March 19, 2010
Dear Parents,

As you are probably aware, Maureen Wahlberg is battling cancer. She began her chemo treatments recently. Our staff is planning a fundraiser for Maureen to help her with the additional costs she is incurring. You will shortly be receiving specific information regarding this fundraiser, which will take place on Friday, April 30th. We ask that you consider helping us with this event in any way you can. All proceeds from the fundraiser will be given to Maureen. Don’t hesitate to contact Cassie Buckley or me if you have any questions. Please continue to keep Maureen and her entire family in your prayers.

Several incidents occurred at the end of last week that I would like to address at this time. I’m not trying to preach or make it sound as though I’m perfect - nothing could be farther from the truth. I’m sharing these events so that we can reflect on them and see if we need to make some changes in our lives. The first involves bullying, which occurs far too often in our society. Parents can try to make all kinds of excuses for their children to try to justify bullying, but the bottom line is that it is inexcusable and unacceptable. What also occurred last week was that several students witnessed bullying and did nothing to stop it, several actually were laughing as it occurred. Children, just like adults, are responsible for their actions. The worst thing that can happen is that parents try to rationalize or make excuses for their children when they bully or allow bullying to occur. This is not the type of parental role modeling we want or should accept. Fortunately, the parents I spoke with were disappointed in their child’s behavior - not standing up when they knew it was wrong and assured me they would deal with their child, regardless of the school consequences. If we want bullying to stop, this is what we need, parents being positive role models and students standing up for what they believe in. We also need to reinforce in our children that they are responsible for their behavior. There are consequences for our actions, and as parents, we can’t make excuses for our children’s inappropriate actions. My hope is that we’ve all learned a lesson from these incidents and if faced with a similar situation, our children will do the right thing.

The second issue I would like to discuss concerns how we, as adults, treat each other. Children are wiser and more observant then we give them credit for. I have previously addressed the concern I have that some adults can walk down our hallways and say hello to certain people, but not to others. It’s not difficult to say a friendly hello or good morning as we pass each other in the halls. If we do this, our children certainly will follow our example. The same holds true for families that no longer attend our school. During the past 1 ½ years, I’ve heard on several occasions that once their children leave Holy Family, some parents don’t say hello to them when they see each other in stores or other places. I hope this is due to not seeing them, rather than ignoring them. Remember, we all represent Holy Family School by our actions, but even more important, I would hope we’d want our children to treat all people with respect. Chances are this will only happen if we model this behavior for them.

Now that spring is only one day away, perhaps the remaining snow will melt and be replaced with green. One can only hope! Don’t forget that students will not have school on Friday, March 26th due to a teachers’ conference day. Kids Zone will be open for those parents needing it. Thursday, March 25th will be our non-uniform day for the month of March. Have a great week!