Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!
On behalf of the staff of Holy Rosary School, I wish all of you and your children and extended families all the joys and blessings of Christmas. Hopefully you will get some peace and rest during these next two weeks as you rekindle relationships and experience the hope and laughter our God brings into our lives in a special way during this sacred time of the year. And may the New Year bring you 52 weeks of adventure, health, prosperity and renewed energy. It is going to be a great year. But the first step into that wondrous new future is believing in the great possibilities that our Lord has waiting for you to accept and to open up for yourself. Take a chance. Step into 2014 with a smile on your face, belief in yourself, and conviction in your choices and direction. It can be contagious. And remember the three best ways to teach your children are:
- Through example
- Through example
- Through example
Giving For Those Who Are 70 Years Old
This year, the government is allowing people who are 70 and a half years old or older to give directly from their IRA or Roth IRA to a Charitable institution (LIKE HOLY ROSARY SCHOOL OR HOLY ROSARY CHURCH). This way, there is no tax being paid on appreciation or the corpus invested. Every dollar is a tax deduction and there is no tax on the amount of money withdrawn to do this. The transfer must be made directly from the IRA to the institution. All you have to do is instruct your financial advisor to do this. It must, however, be done by December 31st. Feel free to call me (George) if you have any questions 979-2620.
Open House
Open House will be on Sunday, January 26th. It will begin with an all school mass at 9:30. The principal will be offering the sermon. The school doors will be open from 10:30-1:00. Everyone is encouraged to come. Bring friends. Bring alums. Bring anyone who may be interested in enrolling in the school. Tours will be provided by our students. The Parents Club will be providing steaks and eggs and Mimosas — I mean coffee and donuts. So come and enjoy yourselves. It will be the start of Catholic Schools Week. Mark it down on your calendar!
Study Hall
The first session of study hall comes to an end today. Parents can sign up their children, if they like, for the next session. Study Hall takes place for one hour after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There will be 15 sessions in this next sign up. The non-refundable fee is $90. The dates for service are January 7, 9, 14, 16, 21, 23, 28, 30 and February 4, 6, 11, 13, 20, 25 and 27. Checks should be dropped off in the office by the morning of January 6th. There must be at least 8 students to make a go of this, but we will not take more than 13. Checks should be given to Jennifer in the main office. This is really for students who want a controlled quiet environment in which to do their work.
Traffic Alert
Last week, I had a parent in my office expressing concerns over our before and after school traffic. Ironically while I was talking with that parent, another parent was trying to reach me about the same topic. I paid very close attention to the traffic pattern and flow outside my office last week. I must admit that I really could not compare it to previous years because I had not experienced them. I do, however, know that traffic around Catholic Schools is a growing issue with many. It seems that fewer and fewer children walk to school each year. And we have to realize that this school was once one class per grade with no pre-school. Now we have two classrooms per grade and a pre-school program. And this year there may even be more children driven to school because of “incidents” concerning one or two undesirable men in the neighborhood.
So, what to do? Well one thing that can make a huge impact is if people were to arrive about five or ten minutes earlier. It does make a difference because the reality is that there might only be 10%-15% who actually do that. The really bad time is between 8:10 and 8:20. Then there is simple patience. And that can be hard for many of us. More and more we are in a rush. Sometimes there is a reason for that rush and sometimes it is just our psychological makeup. We will try to stop traffic as little as possible for crossing, but my observations last week found that the traffic was stopped for crossing when there was nowhere for it to go. Finally we all have to be extra cautious for the sake and safety of our children, and we should not park too close to the corners. It is illegal, but more importantly, it is unsafe, especially for our wonderful crossing guards. It has also been suggested that we close the crosswalk between the school front doors and the parish center forcing everyone to cross at the corner. The thinking is that this may speed up the traffic on the street. Please let me, or your Parents Club officers know if you have any thought on that. So, thanks for thinking about this, and thanks for taking care of one another.
‘Tis The Season To Be Giving!!!!!
