PARENT MEMO 26: March 2, 2022

Dear St. Patrick Catholic School Families,

COVID UPDATE
Today, Saint Patrick Catholic School moved to mask optional, but recommended. If you did not
fill out the parent preference form your child will remain masked indoors but unmasked
outdoors.
We are currently entering our third week with 0% positive COVID 19 cases.
Please know that if our numbers rise a to 5% positivity rate the school will return to mask mandatory
policy.
• If we have an outbreak in certain classes, they may have to go to mask required for 5 or 10days.
• If your child does test positive, your child will have to stay home for 10 days or stay home for 5 days and wear a mask to school indoor and outdoor for 5 days.
• Children that are exposed to someone that has tested positive will also have to wear a mask to school for 10 days but can remain in school so long as they are symptom free.

REENROLLMENT
If you have not sent in your reenrollment forms, please do ASAP. We will open enrollment to
new families next week.

OPPURTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP
There is good news to share about the Opportunity Scholarship Program. The scholarship award
amount was recently re-calculated and is now worth up to $6,168!
$6,168 per student per year for non-public school tuition!
Applications received between February 1st and March 1st are chosen from a lottery and
awarded a scholarship. Applications received after March 1st are placed on a waiting list.
See if your family may qualify here or Text “KIDSNC” to 52886

LENTEN COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS
We are currently sponsoring a baby shower for Catholic Charities. See attached flyer. The class
that collects the most items will earn a pizza party. The rest of the school will earn a free dress
down day for participating.
The second Lenten project is Rice Bowl. Rice Bowls will be sent home with the students on
Friday. You can read more about Operation Rice Bowl in the attached letter. In the letter there
is a link for making an online donation.
Both service projects are completely optional, but we encourage families to participate in one
or the other as a part of the alms giving during Lent.

MY HOT LUNCH BOX- FRIDAY DURING LENT
If you order My Hot Lunch Box regularly on Friday, please check your child’s order for each
Friday during Lent. If you had an order that contained meat, that order did not go through.
Please place a new order or send your child to school with lunch that day.

CHESS CLUB
Chess Club will begin meeting in person starting this Thursday and will meet on the following
date to prepare for the Chess Tournament scheduled for March 19th at St. Mary Magdalene
Catholic School in Raleigh. Chess Club members were given Permission Slips last Friday,
February 26th. If your child is interested in the tournament, please return the permission slips
ASAP. If you need more information about Chess Club Meetings and/or Chess Club
Tournament, please contact Christine Shea [email protected] or JodiCollege [email protected].
Meeting Times for March: 3:15 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
March 3- Thursday
March 6-Tuesday
March 10-Thursday
March 15-Tuesday
*You do not need to attend all meeting times.

SAINT PATRICK DAY CELEBRATION
We are excited to announce our plans for our Saint Patrick Day Celebration on March 17th. This
day will include attending 9:00 Mass and having a parade with a police escort. The students will
be allowed to dress in green.

SPRING BOOK FAIR
The Spring Book Fair this week, Monday, Feb. 28th – Monday, Mar.7th. Students may come during library time.

YEARBOOK
Please use this link to order your 2021-2022 Saint Patrick Catholic School Yearbook.
www.treering.com/1015544792994061

SYNOD 2021-2022
Earlier this year Pope Francis called on the entire Church to begin a synod process. Synod is a
Greek word meaning, “journeying together.”
Bishop Luis is inviting everyone in our diocese, including those no longer affiliated with the
Church, to provide feedback through an online questionnaire. Following the survey process,
which begins this week, in-person meetings will be held throughout the diocese to help the
Church hear the voices of the Holy Spirit and of its people.
Synod Survey
https://dioceseofraleigh.org/synodsurvey
English Prayer Card Spanish Prayer Card

SCHOOL HOURS
Morning care is open from 6:30 to 7:30 daily. If you arrive before 7:30 you must stay with your
child until carpool starts or take them to morning care. The tardy bell rings at 8:00am. If you
drop off after 8:00am you must walk your child into the office and sign them in.
Afternoon carpool starts at 3:05pm and ends at 3:15.
The front office is open from 7:30am to 4:00pm. Please do not come to or call the office during
afternoon carpool, which is from 3:00 to approximately 3:20.

AFTERCARE
We are not taking drop in for aftercare. If you need a child to stay afterschool on a drop-in
basis, please email Amanda Gonzales at [email protected]

COVID TESTING
If you would like your child tested for covid at school, please click on the following link to
register.
https://home.color.com/covid/sign-up/start?partner=tf-stp-1272-students

UNIFORM POLICY CHANGES
There are some uniform policy changes that will occur over the remainder of the school year.
Sneakers: Students should wear sneakers to school daily, but they do not have to be solid black.
Moving forward sneakers should be “mostly black”. That means the sole may be white (or a
color other than white) and the sides may have an additional color. For example, the sneaker
may have a white Nike Swoosh, New Balance N, Adidas stripes, etc….on the sides of the
sneaker.
Leggings: students may wear plain, solid black leggings under their school uniform jumper,
skirt, or skort in place of tights.
Hair bows, headbands, and barrettes: Students may wear any color hair accessory to school.

VOLUNTEERING AT ST. PATRICK CATHOLIC SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS
We will be allowing limited volunteers in the school this year. If you want to volunteer at the
school, you must complete the volunteer application which includes attending a Safe
Environment Training (SET)class. There are some online training courses each month. Please
see below.
Safe Environment Training Calendar
In addition to attending the SET training, all volunteers need to complete an application with
the Diocese of Raleigh. You can turn your completed application into the front office.
Volunteer Application in English
Volunteer Application in Spanish

CALENDAR
March 11th – Report Cards available online
March 17th- Noon dismissal; St. Patrick Day Mass and Parade; students can dress down wearing
green this day.
March 18th- No School- Teacher Workday
March 25th- Spirit Day