WEEK OF MAY 13, 2013

Absent Work Make-Up: When absent from class, you have the number of days absent plus one to make-up work. For example, if you are sick for 3 days, you will have 4 school days to make-up and hand in all missing work. It is your responsibility to ask classmates and your teacher what you missed.

ACT (Practice): Mr. Minadeo will be conducting a practice ACT on Friday, May 17, from 8-noon. You will receive Independent Study Credit for this if you have Mr. Minadeo as your Math teacher. This practice test will produce a detailed study guide for you to use with the Cambridge ACT Victory text you will be issued free of charge - a $100 value. Sign up with Mr. Minadeo. Only 50 slots are available.

Ambassadors: We have selected the new Ambassadors. There will be a sign outside of the admissions department with the list of students that were chosen. Congratulations!!

Baseball: Congratulations to the Varsity baseball team on their sectional semi-final victory with a final score of 18-8. Way to go Vikes!!!

Bookbags and Purses: No bookbags may be carried to class, including homeroom. Any purse carried must fit entirely under your desk during class.

Cafeteria: No student is permitted to leave the cafeteria during lunch for any reason, including to use the restroom, go to locker, or visit the bookstore, unless they have a pass from a teacher. The lunch supervisors will not write passes to students. The pass must have student's name, destination, date and teacher signature.

Detention: Attention parents and students: All detentions must be served before the end of the current quarter. Any student who owes detention time at the end of any quarter will be placed on exclusion at the end of the quarter until all detention time has been served. No special arrangements will be made to serve detention time. Detentions must be served during regular detention hours. Any questions, please call Mr. Csank or Mrs. Scheider.

Dress Code Updates: Suitable leather or suede dress shoes are permitted. Shoes must be brown or black. High heels, platform shoes, moccasins, sandals, slippers and athletic shoes of any kind are not permitted. During winter months, boots may be worn to school but students must change into appropriate school shoes before reporting to first period. Dress shoes are to be clean and/or polished and must be worn with plain socks. Socks must be worn with shoes. Please see page 40 in the student handbook. Ladies - pants must be worn at the waist and are not permitted to be undersized or over sized. Which means they should not be tight fitting. Pants may not be rolled up and socks must be worn.

Attention ladies:  Navy blue or black tights must be worn with skirts.  No other colors are acceptable.  Tights must be solid - no designs or cutouts.  Socks are not to be worn with tights.

Young men are not to have cutouts or designs in their hair.

Dress Code Reminder: Only red, blue, and white crewneck sweatshirts are allowed.  The only sweaters allowed are those with a VASJ logo on them and they are on sale in the bookstore.  Black, gray, zippers, hoods, fleece, gloves, and scarves are NOT part of the dress code.  Only all white shirts may be worn under button-down shirts.

Hair color must be a natural color. pink, green, blue, etc. are not natural colors. Facial piercings are not permitted. For those who have pierced your nose, a Band-Aid must cover it from 8 a.m. until dismissal daily. Bring extra Band-Aids for when the first one falls off. Ladies, your skirt cannot be more than 3 inches above the knee. Plan now to get your skirts re-hemmed over break or buy more pants to wear in place of your skirt.

Dress Down Guidelines: Students who fail to follow dress down guideline or who fail to pay will potentially forfeit the opportunity to dress down at any point the remainder of the year. Check out the guidelines posted in homeroom and get exact change to pay for your dress down.

Early Arrivals: The doors to the building do not open until 7:50 a.m.  The back doors will automatically open at 7:50 a.m. Please do not ring the buzzer prior to this time and ask to come in.  

All students who are late to school must enter through the front doors and sign in immediately with Mrs. Ealy.

Early Dismissal: This Thursday, May 16 is Spirit Day. Dismissal will be between 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Please plan rides now.

East 185th Street Parade: This Saturday is the 185th Street parade. We invite all students to participate. Meet at the Neff Road softball field at 10:15 a.m. Dress casually with a Viking shirt. Bring a bottle of water with you. The parade begins at 11 a.m. and we march down 185th Street to the school parking lot celebrating a great year for our school and to say farewell to the Class of 2013.

Employment Opportunities: Any employment opportunities received in the Guidance Department will be posted on the Schoology "Enrichment/Summer Opportunities" site. Take a look and start planning summer today!

Independent Study Days: A reminder to all faculty/staff and students:  All days off are by default Independent Study Days unless you are otherwise informed.

Friday, May 17 is an Independent Study Day.

Leaving School Early: If a student needs to leave school early, a note signed by a parent must be presented to Mrs. Durdella before 8:00 a.m. You will be issued an early dismissal pass; you must sign out in the main office prior to leaving. Any questions regarding early dismissals should be directed to Mrs. Durdella. 

