Rosati-Kain High School girls help “keep out the rain”

Can you imagine getting rained on while in class? This was a daily occurrence for children at Bar-Ogwal school in Nigeria, Africa.

In order to help solve this problem, Rosati-Kain High School, led by the Overseas Mission Club, held a fundraiser. The project netted more than $1,500 to send to the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) to purchase windows for Bar-Ogwal.

The Overseas Mission Club, or OSM, includes about 25 student members. Each fall, the girls review a list of needs from SSND in Africa and choose one on which to focus. The girls then create a theme for their fundraiser and encourage school-wide participation.

“The club’s purpose is to increase knowledge and awareness of needs outside the school, particularly with the financially poor, and raise funds to empower development,” said Dona Zeidler, R-K religion teacher and the club’s faculty advisor.

This year, Bar-Ogwal primary school had a great need for windows. Any surplus funds sent to Bar-Ogwal will address the school’s need for toilets, desks, text books and other essential items.

The OSM Club spent two weeks in November selling clothing that marketed this year’s theme “Buy a Pane, Keep out the Rain.”

The club, founded in 2003, challenges the R-K community with a new fundraising effort each year for the SSND’s schools in Africa.

One past project, “Bunks for Beauties,” raised $3,075 to build a dorm for school girls who were previously sleeping in a building intended for livestock.

The “Fences for Friends” project raised $3,277 to build a fence to prevent goats from eating the clean laundry at a girls' high school.

In yet another year, the “Help a Sister Out” project provided science lab equipment necessary for girls to pass their national exam.

Club President Jasmin Robles ’13 has been a member of the OSM Club since her freshman year.

“This year’s project is important to me because we are benefiting our sister schools in Africa and thinking about the students there that have to huddle in a corner in a storm,” Robles said. “The fact that we could put windows in helped their classroom environment. This is something we take for granted.”

The rule for reporting to work after a school closing was changed to match other agreements: Come to work as soon as possible; if delayed, make up the hours, take vacation, or take unpaid hours.

School-paid health insurance was increased to keep take-home pay intact. A floating holiday was added and the emergency leave policy was changed. Language authorizing lump sum payments was removed.

Custodial, maintenance and laundry employees earn from $14.51 to $21.89 per hour the first year and from $15.69 to $24.08 the fifth year, depending on the position.

Wage rates were adjusted: A step freeze in Year 1, one step granted in Year 2, and increases in the top step were approved. A shift premium of $.55 per hour applies for shifts beginning after noon. A janitor called back after his shift ends is paid double time for at least two hours of work.

An election equipment cost-sharing joint powers agreement with Anoka County was approved. Some grant money is available to help pay the annual fee.

The board also approved an agreement for providing mental health treatment services at a school site, and the student sex non-discrimination policy.