Monday Memo

Dear parents,

The Spring Gala - Mardi Gras is just two weeks away on March 2nd! The committee has an amazing night planned with dinner, music, a $5,000 raffle, and auction items to support education at Saint Susanna Parish and School. In addition, this year's Fund-A-Need effort is for curriculum for the school and religious education. The school will be adopting a new reading series for the 2025-2026 school year that incorporates the latest research in reading instruction.

Tickets for the event are $75 each and include access to the event, dinner, and an entry into the $5,000 raffle drawing. Tickets are available all week through the school office and on weekends after each mass. The silent auction events will be on display that evening. Bidders may access bidding from home or on-site through our auction vendor GiveSmart and their mobile phones. The funds raised go to support education efforts in Saint Susanna School and Parish. Please get your tickets and join us for a wonderful evening!

Additionally, the Mardi Gras committee could use help with the setup and teardown of the event. Please, consider donating a few hours of your time to this important fundraising effort. More information is available at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0C4AAEAA2CA5FD0-48050106-mardi?fbclid=IwAR22dtgWm55-fxNWWv6IjFKhOamA7VBlZqv5CNihqgFxtDYSFJyklA4EWQQ#/

The March Menu is at the bottom of this newsletter.

God bless, Janet Abdoulaye

Wednesday, February 21st

• Build Each Other Up logo shirts with uniform pants
• PK-K Prayer Service at 2:15 PM
• Early release at 2:50 PM

Thursday, February 22nd

• Mass at 8:45 AM hosted by 5C.
• Way of the Cross led by MS after mass

Friday, February 23rd

• Students may wear spirit wear tops with spirit wear or uniform bottoms
  

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Future Dates of Note

• Friday, March 1 - No EDM due to Spring Gala preparation
  
• Saturday, March 2 - Spring Gala at Saint Susanna
• Friday, March 15 - 1:20 PM Dismissal for Spring Break
• Monday, March 18 - Friday, March 22 - Spring Break, No School
• Friday, March 29 - Good Friday, 1:20 PM Dismissal
• Monday, April 1 - Easter Monday, No School
• Monday, April 8 - Remote Learning Day due to solar eclipse

The Spring Gala - Mardi Gras is just around the corner. The Gala is a great evening with friends, food, fun, and fund-raising for the school! There is a silent auction of locally donated items and teacher-donated experiences. The live auction includes one-of-a-kind items and experiences. This year's event will take place at Saint Susanna.

Tickets are on sale at the school office and can be purchased after upcoming masses. The ticket price includes event admission, entrance into a $5,000 raffle, and dinner.

The Gala Committee needs help staffing after mass ticket sales. Can you help in the coming weeks? This is an easy way for someone who is new to our school to volunteer and be involved! The committee will tell you all you need to know to be successful - check out opportunities here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080E4BACA622ABFA7-47448641-mass#/

Saint Susanna's Spring Book Fair is coming! Mark your calendars for February 29- March 6 to

stop in and help support our school. The fair will be open to parishioners and students

throughout the week and before/after weekend masses. We will have many new

and popular titles that make great basket stuffers for Easter. There will also be an opportunity to

donate to our amazing teachers’ classroom libraries during the fair with gift certificates or

purchase something from their wishlist. All money earned will be used to ensure every student

receives a book and to build our school library! Please check out our webpage for dates and

times or to shop online. https://bookfairs.scholastic.com/bf/stsusannaschool

Each year, the state of Indiana increases the maximum household income allowed to qualify for Choice. Please see below for this year's eligibility requirements.

Indiana has also finalized award amounts for the 23-24 school year. Some of our families will see this school year's scholarship increase as a result. I am working through each scholarship account to rectify any tuition owed. These increased scholarship funds will be applied to this year's balances, lunch, or EDM accounts owed, or credited toward next year's tuition.

The state will use this year's finalized awards as the estimated awards for the fall of 2024. For example, families who live in Plainfield School District will see next year's estimated award increase from $5,912 to $6,265.13. See the table below for this year's finalized and next year's estimated award amounts by home school district.

In order for our cafeteria to be self-sufficient, we must receive regular and timely payments from those who participate in the hot lunch program. As such, I have updated our lunch policies accordingly. Please see below for the excerpt from the attached Student Parent Handbook:

• For any student with a negative cafeteria balance, the student will continue to be eligible for a hot or cold lunch and milk; however, they will not be eligible for extra servings or any a la carte items including bottled water, until the account is brought positive. Students are always welcome to bring their own refillable water bottles to lunch with them.

• Preferred: www.myschoolbucks.com Payments made through MySchoolBucks credit to a student’s account automatically and accounts are updated without delay. Previously setup accounts will continue to work throughout your child’s time at Saint Susanna. Accounts can be set up with the lunch number that will come home in your child’s back-to-school packet. This system also shows parents all of the charges and credits to a student’s account.
• Alternate Method of Payment: Payments made outside of the MySchoolBucks system are subject to delay in crediting your student’s lunch account: 1) Online via www.saintsusanna.com/pay 2) Check sent via backpack mail to Mrs. Carson’s attention clearly describing the amounts to be applied to each student account. Do not send cash.

All volunteers must have a background check and completed safe environment training through the Archdiocese's Safe Parish system. All volunteers' background checks are monitored quarterly. All volunteers must be registered in the Safe Parish system before they can volunteer. Instructions for registering and training are in the newsletter each week (see below).

In order to volunteer in our school building during the day or attend field trips as a chaperone, you must have current safe environment training on file with us. This requirement includes safe environment training and a basic background check through the Archdiocese.

To obtain a new training and background check:

1. Go to the website www.archindysafeparish.org
2. Create an account.
3. You will need a passcode in order to create an account. The passcode is Archindy2021
4. Complete the background check for school or parish VOLUNTEER and select Saint Susanna as a recipient of your information.
5. Complete the training video and questions.

Please allow up to two weeks for this process to be completed.

The service hour tracking form can be found here and a copy will be sent home in the back-to-school packets. We ask that each family complete five service hours this school year. These hours can be completed during school or parish events.

Box Tops for Education

Here’s how it works:

• Step 1: Download the new Box Tops App (iTunes or Google Play) – it’s free
• Step 2: Create a username and connect it to your child’s school
• Step 3: Scan your grocery store receipt. Items with the new Box Tops label will be automatically credited to your school

Does this mean I should stop sending in my paper Box Tops that I have already clipped? No! Continue to send those to the school!

Kroger Community Rewards

Information on the Kroger Community Rewards program can be found here on their website or under the "rewards" tab in your Kroger app. You will need to search for the exact name of our organization as SAINT SUSANNAS SCHOOL PTP . From there, you can link your Kroger card with our organization and a portion of your spending at Kroger will come to us.

St. Susanna Catholic School's mission is to provide a Christ-centered, quality education that prepares and inspires its students to excel as they progress in their scholastic careers. Based on Catholic teachings, our students and staff exemplify the value of faith, service, love, and respect in all situations and with all people.

Email: jabdoulaye@saintsusanna.com
Website: www.saintsusannaschool.com
Location: 1212 East Main Street, Plainfield, IN, USA
Phone: 317-839-3713
Facebook: facebook.com/stsusannaschool