Open House Information
Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic School
Educating the Mind, Body and Soul
Pelican Express
August 4 2016 - August 11, 2016
School Hours:  7:25am - 2:45pm with a ssembly beginning at 7:45am
Carpool ends at 3:10pm
Open House Information, School Theme, School Liturgy
A Message From Cheri Gioe

What Do You Not Feel Like Doing Today? 

I recently read an article written by author, Jon Bloom.  The article was entitled What do you not feel like doing today?  Needless to say, the title sparked my curiosity as the words “I don’t feel like doing that today,” often find their way out of my mouth.  

Basically, the article explored the notion of why, when we know something is good for our body, soul, family, neighbor, community, church, or school, do we find ourselves choosing not to do it.  When faced with the challenge, we feel burdened, ladened with weight, distracted.  This weight is often the knowledge that we are not honoring what God wants from us.   What does this feeling of “not wanting to do it today” do to us in our daily lives?  Let’s take a look!
  • Healthy, nutritious food often requires discipline to prepare and eat while junk food is convenient, tasty, and addictive.
  • Keeping the body healthy and strong requires frequent deliberate discomfort while it only takes constant comfort to go to pot.
  • You have to make yourself pick up that nourishing but intellectually challenging book while popping in a DVD is as easy and inviting as coasting downhill.
  • You frequently have to force yourself to get to Mass, devotions and prayer while sleeping in or reading the sports or checking Facebook is almost effortless.
  • Volunteering for your school of faith community or school seems tedious but shopping or lunch with friends prevails
  • Saving your child rather than allowing them to learn from their mistakes 
  • Learning to skillfully play beautiful music requires thousands of hours of tedious practice, but it’s easy to listen to forgo the practice and listen to a favorite musician. 
  • Excelling in sports requires monotonous drills ad nauseum but blaming poor performance on an official or player on the other team routinely happens
  • Learning to write well requires writing, writing, writing and rewriting, rewriting, rewriting. And usually voluminous reading  
You get the picture.  It’s that thing that weighs on you, those things which you know would honor God because it obeys his law of love or is a work of faith. You know it would be good for your soul or body or family or vocation or neighbor or school or church, but you don’t feel like doing it even though you know that God promises you more blessing if you do it than if you don’t. 

The experience of “not feeling like it" can become for us a reminder of a gospel truth and actually gives us hope and encouragement. “If we want true joy, we must walk by faith and not by the sight of immediate gratification.”  The greater joys are obtained through struggle and difficulty and pain, while brief, unsatisfying, and often destructive joys are right at our fingertips.  There is a great reward for those who struggle through and persevere.  Understood this way, each struggle becomes an invitation by God to follow in the faithful footsteps of his Son. God has woven hope right into the struggle of each situation and each victory becomes pure joy. 

So today, don’t let “not feeling like it” prevail.  Rather, through it see your Father pointing you to the reward he has planned for all who endure to the end.  Let it remind you that his call is not to indulgence but endurance.
God Bless,
Cheri
Important Calendar Dates

August 4 - Back to School Meet and Greet - 3pm - 5pm

August 5 - 1st Day of School - 1st - 8th Grade - No Bus Day

August 8 - 9 - Kindergarten Testing - No Bus Day

August 8 - Home and School Officer's Meeting - School Library - 5pm

August 10 - Buses Run to and From School

August 10 - 12 - Kindergarten Parent Meetings

August 11 - School Liturgy - 6th Grade Bible Blessings

August 15 - School Liturgy

August 15 - Open House Grades 6-8 - St. Ursula Hall - 6pm

August 15 - 17 - Kindergarten Staggered Entry 

August 16 - Open House Grades K-5 - St. Ursula Hall - 6pm

August 18 - All Kindergarten Students Attend

August 24 - School Pictures

August 24 - Substitute Orientation - St. Ursula Hall - 10am

August 25 - School Liturgy

August 29 - September 2 - ASPIRE Testing

August 31 - September 2 - Mother Teresa Celebration

  
Daily Snacks
Due to the early start time and the MBS cafeteria schedule, all grade levels will be allowed a snack time this year.  Attached, please find a list of approved snacks here.  Snacks must be free of loose nuts of any kind and peanut butter.
                                                 
