ICS Newsletter 3.13.14

ICS Newsletter 3.13.14

UPCOMING EVENTS

3/13 - 3/21 - Re-registration for current ICS families

3/14 - Friday Morning Assembly, a.m. activity schedule, St. Michael Hall; Irish Incarnation Spirit Day (consult page 60 of the Student-Family Handbook)

3/19 - School Mass, a.m. activity schedule; Reconciliation Grades 4, 5

3/21 - NO SCHOOL, Diocese of St. Petersburg in-service day for teachers

3/26 - School Mass, 8:30 a.m.

3/27 - Family Supper / Irish Cup Activity

3/28 - End of Quarter 3; Stations of the Cross, p.m. activity schedule

4/2 - School Mass, 8:30 a.m.

4/3 - 1/2 day of school; Grades 6 - 8 Reconciliation; NO AFTERCARE AVAILABLE; ICC Carnival, 6:00 - 10:00 p.m.

4/4 - NO SCHOOL, ICC Carnival, 6:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.

4/5 - ICC Carnival, 2:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.

4/6 - ICC Carnival, 1:00 - 8:00 p.m.

4/9 - School Mass, 8:30 a.m.

4/10 - Family Supper / Irish Cup Activity

4/11 - Stations of the Cross, p.m. activity schedule

4/16 - School Mass, 8:30 a.m.

4/17 - 1/2 Day of School, Holy Thursday

4/18 - 4/25 - No School, Easter Break

5/17 - ICS Dads Club Golf Outing

PRAYER INTENTIONS

Please pray for all ICS families. May the inspiration of the Holy Family guide all earthly families to greater love, devotion and commitment to each other.

We pray for Pope Francis as celebrates the one year anniversary of becoming the Pontiff of the Catholic Church today, March 13. May God continue to bless his leadership and our Church. 

Four of our ICS students recently visited the Cathedral of St. Jude for a meeting with Bishop Robert N. Lynch in preparation for their initiation into the Church in conjunction with the Easter Vigil. We lift these students up in prayer as they look forward to becoming full members of our Church! 

Let us continue to pray for the following intentions:
-Jack Foy
-Mireida Abad
-The Baker Family
-Phil Kinen

Have a prayer intention? Send it to icsmzele@icstampa.org             

CELEBRATING SUCCESSES

10 of our ICS Girl Scouts have earned their Mother Mary Award! The ceremony is this Sunday, March 16, at Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in St. Petersburg. The ceremony will be celebrating many different levels of girls earning awards. To earn this award each of our girls completed their booklets, made beautiful "Mother Mary" banners (which will be used during the ceremony), made prayer centers out of shoeboxes, craft prayer reminders and wrote thank you cards. Some also participated in our ICS "Run for Love" Shoe Drive. The girls have prayed, shared and gained a better understanding of Our Mother Mary and how we can relate our lives to different aspects of her life. The following list of 2nd graders will be earning Mother Mary Awards:

-Daniela Alvarez
-Julia Artz
-Nicole Balco
-Annalysa Betts
-Angelina Carmona
-Isabella Fisher
-McKinley Gorman
-Ana Hernandez
-Leah Hernandez
-Alyson Razaki

Also, 4th grader Kara Artz will be receiving the Ave Maria Award! Congratulations, girls! 

Do you know of a current ICS student or ICS graduate who has found success in the areas of academics, athletics, leadership, service or ministry that should be featured in our Newsletter? If so, please send notification to: icsmzele@icstampa.org         

HOME

Thanks to Mrs. Casanas for today's quote based on our year long theme, HOME. 

Have a great quote about our school's theme, HOME? Send it to: icsmzele@icstampa.org         

RE-REGISTRATION

Re-registration for the 2014 - 15 school year starts today, March 13! It runs until March 21. Registration for new families will open up on March 24; many new families (including most of the attendees at our recent Open House) are already on a wait list for next year. 

Re-registration savings (from March 13 - 21) equate to $150 per child! After March 21, current families will have to pay the registration price.

Tuition commitment forms are being sent home today and are based on 2013 Incarnation Catholic Church contributions. 

Help us prepare for next year so that adequate plans can be made; your re-registration helps us do that! Thank you in advance for your commitment!

STATE OF THE 'NATION

Thank you to the over 70 families who attended one of our two State of Incarnation meetings last week. For those families who were unable to attend, please read the letter that was sent on Tuesday March 11 via your student(s) for details about what was discussed. If you have any questions, please contact the School Office. 

FOLLETT GRANT

Please visit the following link to help ICS in receiving a grant for up to $200,000!

http://www.follettchallenge.com/video.cfm?id=354#.UxnSKXmWTlK 

You can vote once a day from any of your email addresses from now until April 4. Voting composes 30% of our school's assessment toward this grant. Please share it with family and friends. Thank you for your help!

CARNIVAL SET-UP

Thank you to the many volunteers that helped with our first days of Carnival set-up last Saturday. More help will be needed this weekend. Commitment hours are available.  This effort is open to all school parents. The ICS Dads Club, though, is leading the charge. If you want to be included in ICS Dads Club emails, please contact Dads Club Correspondent, Chris Newcom: chris@bastcorp.com    

Come to the Pavilion on Saturday March 15, Sunday March 16 or March 22 or 23 if you are able to help. Times will run from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. for each of these days. 

