Dear St. Mark Families,

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Luke 16:19-31 Jesus tells the parable of the reversal of fortunes between the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus.

A major theme in the Gospel of Luke is the importance of the care of the poor in the life of discipleship. In the parable found in today's Gospel, Jesus contrasts the life of a rich man and the poor man, Lazarus, who lives in the shadow of the rich man and his wealth. Both die. Lazarus finds himself in heaven; the rich man in the netherworld. The rich man asks for assistance from Lazarus in his torment. But Abraham reminds the rich man of the good things he had in his life and describes the current situation as a reversal of fortunes. 

The story of the rich man and Lazarus demonstrates the importance of the care of the poor and is a reminder to those who would follow Jesus of the unimportance of wealth in the eyes of God.  © Loyola Press Sunday Connection

In the coming weeks and months, our students, faculty, and families will have the opportunity to demonstrate the importance of the care of the poor through numerous service opportunities. Thereby fulfilling our school mission, that is built on the foundation of discipleship, by teaching Gospel values with the shared goal of guiding your children on the path to heaven.

It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of former Middle School Science Teacher Lorie Boveroux. Mrs. Boveroux was at St. Mark School for a short time, however she has left a lasting impression on all that were blessed to know her. Please keep the Boveroux family in your prayers. 

I wish you all continued good health and God's blessings.

Yours in Christ,

Mrs. Warner 

PlusPortals

PlusPortals is the Diocesan Student Information Web Portal System available to all parents grades K-8. PlusPortals provides parents access to student grades, attendance, announcements, and teacher emails.

For our new families and Kindergarten families, you should have received an email this week from PlusPortals with an activation link to the primary email address provided on your child's emergency contact form. If you did not receive an activation link email from PlusPortals, please email Mrs. Mannino at cmannino@stmarkschool.org.

Any returning family that needs PlusPortals activation resent, please email Mrs. Mannino at the email address above.

Lost and Found

Parents are reminded to please label your child's name on ALL of his or her belongings-especially sweatshirts, sweaters, fleeces, and coats/jackets. Our school Lost and Found has accumulated many items thus far. If your child is missing an item, please contact his or her teacher to arrange a time to check the Lost and Found.

Scholastic Book Fair

St. Mark School's Fall Scholastic Book Fair is in need of volunteers. All volunteers must have current Virtus certification.

To sign up for a volunteer shift please visit our Book Fair webpage: 

https://www.scholastic.com/bf/stmarkschool2 

The Fall Book Fair will be held in school beginning on October 3rd and run through October 7th. Online shopping will be available from October 3rd through October 16th.  To create an E-wallet for your child to shop at the book fair, visit our book fair webpage at the address above or click here.

If you have any questions, please contact our Scholastic Book Fair Chairperson, Mrs. Catherine Thiery at catherine.schulze@gmail.com 

Updates 

Demographics

Has your family moved? Have you changed your email address or phone number? Please contact the Main Office with any changes. It is very important that we have your most current contact information. 

Fire Drill

Our first Fire Drill was a success. All students followed safety guidelines and expectations, and we are very proud of how well they performed during this important safety drill.

Dismissal

I have received some concerns from our faculty, parishioners and parents regarding parents/visitors leaning against cars in the parking lot during dismissal. Please make an effort to not lean against vehicles in the parking lot that do not belong to you.  

Allowing children to run down the parking lot to their adult waiting between cars poses a significant safety risk to all. Therefore, teachers will not dismiss a student until they feel it is safe to do so.  

Parents of students in Grades K-4 are asked to not take your child out of the class dismissal line until he or she is released by the teacher. It is imperative that the teacher see you and you make eye contact with the teacher and wave before your child is dismissed. We appreciate your patience as each child is safely released individually by the teacher to his or her parent or grandparent.

Please keep in mind, the area is an active parking lot, with cars arriving and leaving. Adults are asked to keep your children close to you, especially our youngest students, and not allow them to run through the parking lot.

To ensure the safety of our students and staff, pets and non-service trained domestic animals are not permitted on school grounds during school hours and/or during school events, except when in a vehicle. They are not permitted to leave a vehicle without prior permission of school administration or parish officials.

From the Nurse's Office

As you are all aware, we are still working to restore our full-time nurse. This is a fluid situation and we are hoping things will change soon. In the meantime, Nurse Frate's schedule is as follows:

Mondays 11A-2:30P

Wednesdays All Day

Fridays All Day

When Nurse Frate is not on site, I have a strict set of protocols to follow, put in place by the Stratford Director of Nurses. There are also on-call nurses that are available to come to our school if the need arises.

Faculty Updates

St. Mark School is pleased to welcome Mr. Kevin Dougherty as our Building Substitute Teacher. Mr. Dougherty has a Bachelor of Science in Business from Quinnipiac University and a Master of Science in Management from Albertus Magnus college. Mr. Dougherty spent many years in banking management and has coached both youth basketball and softball teams. 

Mr. Dougherty is a long time parishioner at St Catherine of Sienna Church and has coached basketball at St Martin de Porres Academy. With both of his daughters attending a Catholic high school and earning their higher education degrees at Catholic universities, he is fully aware of the value that St. Mark School provides to its students and looks forward to being part of its team. 