Open House
Spend an evening at MBS for our annual Open Houses.  Evening highlights are:
  • Volunteer opportunities
  • Home and School raffles to include 3 months of free tuition, 1st and 2nd in line carpool spots and a gift certificate for Young Rembrandt's after school art program.
  • A Cyber security presentation by Geoff Smarada
  • A state of MBS address delivered by our new principal, Cheri Gioe
  • Classroom Visits

As in the past, Open House will be divided into 2 nights:  

Monday, August 15 - 6pm - 8pm  - Parents of Students in Grades 6-8
Tuesday, August 16 - 6pm - 8pm - Parents of Students in Kindergarten - 1st Grade    


2016-2017 Parent Handbook
The Most Blessed Sacrament Parent/Student Handbook has been updated and re-formatted.  New this year, handbook procedures have been alphabetized for ease of use. Click here to access the complete handbook.


Notes about Uniform Changes 

Just a reminder, the color silver can only be used as an accent color in shoes. 

Silver is not an acceptable color for hair bows and should not be an accent color for hair bows.

A dress uniform will not be required for school Mass.
New Discipline Procedures Posted 
Please review the 2016-2017 MBS Parent/Student Handbook, pages 11-17, for new discipline procedures.  The new procedures are in effect the first day of school.

Transportation
There will be no bus transportation for MBS students until August 10.  When MBS has a "no bus day," students must be brought to school in carpool in the morning and in the afternoon parents must park and pick up their children from the school gym.  Friday, August 5, Monday, August 8 and Tuesday, August 9 are "no bus days."

Please see the handbook for detailed information pertaining to carpool and walkers. The carpool procedure has not changed.

As part of the MBS Safety and Crisis Plan, school issued blue carpool tags are required in order for you to pick up your child from carpool. For the sake of our students' safety, those without blue carpool tags will be asked to park and pick up their child from the school office.  Please cooperate with the teachers on duty., 

Bus routes are assigned based upon the physical address you have registered with MBS School.  If your address has changed, it is very important that you notify the office.  Bus information will be mailed directly to your home from East Baton Rouge Transportation the week before school begins.  If you need to change your address with the school or do not receive information regarding your bus route by Monday, August 8th, please contact Mrs. Vonnie Chiasson in the school office.  

Absences, Check-Ins and Check-Outs
MBS has new procedures for  absences, check-ins and check-outs!
  1. Absences - Please notify the school office by 9am  when your child is absent. You may call the school office at 751-0273 or you may e-mail [email protected]. 
  2. In order for absences to be excused, the school must receive a medical excuse..  
  3. Students who report to school late will receive a tardy.  Students who are tardy will report directly to the class that is scheduled at their time of arrival.  They will visit their locker at their next designated locker time.
  4. Eight tardies will equal 1 unexcused absence. 
  5. The latest students can be checked out is 2:15pm
  6. Messages regarding transportation or a change to a student's end of the day schedule will be taken until 2pm. 
Safety and Health
  • All health records must be current and turned into the school office before August 5. This is a requirement of the EBR Department of Health.
  • MBS is a peanut aware school campus.  Loose nuts of any kind are not allowed and nut products are only allowed during lunch time.  Students bringing nut products in their lunches will be seated in a peanut aware area. Please do not send items containing peanuts or peanut products to school for parties. 
  • Students requiring medication need to have the appropriate forms on file with the office. Forms should be filled out every year.  
  • If your child has special medical needs, please schedule an appointment with Mrs. Gioe or Mrs. DiBenedetto.
Plus Portals and Emergency and Health Information 
Please log in to Parents Plus Portals and verify that your emergency and health information is correct and up-to-date. If your emergency information has changed please make the necessary changes.  Edits can be done at any time. Please also ensure that your emergency card has been completed and turned into the school office by the end of the first week of school.

