Lent

Here it is, the ready-or-not-school-is-starting-we-can’t-wait-for-your-child(ren)-it’s-going-to-be- a-great-year back-to-school update.  I hope your summer has been relaxing, refreshing, and rejuvenating because now it’s time to focus on some more traditional R’s:  Readin’, wRitin’, ‘Rithmetic, and, of course, Religion.

Staff News:

• Mr. Aksamitowski (3rd grade) decided this summer that it was time to retire from teaching, and with his wife, he is beginning a new career in elder care. His aging parents will be living with the Aksamitowskis in their new home.  Mr. A is quite excited about his new adventure and asked to keep things on a low profile for his leaving.  He said he would give me a farewell letter to send out to families when school begins.  
• Mrs. Host (formerly 2nd grade) will be teaching our other section of third grade.  Mrs. Polakovich will remain our 2ndgrade teacher.
• Mr. Darren Thelen (6th grade) has completed his first summer in the Remick Leadership Program in the Alliance for Catholic Education at the University of Notre Dame, and he also got married this past weekend.  His leadership training over the next couple of years will enrich his role as our Athletic Director and he will be helping with a few other administrative items as part of his internship in the program this year.
• Our preschool has had increased activity and enrollment this year, so we have decided to offer two sections of each class.  Mrs. DeVito now joins our other preschool teacher/director, Mrs.Tallman.  Mrs. Sova has moved into the main building with Mrs. Sremba as our kindergarten numbers are small this year, so we will have one class. 
• Ms. Alyse Rokos, our Young 5s (Y5) teacher, got married this summer!  Her new name is Mrs. Alyse (Kevin) Claunch.  She will also be co-director of our Child Care Center, primarily working in the mornings from 7:00 am to 11:00 am.  Mrs. Lynda Davis will be our other co-director, primarily working the afternoons from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.  Mrs. Lore Carmody will work with Mrs. Davis in the later afternoons, and we are in the process of hiring one more aide to work with them as well since we have so many families planning to utilize this service after school.
• Mrs. Dymowski (4th grade) will continue to teach part of fourth grade with Mrs. Crimmins. Mrs. Dymowski will also be teaching Literature and English to fifth and sixth graders.  Mrs.Henkel may be teaching one section of sixth grade Literature as well.
• Mr. Josh Friederichs has become the school and parish IT Director, and we have requested a full-time computer teacher from Grand Rapids Shared Time.
• We do not know who our Shared Time teachers (art, music, computers, PE, Spanish) will be at this time.  The Federal Government is making a lot of changes in funding and GRPS is working diligently on trying to determine what they can offer us.  

New Families

It’s very exciting to welcome a number of new families to Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic School.  A complete list of those families will be forthcoming, but we are adding to that list even as you are reading this.  Home and School is planning a Welcome Coffee on the first day of school, and Fr. Troy and I will be hosting a lunch with all the new students once school is underway. 

School Times

School begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 3:15 p.m.  Students may be dropped off at school beginning at 7:40 and wait in the hallways outside their classrooms until about 7:50 when their teachers will welcome them into their classrooms to get ready for a new day of learning.  

Our first day of school is Tuesday, August 30, 2011.  At 8:00 that morning, parents are invited to gather for a rosary near the flagpole and statue of Our Lady near the front entrance. Then the entire school will join those parents for an opening prayer service in that same location.  

Child Care Center

Our new Child Care Center will be open August 30 at 7:00 am until 6:00 pm.  Those families who have indicated interest will be receiving additional information.  If you are interested in enrolling in our Child Care Center, please contact the office for directions and information.  The Child Care Center is not able to operate as a drop-in service as state licensing requires us to provide an adequate number of adults to the number of children present.  Presently, the Child Care Center will follow the same calendar as the school, except it will remain open for a full day on school half days.  We will be surveying Child Care Center Families in late October to determine if there is a need for Christmas Break, Spring Break, and Summer Care.  

Before School Care

If you need Child Care before school begins, please contact the school office to enroll your child(ren) in our Child Care Center.  Child Care runs from 7:00 am until 6:00 pm and costs $3.75 per child per hour.  Partial hours will be pro-rated by the quarter hour.  If your child is not enrolled in our Child Care Center, s/he should not be dropped off at school before 7:40 am.  No supervision is available from the school until 7:40 am.