Lost and Found: The lost and found cabinet outside Mrs. Scheider's office is bursting at the seams. Stop down to see if you have misplaced a textbook, notebook, binder, or clothing item. Unclaimed items will be donated in June.

Lunch Cards: Students please remember to pick up your lunch cards in the cafeteria before school. Lunch cards will not be issued in the lunch line. 

Math Books: The 22 seniors who dropped Mr. Minadeo's math classes in August need to return their math books to Mr. Minadeo and no one else. If he receives your book any other way he will probably lose it, you pay for it, and transcripts will not be released.

Phone Confiscation: There has been an outbreak of unapproved cell phone usage by students during the school day. When caught, these phones are confiscated and are not to be returned until a $25 confiscation fee is paid. The Business Office has been kind enough to make payment plans with these students but the students are not keeping their end of the agreement.

In the future, we will be abiding by the rule as statement in our handbook. Electronic devices may not be visible or in operation during the school day, 8:00 a.m. to 3:05 p.m. Any item will be confiscation if visible, has the appearance to be in use, on the student’s person or heard from a student’s locker, purse, pocket, book bag, etc.

For the first offense, the student can retrieve the item at the end of the day after a confiscation fee of $25 is paid to the Business Office. For the second and any subsequent confiscation, the item will be held until a parent comes in the personally retrieve it and a $25 confiscation fee is paid.

Beginning Tuesday, February 16, any student who refuses to turn over a cell phone when requested will automatically be suspended OUT of school. Mr. Csank and Mrs. Scheider will allow you to plead your case as to why your phone was taken if you turn it over as soon as a faculty or staff member asks for it.

The students have been reminded of this policy.

Schoology: Be sure to check out our new Schoology pages:  College scholarships (for graduating seniors only), High School scholarships (scholarship and contest opportunities for students in grades 9-12) and Enrichment/Summer Opportunities (for grades 9-11).

Senior Information: Your lockers must be cleared out of all books, personal belongings, garbage, and posters and your lock removed no later than Monday, May 20 at 3 p.m.

The 22 seniors who dropped Mr. Minadeo's math classes in August need to return their math books to Mr. Minadeo and no one else. If he receives your book any other way he will probably lose it, you pay for it, and transcripts will not be released.

All detention hours must be completed on or before next Tuesday, May 21 in order to participate in baccalaureate & graduation. Check the main office door for number of hours you owe and location of detention.

Service Opportunities: There is a service opportunity for any student who is an experienced face painter at the East 185th Street Alive Parade and Celebration this Saturday, May 18. The time is from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Please sign up in your Religion class or see Ms. Latkovich for complete information.

There is a service opportunity this Saturday at Euclid Beach State Park for the monthly Adopt-a-Beach Clean-up. The clean-up begins at 9 am and ends at approximately 10:30 a.m., just in time to get to the East 185th Street Parade! No need to preregister. Complete information is on the ACT service group page on Schoology.

Student Dismissal from Cafeteria: Effective Monday, May 6, all students must be in the cafeteria by the second lunch bell. Teachers or staff members meeting with students during lunch will meet students in the cafeteria and escort them to the classroom. Any student found unsupervised during the last 30 minutes of lunch will automatically receive 3 hours of detention. Beginning Monday, passes are no longer enough to dismiss students from the cafeteria. Teachers must be present in cafeteria for students to leave. Any questions see Mr. Csank.

Tardies: Any student accumulating more than 20 tardies to school for the entire year, will NOT be allowed to attend prom.

VASJ Sweatshirts: Any senior student interested in donating their gently-used LEGAL VASJ sweatshirt, please bring it to the Guidance Office.  

Attention all senior girls: If you would like to help out an incoming freshmen girl, consider donating your VASJ skirt. Mrs. Conley in the Business Office will be collecting the skirts until the end of the school year and then some. Thank you and I know the freshmen thank you as well.

Volunteers Needed: Mr. Minadeo is looking for 35-40 students to place over 2000 flags on Veterans graves at All Souls Cemetery on Thursday May 23 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. This is a field trip and does not count for service hours. It does count for your greatest experience of honoring those who put themselves in harm’s way for the defense of your liberties. This one day every year blesses the hearts of many families and shows that we at VASJ will never forget out Veterans. Permission forms are in the main office.

Yearbook 2011-12: The 2011-12 yearbooks are available for purchase. Yearbooks are $50 and can be purchased through the business office. Yearbook order forms for the 2012-13 yearbook (which will arrive in fall 2013) are available under students/forms.