Mask Up SWS!
The kids have really done a great job wearing their masks at school. Reminder that we prefer that the students wear the masks that go around their ears with elastic and fits snuggly covering the nose and mouth. If your child’s mask does not stay up on their nose, then they need a new mask.  

The school will begin giving paper masks to any student who touches their mask too often or that cannot keep it up.  Touching the mask brings germ to their hands thus spreading more germs in the classroom and to themselves.

Please make sure your child has an extra mask at all times and that masks are washed each night.

Masks from the Government
Your child should have gotten a new mask last week.
It is always a good idea to wash before wearing.

NWEA Testing
Students in grades 1-8 will begin taking the tests this week. NWEA tests help our staff understand where each student is based on national and school standards in the areas of math, reading, and writing.  This is especially important with the return to school this fall.

Our goal is to work on growth of individual students, the class, and the school from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.  These tests are important for our curriculum development and instruction to your child. Each test takes about an hour or so. 

Please tell your children to take their time and not rush through it so that we can get an accurate score on their abilities.

School Masses
We will be having our school Mass on Wednesday. Currently we are challenged with how to fit everyone into the church.

We will be social distancing for now and when we do that the students take up the entire church.

At this point we ask parents to only watch via live stream from the parish website.  We hope to remedy this soon so that we can include everyone.

School Picture Days
There is no obligation to purchase a picture packet. Everyone will get their picture taken for our year book and for our school records.

Wed. Sept. 23 – School Picture Day- for grades – PreK, 8, 7, 6, 5

Thurs., Sept. 24 – School Picture Day – for grades – Preschool 3/4’s, K,1, 2, 3, 4

Marathon for Non-Public Education
This is the 1st of 3 required fundraisers for our school families. Our school is supported by four major sources: tuition, fundraising,  donations, and the parish investment. (The total in our budget this year for our fundraising efforts is $191,000)

We highly encourage you to send out the on-line link to friends, relatives, and others so that they can donate on behalf of your child. We try to achieve a goal for the school and for each student.
School-wide Goal = $46,000
K-8 Student Goal = $150
Prechool Student Goal = $50

Online Donation Link:
https://saintwenceslaus.ejoinme.org/2020marathon

Our marathon will take on a new format with competitions during the school day on Monday, September 28. This will be on a school day and involve the children and teachers only. We hope to include parents again in the 2021 Marathon!

Monday, September 28 is the Feast of St. Wenceslaus. It will be a fun day to celebrate with lots of special marathon activities!

Drop off and Pick up
Reminder: As you drive through the line and stop,  make sure the children get out of the car on the school side only.  All cars can park in the second tier lot if you need to help your child in and out of the car.

For those riding the bus…..
Please have a back-up plan. If for some reason NP Public would move to full distance learning, then our school would not have busing and all of our students would need to arrive by car.

Early Withdrawal Policy
St. Wenceslaus School carefully budgets for how many students will be in attendance during each school year. The school fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. When a student is withdrawn from school after July 1 to the end of a contract year, a hardship is presented to our school community. With that in mind, the following payment schedule shall be adhered to:

Prior to September 30 – 25% of the total tuition and fundraising commitment is payable to school.

Prior to November 15 – 50% of the total tuition and fundraising commitment is payable to school.

Prior to January 15– 75% of the total tuition and fundraising commitment is payable to school.

After January 15 – 100% of the total tuition and fundraising commitment is payable to school.

****Please note that if school starts out face to face and transitions into distance learning for a short time or a longer period, the school is ready to provide a full distance learning program and the above policy will remain in place for K-8 students.

Preschool families will be expected to continue their financial obligation through short two week quarantine breaks (if required) but if the school (K-8) closes for full time distance learning, Little Saints will continue to offer programming as long as allowed by the MDH for daycare rules within our license. However, should Little Saints Preschool be ordered to close by the MDH, families will be responsible for one full month of tuition after the closing date to assure that our preschool staff is properly and justly paid before the program closes.

Wanted: Substitute Teachers and/or people with 4-year degrees who are willing to step in to help with our classes if our teachers cannot be in the school. Training will be provided.  All substitutes will need to be approved with a background check and other documents through Virtus. You do not need to have a teaching degree but you must have a 4-year college degree to be in a classroom with the students. We are very short of this sort of help. Please let us know if you are willing. This will be a paid position – paid daily.

 Welcome to all of our new students and families
25 new students in grades 1-8
30 students in kindergarten
We are very blesssed to have all of the new people join our SWS school family.

If you are a new family, do not be afraid to ask lots of questions.
If your family is not new, don’t be afraid to reach out to the new families in your child’s class.

Unfortunately, we can not have our usual family and parent gatherings that have made us so connected to each other.