More Scheduling Items

All-School Masses will now be held at 8:30 am on Wednesdays.  Our first All-School Mass will be Wednesday, August 31 at 8:30.  Additional Masses for Feast Days will be scheduled at 8:30 as well.

A new, more accurate, calendar is available by Clicking Here.  Students in grades K-8 start on August 30, 2011.  Full-day kindergarten students start out with a full-day August 30.  Students who are enrolled in kindergarten plus enrichment will begin their afternoon enrichment on Tuesday, September 6.

Y5 orientation is 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 6 ; the class will officially begin at 12:15 p.m. on

Wednesday, September 7.  At the end of the day, Y5 students will be walked over to the school and dismissed with all the other students.   The entrance near the flag pole and main entryway to the school is reserved for parents picking children up from the Child Care Center ONLY. 

Please use the other designated driveways to enter into the pick-up line or park in specified areas and walk in to collect your child(ren) from 2:30 to 3:15.

Young 5 students who are enrolled in morning Child Care will be walked from Child Care into the Young 5s classroom.  Hot lunch is available to be ordered or a lunch may be packed and sent in with the child.

Three-year-old preschool (T and TH) orientation is slated for Tuesday, September 6 at 10 a.m. 

The first day of school for these students is September 8.  Their day begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 11:00 a.m.

Four-year-old preschool (M, W, F) orientation is scheduled for Wednesday, September 7 at 10 a.m.  The first day of school for these students is September 8.  Their day begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 11:00 a.m. 

Preschool students who will are enrolled in Child Care will be escorted to the Child Care Center where they will proceed to recess and lunch before beginning the rest of their day.  When parents pick their child(ren) up, the child(ren) will need to be signed out.  

Morning kindergarten begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 11:15 a.m.  Students who will be staying for kindergarten enrichment or through the full-day kindergarten program will be walked over to the playground by one of the teachers for recess and then lunch in the gym shortly thereafter.

Afternoon enrichment begins at 12:15 p.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m.  At the end of the day, kindergarten students will be walked over to the school and dismissed with all the other students.   The entrance near the flagpole and main entryway to the school is reserved for parents picking children up from the Child Care Center ONLY.  Please use the other designated driveways to enter into the pick-up line or park in specified areas and walk in to collect your child(ren) from 2:30 to 3:15.

Uniforms

The IHM School dress code is located by Clicking Here.  Polos, uniform pants and shorts, socks, etc. can be purchased wherever you do your school clothes shopping (Kohls, Penneys, Sears, Lands End, Target, Meijers, Kmart, WalMart, T J Maxx, Marshalls, etc.).  Educational Outfitters is no longer a supplier of the school plaid.  Our pattern of Hamilton Plaid is available through Lands End, which is also available through Sears.  If you desire to have our logo embroidered on shirts (optional), that can also be ordered through Lands End.  Gym clothes must be worn by students in grades 5-8 during physical education classes; these consist of navy blue mesh shorts (of appropriate length) and any IHM t-shirt.  T-shirts with IHM logo can be purchased through the athletic tab on our school website.  A number of uniform items are available for donation or exchange at our uniform exchange.  More information on this is shared below.

Used Uniforms:

A Used-Uniform Exchange is being offered beginning Monday, August 15, 2011.  It will be held in the foyer (lobby) of the Parish Center (gym) from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm August 15-September 1.  If you have uniform clothing that your child(ren) outgrew, bring it in laundered and ready to hang on a clothing rack or place on a table and take whatever other uniform clothing is being offered for your child.  We will not be having the envelope system this year; however, if you want to make a donation, a canister will be available.  ALL PROCEEDS COLLECTED WILL GO TO THE ANGEL FUND.  The Angel Fund is a collection that goes toward helping those families who have an unexpected tuition need.     

Meet and Greet  

You and your children can drop off school supplies and see whose class they are in and meet the teachers on Wednesday, August 24, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m.  Feel free to stop in at any point during those times.  

