Enjoy Easter Break
We are finishing Lent, which in my humble opinion, is the most sacred period of the year for all Christians. The culmination is found in the Triduum — these final days. It ends with the Resurrection. Sometimes, individuals and institutions experience their own walk up Calvary and even the Crucifixion, but there is always the possibility of Resurrection which makes it all worthwhile. With that in mind, I pray that each of you experiences — personal resurrection. I pray that the school and church community experiences personal resurrection, and I hope we are able to bring that feeling and message into the world. It may be as simple as a smile on the face, an attitude of gratitude, and “paying it forward”. Who knows — you may change the world!
Preschool Survey Results
The Preschool survey results have been tabulated. I interpret them as being very positive. Potentially there could have been 31 responses. We received 26. Not everyone responded to every question. I have always found that if people are upset or concerned with something they make sure they respond with the hope of promoting positive change. I also think that a response rate of 50% or more is really good and offers a real picture of where perceptions and families are. I just state that so you are aware of my personal framework in reviewing this type of material. With that in mind — I consider the following data to be exceptionally positive. I thank everyone who took the time to respond.
| How would you rate the indoor space/facilities? | |
|---|---|
| Excellent | 53.8% |
| Good | 46.2% |
| Adequate or Insufficient | no responses |
| How would you rate the outdoor space/facilities? | |
|---|---|
| Excellent | 26.9% |
| Good | 61.5% |
| Adequate | 11.5% |
| Insufficient | no responses |
| Communication Via Weekly Letter, Emails, etc.? | ||
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | 84.6% | 22 people |
| Good | 11.5% | 3 people |
| Adequate | 3.8% | 1 person |
| Insufficient | no responses | |
| Opportunities for parent volunteering? | ||
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | 50% | 13 people |
| Good | 46.2% | 12 people |
| Adequate | no responses | |
| Insufficient | 3.8% | 1 person |
| How would you rate take-home activities, projects and homework? | ||
|---|---|---|
| Excellent | 38.5% | 10 people |
| Good | 53.8% | 14 people |
| Adequate | 3.8% | 1 person |
| Insufficient | 3.8% | 1 person |
| Since attending Holy Rosary Preschool has your mass attendance… | ||
|---|---|---|
| Increased | 34.6% | 9 people |
| Remained about the same | 65.4% | 17 people |
| Decreased | no responses | |
| How has attending Holy Rosary preschool affected your sense of connection to the greater Parish community? | ||
|---|---|---|
| We feel more connected | 64.5% | 17 people |
| It is about the same | 34.6% | 9 people |
| Our family is less connected | no responses | |
| Which classroom does your child attend? | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pre3/4 Teacher Meg | 34.6% | 9 people out of 16 |
| PreK Teacher Tauna | 65.4% | 17 people out of 18 |
| The best part of Teacher Meg’s class has been: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Faith Formation | 20% | 2 people |
| Literacy/Pre Reading/ABC’s | 40% | 4 people |
| Social & Emotional skills/friendship building opportunities | 30% | 3 people |
| Math Concepts | 0% | |
| Centers/Free Choice | 10% | 1 person |
| Art Projects | 0% | |
| The amount of academic focus in ¾ (Teacher Meg’s) class is: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Too much | 0 | |
| Just right | 90% | 9 people |
| Not Enough | 10% | 1 person |
| The amount of arts/music focus in ¾ (Teacher Meg’s) class is: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Too much | 10% | 1 person |
| Just Right | 90% | 9 people |
| Not enough | 0 | |
| The amount of social/emotional focus and playtime in ¾ (Teacher Meg’s) class is: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Too much | 0 | |
| Just Right | 100% | 10 people |
| The amount of faith formation focus in Teacher Meg’s class is: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Just Right | 100% | 10 people |
| What program components would you like to see expanded or improved upon in Teacher Meg’s class? | ||
|---|---|---|
| Literacy/Pre Reading/ABS’s | 42.9% | 3 people |
| Handwriting | 28.6% | 2 people |
| Math concepts | 28.6% | 2 people |
| Art/Music | 28.6% | 2 people |
| The best part of PreK (Teacher Tauna’s) program has been: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Faith Formation | 18.8% | 3 people |
| Literacy/Pre3-reading/ABC’s | 68.8% | 11 people |
| Social and Emotional/skills and friendship/ building opportunities | 12.5% | 2 people |
| The amount of academic focus in PreK (Teacher Tauna’s class) is: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Just Right | 93.8% | 15 people |
| Not enough | 6.3% | 1 person |
| The amount of Music/Art focus in PreK (Teacher Tauna’s) class is: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Just Right | 100% | 16 people |
| The amount of social/emotional focus and playtime in PreK (Teacher Tauna’s Class) is: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Just right | 100% | 16 people |
| The amount of faith formation focus in PreK (Teacher Tauna’s class) is: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Just right | 100% | 16 people |
| What program components would you like to see improved upon in the PreK (Teacher Tauna’s) class? | ||
|---|---|---|
| Faith Formation | 28.6% | 2 people |
| Literacy/Pre Reading ABC | 71.4% | 5 people |
| Handwriting | 28.6% | 2 people |
| Social and Emotional skills friendship building | 42.9% | 3 people |
| Math Concepts | 42.9% | 3 people |
| Centers/ Free choice | 0% | |
| Art/Music | 28.6% | 2 people |
Talent Show
This year’s Talent Show will be held on Friday, May 16th in Lanigan Gym. Students in grades K – 4 will be performing at 9:30AM. Students in the Upper Grades will be performing at 1:30PM. Make sure you mark this down for yourself. You do not want to miss it!
