designs must be submitted BEFORE JANUARY 28th at 2pm.

Georgie Porgies Spirit Night for Our School

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.

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.

Racine Parental Choice Program Enrollment - SAVE THE DATE!

The Racine Parental Choice Program re-enrollment for the 2022-23 school year begins Tuesday, February 1, 2022. 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.

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.

Catholic Schools Week Resources from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee

The Catholic Schools Week letters from Archbishop Listecki are now available in Spanish. All the CSW letters, plus resources from NCEA can be found at the following link.

https://schools.archmil.org/schools/Catholic-Schools-Week-Material.htm

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!

How to Keep you Chromebook Healthy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H8jGt__rtc

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.