Parents Only Open House

August 31 is the Parents Only Open House which will begin in Parish Center (gym) at 6:30 p.m. with prayer and a State-of-the-School Address.  After those opening remarks, parents are encouraged to visit the tables of various organizations and classrooms to gather information and classroom packets from teachers.  If you feel you will need more time to chat with your child(ren)’s teacher(s), please feel free to contact the teacher(s) and set up an individual appointment.  Teachers check their emails on a regular basis, so parents can either call the school and leave a message or visit the school website’s staff page

(www.IHMparish.com) and post an email to whomever you are trying to contact.

Email and Parent Information Update:

In a world that we are striving to be better stewards in and practice being as green as possible, more and more of our communication is being done online.  We make every effort to keep accurate email lists so that all parents receive newsletters and other pertinent information.  Most of this information is also posted on the parish website (www.IHMparish.com/school) within the school home page or tab.  We are in the process of editing our email list, addresses, phone numbers and all other parent contact information.  If

your email or other contact information has changed since last year or you have a different email that you prefer communication to be sent to, please contact the school office ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and update that information.

Virtus Training:

All coaches and volunteers must attend a onetime Protecting God’s Children class.  To register for Virtus, go to www.virtusonline.org and then select GR Diocese to pick a class for which to register.  All coaches and volunteers working with children must have either taken the course or be registered for a course before they can begin working with children.  

Classroom Assignments:  

Class lists will be posted on Wednesday, August 24, at 4:30 p.m. on the classroom doors. The teachers deliberate and contemplate these lists in order to determine the optimum placement for children so they might have their best learning environment.  Therefore, no changes are anticipated.

Hot Lunch

We are continuing to offer hot lunch via Grand Rapids Public Schools five days a week.  Enclosed in this packet is the menu for August/September.  If you qualified for Free and Reduced hot lunches last year, you are carried over into this year and do not need to reapply.  If your financial situation has changed and/or you think you might now qualify for free/reduced lunches, you can pick up an application in the school office.  Even if your family won’t ever order hot lunch, if you think you qualify for Free and Reduced benefits, please make sure you have filled out and sent in an application.  The information is kept confidential, but the number of qualifying families at our school is used in a formula to determine how much federal funding we receive in Title dollars, thus allowing us to reap some of your hard-earned tax dollars back to our school.  Title dollars are used for staff development and some special education services.

Payments for hot lunch are made online at www.mealpayplus.com.  If you used this system last year, simply load your child’s account before August 30.  This is a convenient way to securely keep your students account paid in full and view their actual purchase history.  If your child does not buy hot lunch, but you would like him/her to receive milk, you may do this at the same link. If you are new to IHM and MealPayPlus, paperwork will be available in the school office to sign up.  Free and reduced meal applications are also available if needed.

There is no need to preorder your meals.  Your child’s home room teacher will take a count at the beginning of the day for hot lunch orders or just milk.  It is important that your child knows each morning if they are buying hot lunch for that day.  If your child arrives late to school, please let the office know what your child’s hot lunch choice is when you sign him/her in at the office.

We may be asking parents to volunteer for a tuition stipend as hot lunch/recess monitors in the near future.  If you are interested in being a part of this, please let me know ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).  

Upcoming Events  

Those parents who would like to earn some money to put toward 2011-2012 tuition by being a lunch/playground monitor should contact the school office.  There are limited spaces available this year.  A meeting outlining duties and expectations will be held Monday, August 29 at 6:30.  These positions pay $8 per lunch period.  Some of our monitors from last year earned anywhere from $600 to $1100!  

There are other upcoming events scheduled on the website calendar.  Please visit www.IHMparish.com/calendar to get a complete listing.  

I hope the information in this packet is helpful and will answer most of your questions.  The office staff is back to work Monday through Friday, so if you need further clarification or more information, feel free to call M-F from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  Together we will ensure that your child receives the best Catholic education possible.

In HIM at IHM,

Mrs. Slomski, Principal

Immaculate Heart of Mary School, grounded in the teachings of the Catholic Church, is dedicated to the formation of well-rounded, academically excellent individuals centered in Christ.