Charger Check-In
March 11, 2021
A Note from Ms. Owens
One year ago today, we had a water main break across the street from the school which meant the water would be turned off. That day, our school families received a message saying students needed to be picked up ASAP. At the time, I thought "water main break" day would be one of the most hectic and harried of the year. Like all of us, I had no idea that two days later we would be preparing to send students home for what we thought would be a week or two of learning from home. Since that day, we have dealt with so many challenges and mourned the loss of many parts of our regular lives. We have also learned to cherish time with our families and focus on some of the more simple aspects of our lives. We have demonstrated that we can operate a school fully in-person and keep students and staff safe. We have been astounded by all of the new skills adults and children have mastered.
Like you, I am incredibly happy to know that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents who live in California. I'm looking forward to spending time with my friends who I haven't seen since last March. Thank you for all you have done these past twelve months and continue to do to support your children, the other children at school and the staff and faculty. We are all blessed to belong to this amazing community.
As we enter March, we also begin to think about St. Baldricks. This year, the event will happen virtually. Please scroll further down in the Check-In for more information about this very worthy event!
The School Advisory Board (SAB) is excited to share information for our upcoming school Dance A Thon -- the virtual edition! Please scroll down for more details on this spirit-raising event!
The SAB is also announcing openings for three new school board members for the 2021-2022 school year. Please consider serving as a member of our SAB. Scroll down for more information.
Our Dream Raffle ticket sales continue! If you would prefer to purchase tickets using cash or check, you will find a printable order form further down in the Check-In. A hard copy of the order form went home next Thursday.
Our Covid awareness needs to continue. If a member of your household knows they will be going for a Covid test or is waiting for the results, your child must stay home until results are received. If the results are negative, if your child has not had exposure to anyone who has tested positive and if your child is free of symptoms, they may return to school.
I urge you to monitor closely the health of all members of your household. Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever (temperature greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit), chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle/body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.
- If a member of your household has even one Covid-like symptom, your child(ren) should not come to school that first day of a household member having symptoms.
- If your child has symptoms on a second consecutive day, your child will need a negative Covid test in order to return to school. As we are no longer seeing exceptionally long-wait times for PCR results, we will be resuming the guidance that a negative PCR test is required if the individuals who have Covid-like symptoms for two or more consecutive days. (See button below for more detailed information.) Your household should quarantine while awaiting the results.
- Do not send your child(ren) to school medicated to camouflage symptoms.
- If your child(ren) has been identified as a close contact to a confirmed or presumed positive case, you child(ren) will need to quarantine for 14-days from the last day of contact with the positive case.
- If your child(ren) has been identified as a close contact to a confirmed or presumed positive case and develops symptoms, contact your medical advisor to discuss evaluation and testing.
- If your child(ren) has been identified as a close contact to a confirmed or presumed positive case and does not develop symptoms, it is recommended to be tested 5 to 9 days after your child’s exposure to the positive case.
I ask that you continue to partner with us in a shared effort to maintain a safe environment for our school community. We have gone through extensive measures to put protocols and procedures in place for our collective health and safety. Maintaining cohorts is at the heart of that plan. We ask for your cooperation in maintaining this model whenever feasible so that our staff and students are able to experience a safe and sustained return to school.
A Bit More News
- Please take a few moments to scroll through the Lenten resources posted below. There are ideas for you as an adult and for your family.
- Our parish is sponsoring Alpha, a fabulous opportunity for those of us who are interested conversations and community about faith and spirituality. Consider joining this welcoming group of faithful friends. Scroll down for more information.
- Our food drive to support Our Lady of Guadalupe, our sister parish, ends tomorrow. If your family isn't able to contribute tomorrow, you can drop food in the church vestibule during Mass over the weekend,
- Yearbook orders will happen online this year. Scroll down for important information.
- The TRIP fundraising deadline for our K-8 families is just three weeks away. Please scroll down for more information.
- We have an amazing opportunity mark Holy Week as a parish community with Neighborhood Stations of the Cross. We are looking for 14 parish families to host a station. Scroll down to learn about getting involved.
- If you know of an SCA family who owns a small business that we can publicize here to help support them, please reach out to me via email. Scroll down to see local businesses we can support.
Please continue to pray for our medical professionals, our first responders, our essential front line workers as they work to ensure the health and safety of our larger community.
Peace,
Kristine Owens
Adjusted Quarantine Period for Travel - updated 3/10
After consultation with state and local health departments, as well as their own medical advisors, the Archdiocese of Chicago is making an adjustment to quarantine protocols for travel. The following guidelines are in effect as of February 24 for all Archdiocesan-run schools (no matter their location). The updated information is in bold.
- Travel to a yellow state does not require a quarantine. Travel to an orange state requires a ten (10) day quarantine.
- For travel to an orange state, quarantine is required regardless of whether or not there is a negative test result, and no matter how much time is spent in another state. As a school operating face-to-face, "avoidance of in-person gatherings" is not a possibility. Hence, the testing option is not available in order to avoid quarantine.
- Quarantine starts the day after return home.
- If a state's status changes prior to or during your travel there, the new status will apply.
- Quarantines for international travel quarantine remain 14 days.
- Quarantines for COVID-19 exposure cases also remain 14-days (based upon the recommendation of all departments of public health in those jurisdictions in which the archdiocese operates and our own medical advisors).
A Bit More Focus on Our Quarantine and Sick Policies
Please be aware of these situations in which a student/faculty/staff/volunteer will need to remain home.
- Any student/faculty/staff/volunteer who has close contact to a person who is symptomatic, awaiting test results or diagnosed with COVID-19 will need to stay home.
