HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC SCHOOL

HOLY CROSS CATHOLIC SCHOOL
+ teaching as Jesus did, since 1868 +
3002 Bay Settlement Road + Green Bay, Wisconsin + 54311
Phone & Fax: (920) 468-0625
Principal: Gary Stepanek
gstepanek@gracesystem.org
September 12, 2012
Dear Parents and Guardians
It is wonderful to have the new school year start, the children bring such vibrancy and
enthusiasm. Our theme for this year is “Go Make a Difference” which stresses personal and
social accountability. The school year is divided into four sections (excluding the month of May
and June when we have our St. Baldrick celebration). The first section deals with our personal
relationship with God, followed by treating others the way they want to be treated. The third
and fourth parts are concerned with our responsibility to our local community and then the
gospel message to transform the world.
NEW STAFF
We have a number of new faces here at Holy Cross. Jeanne Craanen is our new Fourth grade
teacher and Eric Stanczak has taken over Middle School science and social studies along with
8 th grade homeroom and religion.
We will also have a new administrative assistant with Ginny’s pending retirement. Kelly
Boudwin joined our team this week and is very busy multitasking. We all welcome Kelly and
know she will do an excellent job in her new position.
SCHOOL STAFF
This is the Holy Cross staff for 2012-13 and their e-mail addresses.
Gary Stepanek Principal gstepanek@gracesystem.org
Kelly Boudwin Administrative Assistant kboudwin@gracesystem.org
Eric Stanczak 8 th Hrm/Rel./Science/Soc.Studies estanczak@gracesystem.org
Samantha Parker 7 th Hrm/Rel./Language Arts sparker@gracesystem.org
Jo Sato 6 th Hrm/Rel./Math/Tech Support jsato@gracesystem.org
Patty Nennig Grade 5/Supportive Consultant pnennig@gracesystem.org
Jeanne Craanen Grade 4 jcraanen@gracesystem.org
Mary Wennesheimer Grade 3 mwennesheimer@gracesystem.org
Sr. Carolyn Zahringer Grade 2/Supportive Consultant sczahringer@gracesystem.org
Annette Barrett Grade 1/Supportive Consultant
abarrett@gracesystem.org
Beth Kruczek Kdgrtn/Extended & Summer Care bkruczek@gracesystem.org
Michelle Jacques Early childhood 4K mjacques@gracesystem.org
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Sally Thompson Physical Education/Health sthompson@gracesystem.org
Stephanie Maertz Music/Band skulas@gracesystem.org
Mary Lardinois Spanish mlardinois@gracesystem.org
Renee Zirbel Art/Supportive Consultant rzirbel@gracesystem.org
Deanna Schauer Comp. tech/Supportive Consultant dschauer@gracesystem.org
Heidi Martin Library hmartin@gracesystem.org
Susan Aerts Teacher Aide/Plygrnd/Athletic Dir. saerts@gracesystem.org
Cathy Zehms 4K Teacher Aide/Development Dir. czehms@gracesystem.org
Toni Zahn Nutrition Director tzahn@gracesystem.org
Mary VerHaag Nutrition Assistant mverhaag@gracesystem.org
Suzy Goral Nutrition Accounts sgoral@gracesystem.org
Rick Kruczek Plant Manager rkruczek@gracesystem.org
Gerald Acken Volunteer Teacher Aide gaacken@centurytel.net
PACKER VENDING
Our Packer booth raised approximately $850.00 for our school last weekend. A big thank you
to the booth crew:
Missy DeBacker
Nikki Goral
Jimena Duquaine
Tom Goral
This fundraiser is a lot of fun and we welcome new volunteers, please contact the school if you
are able to help out. (there will be a very special party at the end of the season for the workers :)
We have some lucky winners for Week 1!!!
FOOTBALL MANIA
Congratulations to:
#1853 Cheryl Van DenMeerendonk $200.00 2 place with 132 points
#1547 Melissa Navin $ 25.00 7 place with 126 points
LUNCH AND PLAYGROUND DUTIES
Have You signed up for your lunch/playground duties? Please contact the school office to sign
up for your duties or stop in at school. Please be advised that parents should arrive at 10:50 a.m.
for lunch/playground duties and this report time is very important. Each K-8 Family is required
to work six lunch or playground duties during the school year and each 4K Family is required to
work two, three or five lunch or playground duties during the school year. If you are unable to
serve your duties, you can “buy-out” by paying $60.00 (K-8) or $50.00, $30.00 or $20.00 (4K),
you can also do a combination of duties and buy-out.
