Week 3 Update

My Desk at the End of the Week.

Hoping things would slow down a little during Week 3 at St. Ann. Instead, everything started to move a little faster.

The book order is complete! Thanks Selina Trouy for taking care of this.

The school renovation continues! Painting the hallways is coming to an end and the tiling is about to start. Looking forward to showing off the school once the renovation projects is complete. Thanks Susan Hunt for overseeing this project.

School Calendar Online

The school calendar is online! CLICK HERE to view the 2018-19 Calendar.  Here are some important dates to remember:
July 20th: Used Uniform Drop Off 6:00-8:00 pm
July 21st: Used Uniform Sale 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
August 1st: Student Orientation 4:00-7:00 pm
August 2nd: Election Day! Go Vote!
August 3rd: New Comers' Picnic 6:00-7:00 pm
August 7th: First Day of School!
August 8th-10th: PreK-K Staggered Start
August 17th: Welcome Back Assembly 2:00-3:00 pm

Just a reminder the school office is closed on Friday during the summer. The office will also be closed on June 28th and July 4th.

I would like to thank Terri Dickens and Stacey Peeney for their years of service at St. Ann. And, I would like to wish them much success and happiness in their new teaching positions at St. Benedict at Auburndale.

We are working on hiring new teachers. We have some fantastic teachers interested in St. Ann. We hope to have some great news in the next couple of weeks regarding our new teachers.

Selina Trouy's Makeshift Office

I had lunch with David Stephens, superintendent of Bartlett City Schools. It was great seeing an old college classmate. Back then, we were just hoping to graduate and find a job teaching and coaching. David wanted to coach basketball and I wanted to coach soccer. It just so happened that we both won high school state championships coaching soccer; David at Houston and me at CBHS. Catching up on our educational careers was lots of fun. This makes year 30 for the two of us in the educational world. We plan to get together on a regular basis. We want to figure out ways that St. Ann and the Bartlett Schools can partner and help each other improve.

Meeting with St. Ann staff members continued this week. I'm having a great time meeting these wonderful folks. And, I'm looking forward to working with them on a daily basis.

New Fountain at St. Ann

I also started meeting with parents and supporters. Some of these meeting are with families that are behind in tuition payment. Life is not easy, and we have all had financial difficulties at one time or another. Having put two children through Catholic Schools including college, my wife and I will be working for many more years to pay off our obligation. But, we are paying what we owe.

We need ALL families to do the same in order for St. Ann to remain financially sound. This is my way of rocking the boat because the boat needs to be rocked. If you are behind in tuition payment, take care of your obligation, and don't leave it to someone else to pay your fair share.

One of my goals for St. Ann is greatness. St. Ann needs to be a great

St. Joseph the Worker

school. Greatness is achieved when hardworking people come together for the good of an organization. This means taking care of our responsibilities. Winston Churchill once said, "The price of greatness is responsibility." Greatness will be achieved when pastor, principal, teachers, staff, students, parents, grandparents, supporters, parishioners, and alumni take responsibility for making St. Ann great. Let each of us take a piece of that responsibility to work together to make St. Ann a great school!

There has been a common theme to what everyone has been telling me about St. Ann. And, that common theme is "FAMILY." I cannot count the number of times I heard "FAMILY" used to describe the St. Ann community in all my meetings. I come from a Latin family, and in our family blood is thick. In my world, family is as important as it gets. That's how St. Ann is being described to me. I love this: FAMILY!

Renovation of the School Entrance

My meeting with Kathy Schober, the parish director of religion education, was extremely fruitful. We both want to find opportunities to make the school and PRE more inclusive. There are roughly 200 students at the school and 300 in PRE. How do we become one?

Being the principal of St. Ann Catholic School, I am an ex-officio member of the parish council. I attended my first parish council meeting this week. Next week, I will attend my first parish finance committee meeting. The school budget is on the negative side. We have our work cut out for us to balance the school budget. Please say a prayer because we need some divine intervention to get to a balanced budget.

We need YOUR support. If you would like to be a part of making St. Ann a great school, please click on the school logo to contribute to the school. Thank You!

God bless you,

Didier Aur
Principal
St. Ann Catholic School
Bartlett, TN