April 3 Weekly Letter

April 3, 2009
Dear Parents,

It’s been exciting to watch our middle school students in grades 5-8 dissecting worms, locusts, lampreys, frogs, and rats as part of the upgraded science curriculum at Holy Family School. They’ve done a phenomenal job! I would encourage everyone to attend the assembly on Wednesday, April 8th – “Talons, Birds of Prey!” Times for the shows were sent home with your child today. Come and join us. Please remember that Wednesday is also a “non-uniform” dress day. Also, please mark on your calendars Thursday, April 23rd from 6pm till 7pm. This is the date and time for our spring Open House at Holy Family School. Your child will be bringing home more information explaining in detail the exciting events planned for this evening.

I hope everyone has a great Easter Vacation. The Kids Zone will be open on the following days:

Thursday, April 9
Monday, April 13 through Friday, April 17

The gym will be painted over the break, so Kids Zone will be held at St. Paul's in the church basement.

Congratulations to our March raffle basket winner, Herman Von Hassel! All proceeds from these raffles go to support our student field trips.

Well, it’s been exactly six months (October 3rd) since I wrote about “Why Holy Family?” in my weekly parent letter. With enrollment for next year under way, I believe it’s an appropriate time to reflect back on the contents of that letter. As a parent, I know you want what’s best for your children. The elementary and middle school years for children are critical! These are the years when children develop the values that will shape them for the rest of their lives.

WHY HOLY FAMILY REVISITED

1. Respect: If parents were asked for the number one quality they would like to see their children exhibit, I believe the large majority would choose respect. I can remember my parents always talking to me about respect. At Holy Family, I’ve seen respect come to the forefront. Sure, we all take a step backwards at times, but when that has happened, heartfelt apologies soon followed. So if respect is important for your family, please ask yourselves where this quality is most evident

2. Discipline: I believe this goes hand-in-hand with respect. Here’s a great example that occurred recently. A class behaved disrespectfully to a substitute teacher approximately one week ago. The substitute told the teacher who immediately addressed the issue by telling the class that they would all have lunch detention the next day with her. At the end of the day, the teacher discussed the issue with me. The following morning I spoke with the entire class, expressing my disappointment with their behavior and explaining to them that if the substitute were their mother, they would have been very upset with their classmates. I was trying to explain that even if you do not take part in the misbehavior, you have a responsibility to try to stop it. I told the class that I wanted them to write apologies to the substitute during their lunch detention and then hand deliver them and verbally apologize to the substitute. I should have known, but they told me they already wrote the apologies and apologized to the substitute! There was nothing else for me to say except thanks and to continue reinforcing that this is the type of behavior we expect from them.

3. Parental Support: This is the key to success for our children. Without it, the odds are slim that a child can be successful. Parental support means more than making sure your child gets to school on time and completes his/her homework. It means taking an active role in his/her education and school activities. At each of the parent meetings I’ve had, I always give the parents a job to do at home with their children. One parent is working on “Hooked on Phonics”; others read each night with their children, while others practice the spelling words with their children. Volunteering in the classrooms, working at the fish fries, going on field trips, attending assemblies, and bringing in snacks for your child’s class reinforce to your children that you do care and are part of the school community, just like he/she is.

4. Neighborhood School/Safe & Nurturing Environment: As parents, we all want to protect our children and make sure they are safe. What better place than Holy Family! Just the fact that parents/grandparents bring their children to school and are here to greet them at the end of the day makes Holy Family safer. As for nurturing, one only has to look at all the hugs in the hallways. No matter what time of day, one can see parents hugging teachers (great role modeling), parents hugging their children, teachers hugging children, and yes, the principal hugging everyone in sight. While we may not give much thought to this because it’s commonplace at Holy Family, would you see this elsewhere? The great part is that the hugs are genuine and it’s not just at the elementary level. Yes, it’s true we, as parents, can’t protect our children forever, but what’s wrong with trying to protect them for as long as we can, which includes the difficult middle school years?

5. Uniforms/Dress Code: Call me “old-fashioned”, but as I stated back in October, I never realized the difference uniforms and a dress code make in the atmosphere of a school building. At Holy Family School, class time is dedicated to academic pursuits, not dealing with the numerous discipline issues that too often occur in public schools.

6. Prayers and the Pledge: Again I’ll state that starting and ending the day with a prayer, as well as before lunch, is powerful. Likewise, call me old-fashioned once again, but it bothers me when I see people leave their hats on at sporting events when the National Anthem is sung or the Pledge is recited. Likewise, it bothers me when students refuse to stand for the Pledge in classrooms when our tax money is paying for their education. To me, this is a sign of disrespect.

7. The Value of Your Child: So, why Holy Family? I believe parents need to ask themselves, “What is the most important thing in my life?” I certainly hope every parent would, without hesitation, say their family or their children. All parents have the responsibility to make decisions concerning what is best for their children. I would never question their right to do this. I would only ask that when it comes to their children’s education, they look at what Holy Family has to offer and see that it provides the safe, nurturing, and academic environment every parent wants for their children.
God Bless

Gene