2023-2024 Service Hour Program

The Service Hour Program is a mandatory program for families with children in grades K-8. The program offers two options for families to choose from in order to meet their requirement.

• Option 1: allows for families to fulfill their service hour obligation by volunteering in approved activities that generate funds for the school, provide cost savings to the school, allow teachers to focus on core academic programs and provide critical support to the mission of our school.
• Option 2: allows for families to buyout their service hour obligation.

What is the Mandatory Service Hour Obligation?

For each school year, each family's requirement is a minimum of 25 hours, of which 20 hours must be associated with recognized Fundraising activities, pre-approved Staff or pre-approved Office Support. A minimum of 6 of those 20 hours must be in support of the Parish Festival. A maximum of 5 hours total is allowed in the School Function, HSA, Extra Curricular, and Community Outreach categories. Any activities not listed on the approved list must be  pre-approved by the principal, pastor or business office.

Service hours will be accumulated from June 1st through May 31st. Families have an option to make buyout payments via FACTS in lieu of serving these hours at a rate of $30 per hour for those hours in which they cannot participate. A complete buyout would be calculated as $30 x 25 hours = $750.

Are Service Hour Buyout Payments Tax Deductible?

Service Hour buyout payments are NOT tax deductible.

What Qualifies for Mandatory Service Hours?

Please refer to the  Approved Service Hour Activities list to determine what activities qualify for service hours. Please contact the coordinator of the activity for more information.

Providing goods in lieu of one hour of service is permissible only with prior approval by the Service Hour Coordinator at  info@icsclinton.org.

“Protecting God’s Children” training and fingerprinting is required for all activities that involve any interaction with children. Refer to the Virtus website for more information on “Protecting God’s Children." Contact the school’s main office to obtain the fingerprinting forms and information.
 
What Does Not Qualify for Mandatory Service Hours?

In order to ensure that we have coverage of school sponsored events, some activities that occur at Immaculate Conception School in which family members may participate will not qualify as Mandatory Service Hours.

• Hours served at SAC meetings
  • Participation on these committees does not qualify as a means of accumulating Mandatory Service Hours.

 

• Externally sponsored activities
  • CCD
  • Boy Scouts
  • Cub Scouts
  • Brownies
  • Girl Scouts
  • Children's Consignment Sale
  • Living Nativity, Living Rosary, Stations of the Cross
  • Retreats
  • Delivery of donations to the Food Pantry, Meals on Wheels, Operation Shoe Box and other outreach initiatives. These are Corporal Works of Mercy and are central to our Faith. Hours will not be given for donations of food for school events. For example, baked goods, cookies, chips, pretzels, water, juice, soda, etc.

Who May Volunteer for Mandatory Service Hours?

The intent of the Mandatory Service Hours program is to build a close community with the immediate families of the children of ICS and not to have these obligations served by others. Volunteers must be parents, legal guardians,  siblings over 21 years of age, or grandparents.

Families are not permitted to fulfill the Mandatory Service Hours requirement for another family without the permission of the pastor.

The goal is to place volunteers where needed. ICS will do its best to place volunteers in their preferred activities while meeting this goal.  However, based on the needs of the program, it may not always be possible to place volunteers in their preferred activities.

How Will Mandatory Service Hours Be Tracked?

The volunteer must complete the  Service Hour Tracking Form upon completion of the approved activity and submit the form to the Activity Coordinator for verification. The verified form is then submitted to the school office for final approval by the Service Hour Coordinator. Approved forms are used to track and report the hours served by each family via the Family Obligation Status report on the ICS website.

Service Hour forms must be submitted for verification of hours completed NO later than May 31st (8th Grade families due April 30th). Unfulfilled hours will be billed at a rate of $30/hour.  Payments not received by the assigned due date will be assessed a 10% late fee. Outstanding payments not received within 45 days will be forwarded to a collection agency and may preclude re-admission for the next school year.

Failure to meet the requirements of the Mandatory Service Hours program will be treated as non-payment of tuition, with the same consequences. The pastor is always willing to discuss exceptional circumstances.

Is the Mandatory Service Hour Commitment Pro-Rated if Our Child is Enrolled After the Start of the School Year?

Yes, the pro-ration is as follows: 

• For students accepted between June 1st and October 15th: the annual requirement is not reduced.

• For students accepted between October 16th and January 15th: the annual requirement is reduced by 25%
• For students accepted between January 16th and April 15th: the annual requirement is reduced by 50%
• For students accepted after April 15th: the annual requirement is eliminated