- Anyone with close contact with a confirmed case must quarantine for 14 days from date of last contact with confirmed case.
Close contact is defined as "anyone (with or without a face covering) who was within 6 feet of a confirmed case of COVID-19 (with or without a face covering) for at least 15 minutes. The period of close contact begins two calendar days before the onset of symptoms (for a symptomatic person) or two calendar days before the positive sample was obtained (for as asymptomatic person).
Any student/faculty/staff/volunteer who presents with any of the following symptoms - fever (100.4 or higher), headache, shortness of breath, cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, congestion, new loss of taste/smell, nausea, fatigue or muscle/body ache will need to stay home or will be sent home if they are at school. All members of that person's household will also be sent home.
School Dance A Thon -- virtual edition!
We hope everyone is able to have fun and show off your creativity. Our teachers and staff are invited to join in the fun as well. Our lunch parents are excited to do something we heard as well! And we did hear something about Father Dennis and Ms Owens who may just surprise us with some dance moves!
Please read through the letter and ensure to follow all protocols. We can't wait to see what all the students, teachers and staff send us. Go Chargers!
Required TRIP Fundraising - Just 3 Weeks Left!
St. Catherine of Alexandria School requires all K - 8 school families to pay a fundraising fee. The deadline for this required fundraiser is just three weeks away!
- Your TRIP earnings can be used to pay your mandatory fundraising fee. Additional earnings above the $75.00 mandatory fundraising fee will be used for tuition credit in May or July.
- Families electing not to participate in the TRIP program or that do not earn $75.00 in TRIP credit will be billed $75.00 or the remaining balance of the mandatory fundraising fee on their May Smart Tuition bill.
- Families also have the option to pay the $75.00 mandatory fundraising fee at any time prior to being billed in May.
If you have questions about your family's TRIP balance, please contact Jay Heidemann.
St. Baldricks
We are so excited to have our Annual St. Baldricks Event. As we have all learned over the last year, we can do basically anything virtually! So, let’s not stop now!
Cancer is the #1 disease killer of children in the US, and a child is now diagnosed worldwide every 2 minutes, yet there is SO little funding to find a cure! St. Baldrick's is crucial for these kids!
Date: Our event will close on April 30, 2021.
- ANYONE WHO DOESN’T WANT TO SHAVE BUT WANTS TO RAISE MONEY CAN SIGN UP AS A VOLUNTEER.
- THIS YEAR ALL OF OUR FUNDRAISING EFFORTS WILL CONTINUE TO GO TO ST. BALDRICKS, BUT WE WILL BE FUNDING GRANTS FOR EMILYS HEROES - IN MEMORY OF EMILY BEAZLEY. EMILY’S HEROES ARE SPECIFICALLY WORKING TO FUND IMMUNOTHERAPY, RHABDOMYOSARCOMA , AND BLOOD CANCERS.
To Sign Up
- Click on the button below.
- Click on Join Us.
- You will be prompted to join even though it is a closed event – choose Yes.
- If this is your first time participating, you will choose – I need to create a new account. If you have participated in St. Baldricks in the past, you will need to sign in using those credentials.
- You will then be prompted to put in your personal information.
- Choose what role you will be doing at the event, shirt size, fundraising goal, and accept the waiver.
- You should see “Congratulations! You’re registered and ready to go.” You will also have the option to donate, upload a picture, honor a child with cancer, or personalize your website message.
- Then you will be sent to your member’s page. This is where you can share the page and get the fundraising started!
We are really looking forward to raising money and seeing videos of all the kids. This is such a wonderful event, and we appreciate all of the support we have already received!
If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to contact us using the information below.
Katie Lyons – kok78@hotmail.com
Colleen Lombardo - cclombardo3@gmail.com
“Sometimes, real SUPERHEROES live in the hearts of small children fighting big battles.”
Year End Tuition Statements - Tax Documentation
- Log into your Smart Tuition account.
- Click on the "Family Year End Statement" button. See the image below for a visual.
The Sunday Collection
Visit the link below to set up your recurring contribution. Donors can change the amount of the contribution or pause it at any time.
Our Church is Open!
- Saturdays - Mass at 4PM
- Sundays - Mass at 8AM (no music), 9:30AM, 11:30AM and 6PM
In order to attend, parishioners must sign up online. The sign up is available below. Be sure to read the protocols that must be followed by those attending Mass in-person.
You are also invited to attend a weekday morning Mass on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday in-person at 8:30AM. You will need to register in the vestibule when you arrive and all protocols must be observed.
Ways to Support Our Local Small Businesses
If you know of an SCA family who owns a small business that we can publicize here to help support them, please reach out to me via email.
So Many On-going Ways to Support St. Catherine!
Upcoming Events
Thursday, March 11
- Report Cards go home
- First Holy Communion Pictures from 4:30-6:30PM
Friday, March 12
- All-School Mass (live streamed)
Monday, March 15
- No school for students - PD for faculty
Wednesday, March 17
- School-wide Dress in Green
Thursday, March 18
- Tuition Exclusion Day
Friday, March 19
- All-School Mass (live streamed)
- Confirmation at 6:30PM (1 of 4)
Saturday, March 20
- Confirmation at 1:30PM (2 of 4)
Sunday, March 21
- Confirmation at 1:30PM (3 of 4)
Monday, March 22
- Confirmation at 6:30PM (4 of 4)
Thursday, April 1
- Holy Thursday
- Early Dismissal at 11:30
- Easter Break begins
About us
Website: www.scaoaklawn.org
Location: 10621 South Kedvale Avenue, Oak Lawn, IL, USA
Phone: 708-425-5547
Facebook: facebook.com/scaoaklawn/