SMCMS News 09.01.22

• Message from Mr. Andy Dahlberg, dean of students
• Food Service News
• Service Hour Requirements
• Character Strong information
• Winter Middle School Sports registration
• Birthday treats
• Smart Pass
• Fall Musical
  
• John Bosco Youth Day
• Important dates for your calendar
  

As we make our way through our second week of school I would like to humbly ask for your help in building strong disciples of Christ. In order for us to cultivate a life of prayer and relationship with God we need your help at home. Through morning and night prayer, meal prayer, and weekly Mass we come to know the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and invite them to work in our lives. While our world attacks our students with secular lies in social media platforms we must stay vigilant in our love of Christ through prayer. Together we can be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the salvation of your children.

Students have been informed today if they can be out of dress code tomorrow, Thursday. All forms were due Friday September 2nd to qualify for this out of dress day. Forms were sent home with students who still owe us paperwork.

The middle school advisory program is designed to deliver specific curriculum three days a week and offer an extended learning time (ELT) the other two days. SMCMS has adopted a new curriculum to address Social Emotional Learning (SEL) needs of all students and to help facilitate a sense of belonging, well-being, and engagement. An introductory/welcome letter us attached. Please read through it and let Mrs. Kalaus, our school counselor, know of you have any questions. The ELT time is designed to hep students stay current with homework, help with organization and to provide some time each week for any needed extra time with a specific teacher, for help in understanding an assignment, reteaching, or possible re-testing.

REGISTRATION (PAYMENT OF ATHLETIC FEE)

At this time we offering registration for Middle School Winter Sports. We are working on finalizing game schedules/practice schedules for each of the winter sports we offer and will post those on the Big East website when they are completed.

Middle School Basketball is open to girls and boys in grades 5th – 8th.

Middle School Winter Start Dates

Boys Basketball – End of October

Girls Basketball – End of October

The registration site for Winter Middle School Sports is now open. This is where you will register to pay the sport athletic fee and have the option of purchasing a team shirt for middle school fall sports.

Registration will close for Middle School Basketball on September 15th. NO LATE REGISTRATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED. By picking basketball in the online paperwork did not register your student and pay their student athletic fee.

SMC Middle School Athletics Registration and Fee Payment – Click Here

ONLINE PAPERWORK

The online paperwork for the 2022-23 school year is open and must be completed, submitted, and approved by the Athletic Director prior to the first practice. If not completed and approved your child will not be permitted to practice. If you son or daughter is in a fall sport, you should not have to complete the online paperwork.

The online paperwork system does not register your son or daughter for a sport even though it asks for sports you are interested in. The above link will register and collect your athletic fee to sign them up for a winter sport.

Reminder that all families (Fall, Winter and Spring Student-Athletes) should be completing all athletic forms on line. You will need to have medical and dental insurance information and doctor/dental/hospital information when you go through this process.

All forms (except the WIAA Physical Form) will be completed and electronically signed online. The link to the online system is below. We are using this system for both high school and middle school athletics. The system will take you through the process and you will not be able to move to the next section until all required questions are answered.

The WIAA Physical Form is the only form that will need to be uploaded into the system. The physical form needs to be uploaded because a doctor is required to sign, date and complete this form at your physical examination. Uploading can be as simple of taking a picture of the form with your phone and uploading. You can also scan the form and upload from your computer.

Make sure you go through the entire process of adding your student. There are many accounts created right now and the process has not been completed. You will get a verification email when you have completed the process.

https://smcatholic-ar.rschooltoday.com/ - Click on Link

1. Click on Athletic Team Registration
2. Either create a new account for first time users or sign into your account
3. Click on Register
4. Click on Students name or Register New Student
5. Click on High School or Middle School Activity Registration 2022-23
6. Complete the entire process and submit
7. You will get a confirmation email or an email asking for more information.

** To ensure clearance for participation, physicals should be completed and uploaded no later than 3 school days prior to the first day of practice/tryouts. **

If you have questions, please contact Matthew Schoultz, Athletic Director at mschoultz@smcatholicschools.org.

Our After School Care Program is hiring! We have openings at our Elementary and Middle School Campuses. If you or someone you know is looking for a part-time job, join SMCS! The schedule will be Monday – Friday from 2:45 – 5/5:30 p.m.