Mr. Dougherty will begin at St. Mark on as a short-term substitute Physical Education (PE) teacher until the candidate search for a permanent PE teacher to replace Ms. Anderson is completed.

Athletics Update

Girls and Boys Basketball (Grades 3 through 8)

Basketball try-outs will be held in the Parish Center on Saturday, September 24, 2022. In order to try-out for a team, students must either attend St. Mark School or be current active registered parishioners at St. Mark Church. Please be advised that St. Mark Basketball is a competitive program designed to prepare athletes for the next level of play in high school. Spaces are limited on each team. 

Try-out times are listed below but please check our school website for the most up-to-date information. Please note, a parent/guardian must be present at the beginning of try-outs to sign forms. 

Please contact michael.sciallo@stmarkschool.org with any questions.

Saturday, September 24th, 2022

Girls Varsity (Gr 7/8) - 9:00 - 10:15am

Girls JJV (Gr 3/4) - 10:15 - 11:30 am

Boys JJV (Gr 3/4) - 12:45 - 2:00 pm

Girls JV (Gr 5/6) - 2:00 - 3:15pm

Boys V (Gr 7/8) - 3:15 - 4:30 pm

Boys JV (Gr 5/6) - 4:30 - 5:45 pm

Higher Education Opportunity

The CHET Dream Big! Competition is an exciting program offered by Connecticut’s Office of the Treasurer. And this year’s competition features more prizes than ever before, with $300,000 in awards—including three grand prizes of $25,000 toward future education.  Competition is open to any legal U.S. resident of Connecticut who is at least 18 years or older and is the parent or legal guardian of a K–12 grade child enrolled in a public, private, parochial, charter or home-based Connecticut school as of September 7, 2022.  For Official Rules and eligibility, visit chetdreambig.com.

In Our Classrooms

In Innovation class this week, students in Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade read the story, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? By Carol McCloud.

Students discussed how being a "bucket filler" is someone who is kind to others.  Then, students were each given a piece of paper, a strip of paper, a pipe cleaner, tape and scissors to create and build their own buckets. They tested the strength of their buckets by adding marbles to them.

Kindergarten had a bucket hold 120 marbles. Second Grade had a bucket hold 133 marbles, and First Grade had a bucket hold a record breaking 163 marbles!

Today, students in Grades K through 8 that returned their summer 2022 Connecticut Governor's Reading Challenge Journal to their classroom teacher was treated to an ice cream courtesy of Mrs. Warner and Jim's Ice Cream Truck https://www.jimsicecreamtruck.com/ . Preschool students joined us for a treat as a welcome to our school community!

Around Our School

The hallways, classrooms, cafeteria, bathrooms, and gym of St. Mark School are covered with Lions Pride signage designed to promote a positive school climate and moral character education.  The signs outline the core values, virtues, and moral qualities demonstrated by an exemplary St. Mark Student.

Each classroom has their own specifically designed poster in age-appropriate

language. Because concepts like respect and integrity are not “picture words'', they are harder to teach. Pictures of Lucky the Lion, our St. Mark School mascot, visually demonstrating what these behaviors look like in different parts of the school are critical in supporting our school mission of educating the whole child, made in the image and likeness of God.  St. Mark School Lions Pride signage makes morals, virtues, and character easy to understand, even for our littlest lions.

Parish News

St. Mark Parish Family Picnic

Sunday, Sept. 25tth following the 12P Mass until 4P.  Enjoy music, entertainment, games, crafts and more.  Food by St. Mark ‘Kitchen Magicians’ and the ‘Grill Masters’ (hamburgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs, Kielbasa, meatball grinders, and sides)

St. Mark Parish ‘Team Social’ will be outside after all masses this weekend taking reservations. Checks payable to St. Mark $12/person - $25/ family. For more information, email Picnic2022@stmarkstfd.org or call  203-377-1530.

Gift Cards Needed

Deacon Paul has asked us to reach out to the parish for the purchase of food gifts cards, either Stop & Shop or ShopRite, in denominations of $25 (but we accept anything!). The need for the poor in our area has increased greatly and we go through the gift cards quicker than you think! God bless St. Mark parish for its continued generosity to help the needy in our community.  You can drop the gift cards in the collection basket at any Mass or bring to the rectory office during business hours.  

Knights of Columbus Recruitment

Please welcome members of the Knights of Columbus, St. John Paul II, Council #8, as they commence on their recruitment campaign for calendar year 2023. Invite a Catholic Man to become a Knight! We welcome them for recruitment weekend October 15 and 16. Please feel free to stop by and speak with a Knight after any of the weekend Masses.  

• Thursday, September 29th: Safe Environments Think First, Stay Safe presentation, Grades K through 8

• Saturday, October 1st: HSA Bottles & Cans Drive, 10A-2P

• Monday, October 3rd: PK3 through 8 Picture Day

• Thursday, October 6th: Living Rosary, 1P

• Thursday, October 7th: HSA Community Night, Little Pub, 4P-9P

• Friday, October 7th: First Friday Mass, 8A, all are welcome

• Friday, October 7th: Early Dismissal, 11:25A, Teacher PD

• Monday, October 10th: No School, Columbus Day

• Thursday, October 13th: Fire Prevention Presentation, K-

God gives each one of us sufficient grace ever to know His holy will, and to do it fully

St. Ignatius of Loyola