Mrs. Heuer is the coordinator for the event. Permission slips for those who wish to participate should be turned into the main office between 8:15 and 8:25 in the morning. They will be collected every day. The deadline to turn in permission slips will be April 29th.
Auction Fund-An-Item
At the School Commission meeting last week, there was some discussion concerning the Fund-An-Item. It was thought that some may not have really understood what it was for. A Commission member suggested that I write something to help explain the Fund-An-Item. That is the purpose of this article.
As I have written before, this year’s budget has $2,440,540 coming in from tuition and fees. The cost for salaries and benefits for our employees this year comes to $2,749,000. The Annual Fund will hopefully cover $60,000 of that difference, and, if the Fund-An-Item generates the $56,000 that was bid, it will generate that to help with this shortfall. That is all for this year’s budget. It does not completely cover it, but it is a good start, and a much better reality than last year. This scenario is one of the reasons our tuition increase for next year is a little above the norm.
It may be that some thought we were going to give a year-end bonus to all of our staff with the Fund-An-Item money. It also seems there were others who thought that we were going to use this money to pay for the positions we are cutting for next year. Neither of these is stated in the Fund-An-Item description. Neither of these was ever stated as the intent. We are just trying to pay our bills.
If, however, anyone did not or does not understand the purpose of the Fund-An-Item and they bidded on it, I would simply ask you to contact either Kamila or myself and we will refund that money.
That is no problem. We certainly do not want anyone to have given money in a way they did not want it to be used.
It was a wonderfully successful auction, and we do not want any misunderstandings to take away from that reality in any way. Everything so many of you did to make it such a wonderful event is deeply appreciated. More people attended the auction this year than last year. It was a very festive evening. Again, a BIG THANKS to so many who did so much for all the children in the school.
Centennial Celebration Mass & Reception
Mark it down on your calendar now. We will be closing our Centennial year with a year-end Centennial celebration on Sunday, May 4, 2013. Archbishop Sartain will be here to celebrate the 11:30 mass with us. Immediately following we will have long-time Principal Kris Brown here to open the time capsule she buried twenty five years ago. Our Pastor, Father Madigan, will be replacing it with a new time capsule that will be opened in fifty years. The contents we recover from our old capsule will be immediately placed on display in the Lanigan Gym at the reception immediately following the ceremony. So make sure you head on over to the gym for the celebration. Complimentary refreshments will be provided. Present parents, students, parishioners, alum and staff will all be there. Come and renew old friendships. Come one! Come all!
In-Parish Tuition
Families who are new to the school, those who have a child in first grade now and going into second grade next year, and finally those who are in seventh grade at the present time and going into eighth grade, have been asked to fill out a form and bring it over to the parish office stating that they are members of the Parish. These then must be approved by parish staff before in-parish tuition status is certified. The reason for this in grades 2 and eight of next year is because of First Communion and pastoral approval for Catholic High School entrance. Rather than a confusing last minute rush to address these things during the school year it was thought that this approach would prove to be better.
If you have lost your form , you can find extras in the main office and in the registrar’s office. You will only receive a notification or response on this if it has been decided that you are not a parishioner. Your tuition will immediately be switched to “out-of-parish”. If that is the case, and you wish to discuss it, you would have to make an appointment with the Pastor.
Math Update
This year brought about a huge change in the math program with the implementation of a curriculum that is based on the Common Core standards. The teachers have been pleased with the incremental approach to teaching the standards, and it allows us to cover more than we ever have before. As a 5th-8th grade math teacher, I get to see exactly what the students need as they progress through each grade level. It has been so exciting to see how prepared the students will be for the next grade level. Many of the concepts that are now being taught in 6th grade with the new program used to be introduced in 8th grade with our old program! Teachers are very proud of the students’ great effort this year to rise to the challenge.
We now have a math program that is built on the Common Core, we have adopted a new language arts program that is aligned with these same standards, and we look to follow with the other core subjects. This makes the need for a standardized test that is standards-based the next logical step. Since the ITBS tests are older tests, several of the concepts covered in these tests are not part of the new Common Core. We are aware that the test scores this year may not be the best indicator of student learning. As a result, we plan to join many other Archdiocesan schools in making the switch next year to the updated form of the IOWA standardized test to better reflect the updated standards.
– George