Weekly Newsletter May 22

May 22, 2009
Dear Parents,

Although, as I have stated on several other occasions, I am not a proponent of the State Testing Program, it is one of the measures all schools in NYS are held accountable to. Scores may vary from year to year, especially when there is a small student population, so it is important to examine the data over a period of years. Since Holy Family School only began administering the exams last year, we have very little data to review. With that being said, the results for this year are excellent. Student results are grouped into four levels ( 1-4 ). The State’s goal is to have all students achieve levels 3 or 4. The criteria for each level is:

Level 1: Not Meeting Learning Standards
Level 2: Partially Meeting Learning Standards
Level 3: Meeting Learning Standards
Level 4: Meeting Learning Standards with Distinction

Students have taken exams in ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies. Some of the results are official, while others are pending but probably accurate. The results are:

ELA Grades 3 – 8 91 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official

Math Grades 3 – 8 98 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Unofficial

Science Grades 4 and 8 100 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official

SS Grade 5 100 % achieved Level 3 or 4 Official

8th Graders will be taking the Social Studies exam on June 2nd and 3rd
Congratulations to all our students and staff on a job well done!!!

Please mark Tuesday, June 16th on your calendars. Students in grades 1-8 will be participating in Olympic Day at the high school. We need volunteers. If you can help out, please contact Dianne Fiorina. The awards ceremony for Olympic Day will be held on Wednesday, June 17th at 8:30 am in our gym. Students will receive ribbons for their efforts. We encourage all parents/grandparents and friends to attend both of these events.

Since Memorial Day is this coming Monday, I thought I’d share a little history about the day. I guess once an educator, always an educator! Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day (I actually remember this) because it was a time set aside to honor the nation’s Civil War dead by decorating their graves. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 by proclamation of General John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former sailors and soldiers. During this first official celebration, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, after which 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried in the cemetery.

In 1966, the federal government, under the direction of President Lyndon Johnson, declared Waterloo, NY the official birthplace of Memorial Day. By the late 1800’s, man communities across the country had begun to celebrate Memorial Day and, after World War I, observances also began to honor those who had died in all of America’s wars. In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday to be celebrated the last Monday in May. Several Southern states continue to set aside a special day for honoring the Confederate dead, which is usually called Confederate Memorial Day.

Here in rural upstate New York, we’re fortunate to have small, hometown parades and speeches, usually organized by our local American Legion Organizations to celebrate Memorial Day. I encourage everyone to attend these local events and share with your children the history behind them. As they say, freedom isn’t free!

God Bless

Gene