February 18, 2018

Preschool and Childcare Registration for 2018-19 Has Begun

3, 4, and 5 year old preschool and/or childcare registration has begun.  Contact the school office before the spots you want are no longer available.

Kindergarten Round-Up for 2018-19 was Last Week

Kindergarten Round-Up was last week.  If you missed it, contact the school office so you can begin the registration process.  The registration process for older students will begin in early March.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Students in grades 2-8 and staff will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Tuesday.  Many thanks to the area priests who help administer this sacrament to over 300 students and staff members.

Special Dress Day

Friday, Feb 23:  Dress Like Your Favorite Teacher Fundraiser:  For a $1 or more donation to be given to the Riverbend Food Bank, students can have fun dressing like their favorite teacher.

 Educational Savings Accounts Legislation Is Pulled
Legislation to create Educational Savings Accounts in Iowa has been pulled from this year’s session.  The bill’s manager just did’t think the votes would be there to advance it.
All attention needs to turn now to expanding the School Tuition Organization legislation.  Currently, the amount of tax credits, and, thus, tuition assistance that is available in the state is $12 million.  From this amount, more than $1 million is given in Scott County.  By raising the maximum that the law allows us to raise would allow us to expand eligibility requirements as well, and more middle class families could receive financial assistance.  Please contact your state legislator and senator to tell them how important an expansion of STOs is.
“Tuition Tax Credit”
Do not forget to take advantage of the Iowa “tuition tax credit.”  For the first $1,000 spent on each dependent’s education, $250 in tax credits are available on your Iowa taxes.  No special forms are required any more.  Please remember when doing the calculations, however, that we often think of education expenses in terms of a school year while taxes are completed on a calendar year basis and split two school years.
Euchre Tournament

St. Anne’s Circle is sponsoring a Euchre tournament on March 3rd at 5:30 in the parish center.  Proceeds benefit OLV.  Entry fee is $25 per person or $50 for a team of two.  Teammates will plan together the entire night.  Single players are welcome.  Table assignments will be given the night of the event.  Heavy snacks provided, and BYOB.  For more information, please contact Loretta Reed (563-650-3040) or Helen White (563-391-3791).

Always Time for Love

After enjoying St. Valentine’s Day and being given the wonderful opportunity to be an Extraordinary Eucharistic minister and also administer ashes at our all school Mass last Wednesday, I felt kind of numb with the news on all evening watching coverage of the events in Parkland, Florida.  “Not again,” I kept thinking to myself.  As parents and educators, and no matter how hard we are on our children, there is one thing that never changes, we always love them.  No matter how rough of a morning we have had trying to get everyone out of the house, how big the “battle” is over breakfast or the last minute homework assignment that was forgotten, or how crazy the afternoon might become, there is always time to tell our children that we love them.

Chad