Plus Portals also provides access to students' grades and assignments.

For information regarding Plus Portals features and use please visit the interactive tutorial here. 


Volunteer Opportunities and Time and Talent Cards 
According to the MBS Parent/Student Handbook all school families must contribute 30 volunteer hours to MBS school and/or church parish as part of their commitment to our faith community.  Hours will be checked prior to re-registration.  Families who have not completed 30 hours of service may be assessed the out of parish tuition rate.  If you need assistance in finding acceptable volunteer hours, please contact the school office.

Volunteer Opportunities  
The MBS Grounds Crew is in need of volunteers.  Volunteers form teams that work once a month on the school grounds.  Please prayerfully consider this important ministry.  If interested, email Mrs. Gioe at [email protected]. 
Extra-Curricular Eligibility
A new policy for MBS:
  • Grades will not be used from the previous academic school year to determine eligibility as each year is a new beginning for everyone.
  • Students in grades 5 – 8 should have a minimum of a 2.0 cumulative average and a minimum of a C (75%) in conduct.
  • Grades will be checked at each progress report time and the end of each nine weeks. If a student’s grades fall below a 2.0 cumulative average and/or their conduct falls below a C – 75%, athletic eligibility will be assessed and determined by the Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic School administration in consultation with their teacher. 
  • Athletic eligibility may also be affected when incidents of severe misconduct occur.
  • Should behavior warrant, the administration may place a student on probation or remove that student from any activity at any point during the school year.
Cafeteria News
MBS offers breakfast and lunch through the Child Nutrition Program.  Students may participate in the Child Nutrition Program or they may bring their own lunch. Menus will be posted each month. All school lunches are prepared meeting nut free guidelines. Students bringing lunches to school must not bring loose nuts.  Should students bring lunches containing nuts or nut products, they will be seated in a designated nut area.                                                 

Pay cafeteria fees  here
Meal Information  here
August Menu here

Parents are welcome to join their children for lunch beginning August 8.  The lunch schedule is:
KA - 10:35
KB - 10:40
1A - 10:45
1B - 10:50
2A - 10:55
2B - 11:00
3A - 11:05
3B - 11:10
6th - 8th - 11:26
4A/4B - 11:50
5A/5B - 11:55

Extended Care
Click  here  for fee information.
Substitute Teacher Orientation
Anyone interested in substitute teaching must complete a substitute teacher orientation.  The first sub orientation is scheduled for Wednesday, August, 24 from 10am - 11am by emailing Mrs. Gioe at [email protected].

Young Rembrandts Drawing Class - A New After School Activity
New to MBS this year is Young Rembrandts. Young Rembrandts is an after school art program for students grades K-5.  For more information click  here .
Athletics
For up-to-date Athletic information click  here .  

New this year, MBS will offer Middle School Swimming. Team information will be posted soon.  In the meantime, please click here for information pertaining to swim clinics, hosted at Crawfish Aquatics. 

School Liturgy
Please join us on Thursday August 11, at 8:10am for our School Liturgy in MBS Church. 

Choir and Band

The Most Blessed Sacrament Concert Band will begin at the end of August. If your child is interested in joining and is in grades 5th-8th, please contact Mrs. Schiebe  for more information. Experience not necessary. Please note that band is not part of the school schedule or tuition and requires an after school commitment on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:50-3:45 p.m.

The Most Blessed Sacrament Concert Choir will begin at the end of August. If your child is interested in joining and is in grades 4th-8th, please contact Mrs. Schiebe for more information. Experience not necessary. Please note that choir is not part of the school schedule and requires an after school commitment on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:50- 4:00 p.m.