March 20, 2009
Dear Parents,
Well, we made it! Spring has officially arrived in upstate New York. It’s great to see and hear the children playing outside at recess time. I’ll begin with this week’s announcements.
· Tools for Schools: Congratulations to all our families! Holy Family School finished as one of the top 100 schools in the Northeastern section of our country (CT, MA, NY, VT, PA). The contest ran for 5 months, October through February. Our total balance for the 5 months was 41,984.66, basically meaning we spent about $40,000 at Price Chopper over this period. As a result, our staff is able to purchase items from an educational catalog to support our program at HFS. In addition, as a result of finishing in the top 100, we receive a Califone Wireless Presentation Pro PA System for our school. Thanks go to Stephanie Coggins, our school coordinator and to all the families who participated in this program.
· Barring another snow day, Easter Vacation will begin on Thursday, April 9th. Our last day of school will be Wednesday, April 8th. Since we’ll be on vacation, we will not celebrate a Friday Mass in April. Each grade will be (or has been) praying the Stations of the Cross for Lent.
· Friday, March 27th is the last Friday of the month. It will be a “non-uniform” day.
· Beginning Wednesday, April 1st, students may wear school shorts to school.
· Fish Fry – Friday, March 27th: 5pm-7pm
· Enrollment forms for 2009-10 school year should be returned by March 31st. We will be offering an Early Childhood Program for 3 year olds beginning in September. Please spread the word. Our goal is to have between 12-14 children in this program.
· A wish list of supplies needed for painting the gym will be sent home soon with your children and posted on the website. Any assistance you can provide will be greatly appreciated. The gym will be painted by the Camp Pharsalia workers over the Easter Vacation.
This week I will discuss the suggestions/recommendations that were offered at the Parent/Teacher/Commission meeting concerning our elementary school program.
· Ensure that our curriculum is at least equal, if not superior to the public school curriculum. To this end, we have already added Spanish and additional Science instruction in our elementary grades. As I have promised, we have just begun the process of upgrading our ELA program, which will include assessments for students in grades K-2 at the minimum. We will be exploring the possibility of extending this through 4th grade. At present, the state administers exams beginning in grade 3.
· We need to challenge all our students using differentiated instruction techniques. Two additional staff members just returned from a conference on this topic. They were excited and have already begun using some of the techniques in their classes. I have asked them to share their new knowledge with our entire staff at a future staff meeting. We will continue to strengthen this area and explore additional ways to address this concern.
· There were some concerns relating to the staff turnover rate. This past year we hired four new staff members. For the 2009-10 school year we will be hiring a new 1st grade teacher, an art teacher, and a new staff member for our restructured Early Childhood Program. At this time, these are the only changes in staffing for next year. While I agree consistently high turnover rates can adversely affect the educational program, I believe the new staff hired for this year have improved our educational program. We have received a large number of applications for our openings for next year and will be conducting interviews prior to our Easter Vacation. I am very impressed with the quality and number of applicants we have for these positions. I will certainly keep everyone informed when a final decision is made.
· A suggestion was made that parents in each class should receive a class roster containing student names, parent names, address, phone numbers, and email address. This will be in place for September, pending individual parent approval.
· Another suggestion was to have more involvement by parents, especially parents of young children. I agree that this is one benefit of attending HFS. Parental involvement is greater than in most public schools and is certainly welcomed by our school. However, we can always improve in this area. I will ask the PTO for their assistance in this area.
· School Handbook: Whether we have Diocesan approval or not, we will have the School Handbook on our website for the 2009-10 school year. Putting it on the website will save money and trees. We will provide hard copies for those parents without internet access.
There were several other suggestions made that I will address next week. Enjoy the lovely upstate spring weather with your family.
God Bless,
Gene
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