This is a paid position that offers great benefits! If you have a child enrolled in our schools, you will receive 50% off their school tuition and while you work in the after school care program, you can bring your child with you for free!

If you are interested in learning more about the After School Care Provider position or would like to apply, please contact the Human Resources Department by calling 920-722-7796 and ask for HR or email pfoulks@smcatholicschools.org or ckind@smcatholicschools.org

Hot Lunch, There's an APP for that! SMCS is excited to partner with Chartwells for food service this year. We will continue to share hot lunch menus on our website under the calendar drop down, but the information will also be available via the Nutrislice app. The app includes allergy and nutritional information for all menu items.

Free and Reduced Lunch: With the beginning of the 2022-23 school year, there will be no USDA Waiver Program that offered free hot lunch to all SMCS students for the past two years. Food service will begin charging any families that are not on our free/reduced lunch program for meals.

As in the past, families that submit an application and are approved or families that are approved with a computer match of state benefits will not be charged for meals. Any families that qualified for free/reduced lunch in any of the past 3 school years will not be charged for lunch for the first 30 school days of the coming school year, giving families time to submit applications for free/reduced lunch.

Please call Anne Greif at 722-4914 if you have any questions.

Beginning of the Year Lunch Survey: At St. Mary Catholic Schools, we’re always looking for ways improve our meal services, and we want to hear from you!

You’re invited to take a short survey, taking less than 10 minutes. All responses will stay completely anonymous, and results will be used in menu and program development. Your feedback is greatly appreciated as we continually look for ways to create happy and healthy mealtime experiences at school.

For families with students in middle and high school, click here to begin the survey.

Hot Lunch Volunteers: We need daily lunch volunteers this year from about 11:00-12:30 We will be using an online program (Sign Up Genius) to schedule the volunteers. It will automatically email you to remind you of your shift! This counts towards your parent involvement hours and you also get a chance to see your child! Click here to sign up!

The goal of religion class is to form faithful disciples of Jesus. Since giving of yourself through service is a key aspect of following Jesus all middle school students are expected to serve their community. Students should complete at least 3 hours of service per quarter, for a total of 12 hours per school year. Service completed during the summer counts towards this school year! Hours will be logged on service forms, which will be handed out in religion class. Students will earn bonus points in religion class for the completion of these hours.

Please contact your child’s religion teacher with any questions.

Christine Corrigan (6th Grade Religion) - ccorrigan@smcatholicschools.org

Maria Schmitz (7th & 8th Grade Religion) - mschmitz@smcatholicschools.org

Due to the number of food allergies in our building we ask that you do not send birthday treats in with your child. We celebrate birthdays at the middle school with announcements and an out of dress code pass for students to use when they would like.

Beginning Thursday, September 15, SMCMS will begin using the digital hall pass system SmartPass. SmartPass is a digital hall pass system that replaces traditional hall passes such as sign-out sheets, wooden blocks, and assignment notebooks.

It provides administrators an accounting of which students are outside of the classroom during the school day. In case of emergencies such as fires, severe weather, or building intruders, administrators have real-time access to this critical information. Overall, the pass usage history of a student will lead to more effective and informative parent-teacher conferences, as well as ensuring students are where they should be - in the classroom learning.

During our new COVID-19 era, it helps our school go contact-free by eliminating common touch surfaces such as wooden blocks, shared paper sign out sheets, pencils, etc. It also can automatically limit the number of students in the bathroom with minimal intrusion to class instruction.

For more information, please visit the vendor’s website at www.smartpass.app or reach out to me via email, phone, or in person. As always I thank you for allowing us to be a part of your child’s education. It is truly an honor to work with your family on a daily basis.

Scanlan Studios took middle school pictures at our orientation on Monday. Proofs and ordering information will be emailed home. Copies also went home with students today, please check backpacks.If you aren't happy with the proof, picture retakes will be held on September 26th.

Friday, Septemebr 16th: 6th grade teambuilding day, on the middle school campus

Friday, September 23rd: Zephyrs Connect 5K/Fun Run and Family Festival 3:30 p.m.

Friday, September 30th: NO SCHOOL-Parent Teacher Conferences

Tuesday, October 7th: Homecoming

Saturday October 15th: All Aboard

View our monthly calendar here.

A printable system calendar is available here.