Our donations and pledges are picking up a bit. And that is both wonderful and deeply appreciated. We need every penny we can get. We are sending out a mailing to those who have not, as of yet paid, on their Annual Fund pledge. Some families did not specify when they were going to make their donations and, for some, December is their giving time because of tax situations. So please respond. We need you! Our updated pledges and collections to date are as follows:
| Giving Report | |
|---|---|
| Centennial number of pledges | 23 |
| Centennial Amount Pledged | $253,650 |
| Centennial Amount Paid | $19,481 |
| Annual Fund number of pledges | 282 |
| Annual Fund Amount Pledged | $137,797 |
| Annual Fund Amount Paid | $94,558 |
The special catagories listed below are included in the numbers listed above.
| Special Categories | |
|---|---|
| Number of Grandparents who have given to the Annual Fund | 4 |
| Amount Grandparents have given to the Annual Fund | 550 |
| Number of Holy Rosary School Staff who have given to Annual Fund | 41 |
| Amount Holy Rosary School Staff has given to the Annual Fund | 14,839 |
Eighth Graders
We are getting very close to that time of year when families seek to get all their forms turned in to the high schools they may be applying to. It is important to be aware that the school cannot mail anything if tuitions and fees are not current. The parish will sign off on active parishioner forms only when that is the case. This would mean a mass attendance and a pledge on file that is being paid on. And please do not wait until the last minute to get this form to the parish for a signature. Finally, under obligations met — when that part of the form is filled out, please keep in mind that participation in the Annual Fund is part of that obligation.
Christmas Cards —- Happy New Year Cards
Thank you to so many of you who have sent your family photo Christmas cards. They are posted on the door of the staff room. I read an article the other night saying that the expectation this year is for many to send Happy New Year’s cards rather than Christmas Cards. For some it is because the space between Thanksgiving and Christmas was one week shorter. For some it is because there is a trend to see who sent us Christmas cards and then just mail out New Year’s cards to them. So we are leaving the cards on the door thru the Christmas Season and all the way to Open House. If you end up sending one of those New Year’s cards, please turn one into the office. We would love to post it for Open House. Prospective Parents love to see who is already here.
Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree
Our Christmas Tree sales lot is closed. It looks like it will prove to be a fantastic success. Thank you to all of you who purchased trees, ornaments and/or wreaths. But all of us owe a huge thanks and debt of gratitude to Pat Galvin for the whole venture. We could not have done it without him! REALLY!!!!
Financial Aid
Please remember that anyone who feels they may need financial aid must apply on-line. This should be accomplished as soon as possible. The final date for applications is January 10, 2014. Do yourself a favor and beat the rush. This would be true for high school as well as Holy Rosary. All of this is done thru Fulcrum. The tuition assistance financial aid form is available at www.fulcrumfoundation.org/tuition. This must be done in order to receive either, or both financial aid from Fulcrum and Holy Rosary. For more information review the school website or call Kimberly Tish, the school registrar. Yes, this means it is registration time.
Tuition
This is my first time going through the tuition decision process at Holy Rosary. And I appreciate the hard work a number a number of people are putting into this effort. I do not believe the number will be decided upon until February or, possibly, March. But I, and I can only speak for myself here, believe the recommendations in the Five Year Plan would truly be the minimum increase, and I would not be surprised if they are a little higher. I, and again I can only speak for myself here, believe that the parents who were voting with a show of cards on their support, or lack thereof —- for the “White Paper” recommendation seemed to be widely in support of it. But that comes from me standing in the back of the School Hall viewing their cards, which were the opposite of the actual vote. And I do realize that, even though a good number of people were present, it was not the majority of the parents. But as I review this process I still strongly believe that eventually it is in the best interest of the school to determine tuition for a period of years so everyone knows the number well in advance. But —- that is just me again.
Sorry
Please forgive me for the length of my writing here, but I am abiding by the decision to simply put everything in these weekly “updates” rather than mailing a separate newsletter. It would be interesting, and possibly helpful to know which, if any of these articles, you consider to be a waste of your time. I would take no offense. You could simply tell a Parents Club Officer or a School Commission member, or a Development Committee person — or even me! I am just trying to be both transparent and informative.
– George