Hello Ram families!

• Father Beechem Principal for the Day Raffle has been extended one day. We are going to offer chances for the drawing one more time on Monday morning. The winning ticket will be drawn on Monday afternoon. This raffle is for a truly important cause and part of our ministry. The money raised in the Father Beechem events all goes towards scholarship opportunities for the students of St. Lawrence Catholic School. Many of you contribute through your TIME, TALENTS, and TREASURES already and we are extremely thankful. This and the other raffles are an opportunity for the WHOLE to be GREATER THAN THE SUM OF IT'S PARTS. If everyone who has not purchased a ticket bought just ONE ticket for $1, we would create scholarship opportunities for many deserving students at a very low cost individually. I know we are not all in a position to donate as generously as others, but I am asking you to consider a very small $1donation for our scholarships as well as a potentially life-long memory for your child of being the principal for the day!
• Father Beechem Backyard Bingo dress down days continue this week on Monday. $1 for the dress down day.
• Registration begins Monday March 14th. More information will be coming in next week's Every Friday Note.
• Congratulations to our 7/8 Boys Basketball team on winning both games last weekend in the state tournament. They are competing Sunday at Scecina Memorial High School at 1:30 for the state championship against St. Pius. Go Rams!
• The 8th Grade St. Joseph Dinner has been postponed. A make up date will be announced very soon.
• Ash Wednesday is on Wednesday March 2. This kicks off the Lenten season. Lent is the season of reflection and contemplation of the passion, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. May your season of Lent be filled with God's love and a desire to learn more about and have a greater realization of the unsurpassed example of love for us that Jesus demonstrated.

Please mark your calendars for Saturday, April 23rd at 6PM for the Father Beechem Backyard Bingo. This is an amazing fundraising event for the parish which benefits our school tremendously. Each year, thousands of dollars of scholarships from this event are awarded to families to help offset the cost of tuition. More information will be coming in the coming weeks and months.

The first announcement has to do with the return of the Father Beechem dress down days. These days will be on Mondays from February 7- Monday March 21, the exception being February 22nd which is the Tuesday after President's Day. There are 8 total dress down Mondays. Students may participate in these dress down days in two different ways. First, students may pay a $5 upfront payment which will cover all 8 days. $5 must be paid by January 31st. Second, a student can participate by paying $1 for each week on the day they want to dress down (total of $8). The first option is the best value, 8 dress down days for the price of 5!

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SPRING SPORTS SIGN UPS ARE OPEN - go to orgsonline.com to register by February 28th

SOCCER - grades 5-8 boys and girls

KICKBALL - grades 3-8 girls only

TRACK - for boys and girls grades 4-8

BASEBALL - boys grades 6-8

Any questions contact Mr. Minch at minchkeith@sbcglobal.net

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Please do not send food and snacks with your children to school outside of a prearranged plan with your child's teacher or as your child's lunch. This has become a huge problem. Students have been bringing all types of food, drinks, and snacks to school and it creates some major issues when they eat it throughout the day.

1. It goes against the school wellness policy.

2. As the weather has gotten colder and students store food in their locker, it attracts mice and other critters that are certainly not welcome, which creates health and cleanliness issues inside the school.

3. Food and snacks during class create major distractions at times to the learning environment.

I do not believe that the majority of food brought into the school is done with their parent's knowledge and consent, but we would appreciate your support in helping to prevent this practice.

Our school day starts at 7:25 am and ends at 3:15 pm. During this time, instruction is taking place. Tardiness and early pick up, although at times necessary, interfere with the required instruction time for your child. Consistent tardiness or early departure greatly hinders your child's ability to learn and become proficient in the required standards set forth by the state of Indiana. Please be supportive of our family handbook and honor the arrival and pick up times to ensure that your child receives the very best education possible.

A note to this. If you are late arriving on a Wednesday or Friday, which are our scheduled school mass days, please take your child to the church prior to 9:15 am. Mass is a special opportunity to spend time twice a week with Jesus in worship. It is a part of our school day and one of the truly special opportunities that students enrolled in a Catholic school get to participate in that they would not be able to otherwise. This is considered part of our curriculum. Please make every effort to ensure that your child is in school to be able to be a part of this time.

In an attempt to provide even more transparency about how the school is interacting with Covid-19 in the school, I will start to include numbers school wide for the past week. I will continue to send communication through Jupiter as I have done all along as it pertains to your child and their class. However, this will be a general count for the entire school. I will only include the numbers of cases that apply to our students or quarantine information based on exposure from the school. For example, if a student is on quarantine because a family member, or a person outside of the school, identified them as a close contact, that information will not be offered. If a student is on quarantine based on exposure to a fellow student or teacher at St. Lawrence who has tested positive, that will be included.

For the week of February 19-February 25:

Confirmed Positive Results: 0

Quarantined students: 0

The governor passed an executive order stating that close contacts who have been exposed to a positive Covid-19 case at school will only need to quarantine if they are experiencing symptoms.

School meal programs nationwide are experiencing many of the same supply chain issues that have impacted restaurants and grocery stores throughout the pandemic. Our school nutrition team is committed to ensuring students have access to healthy meals each school day. Just as families had to make substitutions on grocery lists last year, St. Lawrence may have to make some last-minute changes to our regular menus, based on availability. We hope parents and students will be patient as we sort through these supply chain issues, particularly with breakfast items such as cereal. PBJ Uncrustables are not available either. The upside? Ingredients for our many scratch prepared foods are more readily available and we've been trying new recipes weekly. We remain committed to providing nutritious and delicious meals so that students are ready to learn!