YEARBOOKS

Orders for ICS Yearbooks commemorating the 2013 - 14 school year are being taken. You can purchase yearbooks online: https://ybpay.lifetouch.com

The Incarnation Catholic School code for purchasing online is: 1687914.

Cost is $35.00. Checks should be made payable to Incarnation Catholic School.  

CARD STOCK

The school office is still in need of more colored card stock to make lunch cards. If you are willing / able to make a donation to the school, commitment hours are available. Contact the Main Office for details / more information. Thank you!

BJ's MEMBERSHIP

Last week flyers about BJ's Memberships were included in the Thursday packet. Please remember that every membership helps to benefit the school. Deadline is tomorrow,  March 14. 

MISCELLANEOUS CONCERNS

The following is a list of concerns that were offered to the school as a result of the State of Incarnation meetings. Others will be addressed in future posts:


*The 8th Grade trip to Washington, D.C. has not been cancelled for this year, next year, 2016, 2024, etc.

*ICS students have high acceptance rates and perform extremely well in area high schools. Almost 80% of ICS graduates who apply get into Jesuit. More than 95% are accepted into Tampa Catholic and Bishop McLaughlin. Of those students who have applied (which is a small number), most have been accepted into area International Baccalaureate Programs. ICS students had the top entrance exam score to the Academy of the Holy Names in 2011 and 2012 and to Bishop McLaughlin in 2012.

*ICS believes that discipline forms disciples. Discipline is formative, not punitive in nature. It is also confidential, due to both privacy laws and Catholic Social Teaching which upholds the dignity of all people. For more on this philosophy, please check out Mr. Zelenka's blog: http://icscatholicedu.blogspot.com/2010/08/discipline-to-disciple.html

In this way, please trust that discipline is taking place, especially since disciplinary action will never be publicly announced or revealed. 


*There has been much parent discussion about the cancellation of field trips, leading to the myth that the Washington, D.C. field trip had been cancelled. The school's philosophy on field trips stems from Diocesan guidance which states that field trips should be educational in purpose. Trips based solely on "play" take away from valuable class time and put the school at risk by taking students off-campus for non-educational reasons. 

As such, school trips to Busch Gardens and Islands of Adventure, typically taken in 6th and 7th grade, respectively, have been cancelled. The faculty, staff and administration are currently dialoguing about how these non-academic trips can be replaced with ones that are academically focused. This is currently a work in progress.

Another trip that is not taking place this year, the 4th grade trek to St. Augustine, also fed into the misconception that the D.C. trip was cancelled. Much goes into the planning of a field trip; unfortunately, we were not able to make the preparations necessary this year for 4th grade to travel to the nation's oldest city. Faculty, staff and administration are also dialoguing about how our current 4th graders could attend this trip in later ICS years. While not St. Augustine, 4th graders will be visiting the Tampa Bay History Center here in Tampa. 

Overall, the school is committed to first and foremost keeping students safe. Second, the school is dedicated to providing the best Catholic education possible. With so many interruptions that naturally occur throughout the school year, scheduling even more that take students out of the safe environment of our school for non-academic reasons is not worth the risk. Field trips can help to enhance our curriculum and programs. There must be sound academic and / or spiritual reasons, though, for taking students away from the structures we have worked hard to establish at ICS to keep them safe. 

HALL OF HONORS

Our 2nd class of inductees into the Incarnation Catholic School Hall of Honors will take place on Friday May 2. If you would like to nominate someone for induction, please contact the Main Office for a nomination form. You can also visit our school's webpage: Hall of Honors. 

Criteria for the Hall of Honors are included here:

Incarnation Catholic School graduates go on to successful high school, college and professional careers. And wherever they work, in whatever discipline they are in, you can find them at the top. This is due in part to the strong academic and spiritual foundation laid at ICS, at the outstanding homes of ICS families and as a result of the exemplar moral character of individual ICS students, faculty, staff, priests and volunteers. 

The Incarnation Catholic School Hall of Honors recognizes alumni, faculty and staff, parents, priests, benefactors and friends of the school who made significant contributions to the School, Church, and / or world at large.

Candidates for the Incarnation Catholic School Hall of Honors must be nominated by someone other than the nominee him/herself. The School Advisory Board of Incarnation Catholic School, in consultation with the Pastor and Principal, review nominations and select qualified candidates for the year's class of inductees.

Nominations are due by March 15, 2014.

OPEN HOUSE FEEDBACK

At our recent Open House on Tuesday, all of the prospective families in attendance expressed a deep desire to be a part of our ICS community. When they heard about ICS offering parent meetings on two different dates, one being a weekend, to help encourage participation, one of the fathers responded, "Seriously? I can't believe you do that! I work nights so I'm never able to make it to anything at my son's school. I'm sold." 


FRIDAY MORNING ASSEMBLY

Please to join us tomorrow morning, Friday March 14, in St. Michael Hall at 8:30 for our March Friday Morning Assembly. Students may dress in Irish Incarnation Spirit Day attire. GO IRISH!

In keeping with our tradition, we at Incarnation Catholic School:

Inspire life-long learning,

Challenge each individual to be a disciple of Christ, and

Strive to live our Catholic faith through service to each other and the community.

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5111 Webb Rd. * Tampa, FL 33615 * Tel: 813.884.4502 * Fax: 813.885.3734 * www.icstampa.org