From the Desk of Mrs. Tiezzi

Dear St. Rita School Parents and Guardians, 

Your assistance is needed! Over the past few weeks when attempting to contact parents via phone calls alerting them to their child becoming ill at school, we have encountered a worrisome situation. Many of our family portal email addresses and/or phone numbers are not accurate, or the parent voice mailboxes are full. In some cases there is no backup information for an additional emergency caregiver we can contact should mom or dad be unavailable. With the flu and cold season fast approaching, we cannot have children lying around in the nurses’ office for hours with fevers, vomiting, or diarrhea, because we can’t get in touch with mom or dad. Please update your parent portal information and be sure to include an emergency contact who could take your sick child home and care for him/her in your absence. Also, please be so kind as to clean out your voicemail box so a message can be left in an emergency.

Will you and your family be willing to help decorate our school Christmas tree? For the past few years, we have had a St. Rita School family Christmas tree in our foyer. Each school family is asked to loan us one of their family ornaments which will adorn our school tree. Please send in an ornament this week or next to place on our tree. The ornament can be either handmade or manufactured but I would like it to include your family name. After Christmas all ornaments will be returned to you (as long as they are labeled). Thank you for helping to keep this school tradition growing.

Our school-wide Advent Giving Project has a few more days and your generosity has raised about $1200.00 to help families within our school and parish community make Christmas a bit brighter for their children. Last year we were able to donate $3000.00 to the parish’s Advent Giving Project. It is so touching to hear from our teachers the stories shared by their students when they donated their money. Thank you for helping to make Christmas a bit brighter for members of our community.

I am so looking forward to our annual Nativity Pageant and Christmas Concert. The Nativity pageant involves students in kindergarten through grade 3 and takes place at 1:45 P.M. in St. Rita Church on Monday, December 16. The Christmas concert for students in grades 4 & 5, band students in grades 4-8, and chorus members in grades 4-8, will take place on Tuesday, December 17 at 1:30 P.M. in St. Rita Church. Parents may take their child/ren home following the concerts. If you plan on having your child/ren in other grade levels attend one of the concerts, please notify that child’s teacher in advance and we will bring them down to church. There is no need to come to school if you have notified your child’s teacher and the school office in advance.

With the winter season quickly approaching, our thoughts turn to snow days. We have 5 inclement weather days built into our school calendar so we will be taking snow days this winter. Snow days are a childhood tradition and are meant to be a day children can sleep in and then go outside to play in the snow. Should there be a school delay, early dismissal, or cancellation, you will be notified via a phone call, text message, and email by our FACTS system. Please make sure your contact information is updated in the parent portal to avoid any miscommunication. We will continue to post announcement on the local TV stations. St. Rita School follows the decisions made by the Hamden Public Schools regarding winter weather closures, delays, and early dismissals.

Thank you for entrusting your child/ren to our care. The students and I are looking forward to seeing you at our upcoming concerts. May hope, peace, love, and joy found in Christ be with you and your family this Advent season. 

God Bless,

Mrs. Tiezzi

The Uniform Swap is officially closed

until the spring!

Please do not drop off any gently used uniforms until we re-open in the spring - we will no longer be accepting uniform pieces from Dennis Uniform.

Just a reminder that applications for the Lands’ End 7^th Annual Scholarship will be accepted until January 17^th for students in Grade 8

Vote for the St. Rita School Tree,

created by our Fifth Grade Classes!

Help Wanted!

We are in need of a time keeper and scorebook recorder (high school age or above) for home basketball games held at Sacred Heart Academy.

We are also looking for an Athletic Director for the remainder of the school year. Please contact Mrs. Tiezzi if you are interested (ptiezzi.stritaschool@gmail.com).

Home basketball games are scheduled at Sacred Heart Academy for:

Sunday, December 15

Sunday, January 5

Sunday, January 12

Sunday, January 26

Sunday, February 2

Sunday, February 16

Changes to game times on these dates at SHA:

Game 1 - 1:30

Game 2 - 2:45

Game 3 - 4:00

Game 4 - 5:15

St Paul VI Parish

Christmas Mass Schedule

Christmas Eve:

4:00 pm at St. Rita Church

4:00 pm at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church

7:00 pm (Spanish Mass) at Blessed Sacrament Church

10:00 pm (Midnight Mass) at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church

Christmas Day:

8:00 am at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church

9:00 am at St. Rita Church

10:00 am (English) at Blessed Sacrament Church

Holy Hands Christmas Workshop

Parents, enjoy some free time this Advent season while your children (Grades K-5) come and create Christmas crafts at our Holy Hands Christmas Workshop! 

Date: Saturday, December 14th

Time: 2:00pm-4:00pm

Location: OLMC Parish Center

Cost: Free- but we kindly ask for a non-perishable food item for our parish food pantry

To register, please use the link or QR code below to access the registration form.

Link: https://bit.ly/HolyHands2024

QR Code:

K-3 Christmas Pageant

Monday, December 16, 2024 at 1:45 pm

Grades 4 & 5 Choral Concert

Grades 4-8 Band Concert

Grades 4-8 Choir Concert

Tuesday, December 17, 2024 at 1:30 pm

(Grades 4 & 5 Chorus and Band)

HSA

(Home-School Association)

Sweetheart Dance - Friday, February 21

Nurse's Corner

COVID and respiratory virus policy change:

In conjunction with the health department, Hamden Public Schools and Saint Rita School will be adopting the new COVID policy.

If your child tests positive for COVID, they should stay home for 24 hours.

If they do not present with a fever , they can return to school after 24 hours. Wearing a mask for 5 days is advised as there is still a high transmission rate. 

If they develop a fever, they should stay home until they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medicine. They can then return to school and it is advised that they wear a mask for 5 days. 



If during the 5 day mask period they develop a fever, the clock resets. They should remain home until they are fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medicine. Returning to school with a mask for 5 days is advised. 

Medication in school:

If your child requires medication in school, the medication must be brought in by a parent along with a Medication Administration in School   

completed by the pediatrician. 

Cough drops brought into school must stay in the nurse's office. 

Any OTC medication should not be sent into school with your child (Advil, Tylenol, midol, allergy medicine, etc...) If your child requires any OTC medicine while at school they can go to the nurses office and a parent will be called to bring the medicine into school and administer it to their child. 

PreSchool Flu Shots:

All Pre school students are required to get a flu vaccine before we leave for Christmas break. Please send in a note from the doctor after your child receives their flu shot.

7th Grade Physicals:

All students entering 7th grade must have a physical dated after May 31st of the 5th grade year. They are also required to have a tetanus booster and meningitis vaccine. If your child is in the 6th grade now, physicals for 7th grade can be sent into the health office at any time during this school year. Any physical dated after May 31, 2024 will be accepted.  

Nut allergies in the classroom:

If your child is in a classroom with a student with a severe nut allergy, your child's teacher will have informed you that any foods containing nuts should only be eaten in the cafeteria. Please do not send in a snack with nut ingredients. Thank you for helping us to keep all of our students safe.

Please reach out to me at any time during the school year with any health questions or concerns.

Please pray for all the deceased members of our

St. Rita Community.