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CHILI COOK-OFF
The chili cook-off is set for Saturday, September 22 nd at 4:00 p.m. Get your recipes and
ingredients ready, this event is always a lot of fun and tasty too. Remember each family is
required to buy or sell two tickets (2x$15 = $30) so come and enjoy.
SITE ADVISORY COUNCIL
The site advisory council is another way to keep in touch with what is going on at Holy Cross,
this year the members are:
Dean Gerondale - President
Randy Stitz
Barb Conard
Lynie Vincent
David Zehms
Gail Limoni
John Peterson
Kurt VandenHouten
We are very grateful for their service to Holy Cross.
FAST (Family and School Together)
We also have a great home and school group that works with teachers and families to improve
the school culture at Holy Cross, they are:
President: Melissa Navin Vice President: OPEN
Treasurer: Mary Jo Pirlot Secretary: Mary Miller-Clark
Members at Large: Ann & Barry Smetana
Cari VanOoyen
Gail Limoni
Debbie Simons
Please consider becoming involved.
Remember Holy Cross offers an Extended Care Program for students from 6:30 a.m. Until
7:40 a.m. school start time and after school until 6:00 p.m. (there is no after school care on
early dismissal days). This is a great service for our families and we are grateful to Mrs.
Kruczek for her leadership
STUDENT COUNCIL
In the next couple weeks we will be forming our student government. This council will help
plan special events and give students a voice in their school. At this time the council will consist
of one boy and one girl from each class grades 5 through 8. These 8 council members will
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choose a President, Vice President and Secretary. You will be hearing more about this soon, we
hope to have this group in place to represent Holy Cross at the Diocesan Mass in Manitowoc
HOT LUNCH IMPROVEMENTS
We are going to put a suggestion box in the middle school hallway and in the elementary wing.
We'd like the students to give us any suggestions for menus/recipes ideas that they would like to
share with the lunch program, or comments they would like to share. It can be anonymous or
signed with their name and is a great way for students and parents to give feedback to our hot
lunch program.
DRESS CODE REMINDER
Solid (any) color shirts and blouses with collars and sleeves.
Navy, black, brown or tan pants. Navy, black, brown or tan skirts, skorts or jumpers.
Tennis shoes or others with socks; no sandals, clogs or platform shoes.
Walking shorts or Capri pants from the first day of school until October 15 and April 15 until
the end of the school year
VIRTUS TRAINING
Do you wish to help out at school this year? Perhaps you’d like to; chaperone a field trip, help in
you child’s classroom, work on extra-curricular projects and/or events with our students. If so
you must be VIRTUS trained and must complete an eAPPS Background Check application. All
parents who wish to be trained should visit www.virtus.org to pre-register for the one time training.
If you would like to complete the training and the background check, please send me an e-mail
and I will send the necessary paperwork and instructions home. Thank you.
VISION TESTING
The Brown County Health Nurses will be here next week Friday, Sept. 21, beginning at 8am.
They plan to test Gr. 4K, 5K, & Gr. 1 for hearing and Gr. 4K, 5K, 1, 3, & 5 for vision. If there
are any students in any of the other grades that you think should be tested for either vision or
hearing, please let the office know ASAP, so we can compile a list for the nurses. Thank you all!
DIOCESAN MASS AND CHAPEL VISIT
On October 3 rd a small group of students will represent Holy Cross at the Diocesan Mass in
Manitowoc at the St. Francis of Assisi on Waldo site
On October 5 th our entire school will visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help with a planned
departure time of 9:20. We will participate in the Mass there at 11:00 a.m., have lunch and pray
the rosary
There are a number of items in this week’s take home folder, please make sure you look through
all the material and let us know if you have any comments or questions.
I know there were a lot of items in this first newsletter, but it includes contact information that I
hope you'll be able to save and use throughout the year. I promise I will try to keep subsequent
letters much shorter.
Gary Stepanek
Principal, Holy Cross
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