St. Thomas More Cathedral School

1. Message from the President
2. STM Auction 2024
3. Parent Volunteer Corner
4. In the Parish and Community
   
5. Save the Dates
   
6. Reference Information

Highlight of the Week: A note on civility

Listen, I get it - getting these children off to school on time is taxing. Traffic not to mention that your 3rd grader forgot to mention there is a permission slip to be signed. I am there with you on the frustration. But in that, lets remember that we are here together as parents, teachers...as a Community. Regardless of how you feel about the new Drop Off Policy, this is a reminder that we are a Catholic school and it is NEVER ok to be uncivil or unkind to our teachers who are simply enforcing the rules. Our children our watching us and will model the behavior they see.

• If you have a problem with the new policy, please contact the school administration and discuss it with them.
• As a reminder, if you are IN the car line by 8 am, you will be able to drop your children off as normal. If you arrive to the car line AFTER 8 am for any reason, you should proceed to the Cathedral parking lot and WALK YOUR CHILD IN. Please DO NOT just drop them off in the Cathedral lot - this is a huge safety issue with cars driving in all directions at that time. If a STM faculty or staff member directs you to the Cathedral parking lot, please follow directions and address any issues or disputes later.

Upcoming Events

• March 28 – No School
• March 29 – No School and start of spring break
• April 8 - Spring Break over and returning to school
• April 9 - PTO Meeting, Virtual

• Questions, ideas, concerns, even gripes...feel free to contact me.
  
• If you have events to be included here in the weekly newsletter, please let me know by Wednesday of each week.

We want to make sure your current volunteer hours are properly recorded, so please take a moment to check and record your hours on the Volunteer Hour Reporting Portal. This is where the hour totals are being pulled from, so please make sure this is up to date.

To help you fulfill any remaining volunteer hours, here are some upcoming opportunities! Check out the full list on our Volunteer Sign Ups webpage.

Recess Volunteers: Come join the fun on the playground, give our teachers a needed break and help ensure our students have a safe and enjoyable recess experience. You'll need VIRTUS training for this. Sign up for February here!

Pizza Lunch Support: Come help out in the cafeteria each Friday to help distribute pizza slices. VIRTUS training is required. Sign up here!

Classroom Support/Donations: Assist with classroom activities, donate materials for classroom activities, every little bit helps! Donations are calculated as $15 = 1 hour volunteer time! Record your donations here!

Field Trip Chaperones: Volunteer as a chaperone for one of our upcoming field trips. It's a fantastic opportunity to create lasting memories and bond with our amazing students. Check with your teacher and room parents on upcoming opportunities!

Hot Dog Bash: The final event of the year and will be scheduled in June. Check out the PTO newsletter and website for more info!

Grade-Specific Activities: Support upcoming grade-specific activities. Typically parents in the corresponding grades assist with these events. Reach out to your room parents or teacher for more information!

• 1st Grade: First Holy Communion Reception (donations & event help)
• 4th Grade: Colonial Day, Iditarod Race, Let Them Eat Cake
• 6th Grade: Greek Day, Pi Day

• STM PTO Website
• Volunteer Sign Ups
• Record and Check Volunteer Hours
• STM Handbook
• PTO Newsletters

If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to reach out to me at STM.PTO.Volunteers@gmail.com.

Trivia Night is Saturday, March 23. Doors open at 7pm and trivia starts at 7:30. Sign up a team early for $8, or $10 at the door.

• Winning teams get prizes ranging from cash to gift cards and more.
• Pizza, beer, drinks and snacks will be for sale throughout the evening.

See this link for registration and details: https://www.cathedralstm.org/2024/02/trivia-night/

Exciting Camp opportunities this summer! KSS Programs will operate their summer camps at STM June 24-August 9.

With options like Lego Robotics, Jewelry Making, Chess, Coding, and Soccer, you're sure to find an exciting class for your chid(ren)!

Registration is now open. Visit https://www.kssprograms.com/ for more information.

Flyers were sent home last Wednesday, as well, so please be sure to check your child's folders.

STM (School) Calendar

Note: For MASS times for specific classes, please consult the school calendar for details

• March 27: 4th Grade Iditarod Race
  
• Living Stations of the Cross
• March 28: No School
• March 29: Easter Break
• April 8: Return from Easter Break

***Note: PTO Board Meetings (beginning in September)– anyone is welcome to attend AND you receive 1 hour of volunteer participation time for attendance. Plus you know all the details (usually the first Tuesday of every month). We will work on a mix of in person and hybrid meetings so that you all can participate.

Parish Calendar

• March 23, 2024: Trivia Night
• June 17 -21, 2024: Vacation Bible School (registration and volunteers needed) details

Please visit https://ordernow.myhotlunchbox.com/login if you have not already to get yourself in the system and lunches for your students squared away.

• Monday - Tropical Smoothie
• Tuesday - Noodles & Co
• Wednesday - Chick-fil-A
• Thursday - Which Wich

NOTE:

1. Lunches can be cancelled up until noon THE BUSINESS DAY BEFORE delivery.
2. If you have sick students, please let STM know so that your lunch can be donated or sent home with a sibling.

Starting now, we are excited to introduce self-reporting for volunteer hours. While the majority of the hours have already been recorded in our Membership Toolkit system, we want to ensure that every contribution is accurately reflected. This will also allow families to check their volunteer hour balance. We will still continue to use the volunteer sign-ups for volunteer coordination and tracking purposes, but all volunteer hour balances will be managed via the new portal.

To access this new portal for self-reporting hours, please utilize the following steps:

1. Navigate to the STM PTO Website’s new Volunteer Hours page (LINK) and log into your account.
   
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and verify the “Previously Reported” hours that have been recorded for your family.
   
3. Review the hours logged for your volunteering/donations and verify that they are accurately represented in the system. If you find any discrepancies or if there are additional hours that haven't been recorded, please take a moment to submit them through the system.

Please be as descriptive as possible with any submitted entries because all self-reported hours will undergo thorough cross-checks with sign-up sheets and event chairs to guarantee accuracy and completeness.

If you encounter any challenges or have questions about the self-reporting process, feel free to reach out to stm.pto.volunteers@gmail.com.

• Visit our website and register for an account at https://stmpto.membershiptoolkit.com!
• Here is a video primer on MT for your reference.

If you have questions, please contact Amy, our PTO Volunteer Coordinator at stm.pto.volunteers@gmail.com.

Let’s take a few steps back and talk about how to get to volunteer during school hours. Want to sling some slices of pizza or attend an amazing field trip as a chaperone? You will need VIRTUS Training and an account with the Diocesan Office of Child Protection.

• Go to www.arlingtondiocese.org
• Click on Protecting our Children at top of the page
• Scroll down and click on background check-this will take you to the online paperwork
• Once the paperwork has been approved please go by the office to pick up your background check form and take it to the diocese building located in front of the school.
• After the paperwork is approved you will also be prompted to sign up for a VIRTUS class if you haven't taken one already

Retail locations to purchase new uniforms can found here:

1. Flynn & O’Hara (650-19 Main St, Fairfax, VA 22031)

2. Robcyns (3660 King Street, Alexandria VA 22302)

3. Land’s End (Preferred School Number: 900077975) - PE Uniforms Only

If you need to change how your children are picked up, please use this dismissal form by 2:30 pm.

STM Handbook

President - Kristen Wright

President-Elect - Katie Burch

Secretary - Allison Rabin

Treasurer - Hannah Maloney

Vice President of Fundraising - Wege (Mimi) Kifle

Vice President of Events - Sara Harrington

At-Large CYO - Cesar Enriquez

At-Large PK -8th - Genevieve Kelly

At-Large DI - Jennifer McIntyre

At- Large Room Parent - Allison Nicholson

Email: stmptopresident@gmail.com
Website: https://www.stmschool.org/
Location: 105 North Thomas Street, Arlington, VA, USA
Phone: 703-528-6781