Community Coming Together

Welcome to Colts Country!

St. Ann Catholic School is coming together. Clean up has been taking place. Many volunteers along with the maintenance staff have been putting everything back in place and in order. There is still much work to be done before we are ready for our students. Being new to St. Ann, it is pretty neat watching the St. Ann community coming together to get the school ready. Many of the pictures in this blog are of the volunteers getting the school ready. If you are willing to help us, please contact Susan Hunt (susan.hunt@stannbartlett.org), the parish administrator, and please volunteer. We need the St. Ann community to continue to help us if we are to be ready on time. The first day of school is Tuesday, August 7th.

Once the school is cleaned up and in order, we will host an open house/walk through for all to see.  Date for the open house/walk through is Sunday, August 5th after the Masses from 9:30-10:30 and 12:30-1:30.

I mentioned in a previous blog, that we would hold a meet and greet so we could meet each other.  I want the opportunity of meeting St. Ann students, parents, parishioners, alumni, and supporters before school starts. That meet and greet will take place during the open house/walk through set for Sunday, August 5th. Instead of hosting two different events, we are combining the open house and the meet and greet.

Kitchen Clean Up

We have a number of students who are dyslexic. On Friday, August 3rd, Lyle Davis and Gay Landaiche from The Bodine School will present to our faculty on working with students with dyslexia. Parents are invited to this presentation.  Please contact me at didier.aur@sascolts.org if you would like to attend. Thank you to Priscilla Williams for organizing this presentation.

On Tuesday and Thursday, our staff will be attending active shooter training with the Bartlett Police Department at Bon Lin Middle School. Sad that we have to do this but it is a reality. We want to be prepared for the worst.

I met with Mayor McDonald at his office this past Monday. He is a super nice guy. Being the only Catholic School in Bartlett and being across the street from city hall, I want him to know who I am, and that St. Ann is alive and vibrant. I also invited him to the Fall Festival. I hope to see him there.

Our student enrollment is just under 200 students with several families still applying. If you are a St. Ann

Some Classrooms are Ready!

parishioner and are interested in a Catholic education in PK3 through 8th grade for your child(ren) or grandchild(ren), please contact Angela de Jong at angela.dejong@sascolts.org. We are also reaching out to the parishioners of Nativity and Ascension especially since they do not have a parish school. We have scholarships based on need available to help families afford a Catholic education.

Refinishing Kitchen Doors

For those of you who don't know, I have been involved with the Jubilee Schools since 2002. At the
Jubilee Schools, we don't turn families away if they cannot afford a Catholic education. If a family wants a Catholic education for their children, I believe it is our responsibility to do all in our power to make that possible. If you are interested in a Catholic education, and don't have the financial means, please contact Angela de Jong. Don't not inquire and miss out on a Christ-centered education for your child(ren). You never know what's possible.

The date we set for our staff spiritual retreat did not work out with Gary Wilbers. He is the speaker we were hoping to get for the retreat day. I'm now working on Plan B for our spiritual retreat.

A part of being the principal of a Catholic School is development. If there is a need, it is our

Cafeteria is Ready!

responsibility to figure out how to make it happen. In Catholic Schools, we have plenty of unbudgeted items. Those items become wishlist items. Many times, we make an unbudgeted purchase based on faith that donations will come in to help finance those wishlist items. In my time as a Catholic School administrator, God has always provided by bringing the right donors into my life. It is not a coincidence that this happens. God is a pretty good development director. I said in my last blog that I would have a wishlist.  So here is a partial wishlist of items we need.

Library is Ready!

WISH LIST
Bloomerang Database: $806.20 for the first year. The price drops in half for year two. We need a database to keep up to date with our alumni and donors. If we plan to be in existence in the future, we have to have a lot more support than just tuition paying families. Catholic Schools that depend on tuition only to keep the doors open eventually have to close their doors. Let's not be one of those schools. We are the only Catholic School in Bartlett. We need to be here for future generations.

Scholarship Donations: As Catholics, I believe it is our

Replacing Kitchen Ceiling Tiles

responsibility to help families afford Catholic education. It is not easy for a young family wanting a Catholic education for their child(ren) to pay full tuition. Please consider providing a quarter ($1,625), half ($3,250), or full scholarship ($6,500) for a student. Any amount will help a family.

Middle School Math Books: In order to improve our math offerings and our math scores, we are going with a different math book series. We ordered new math books for 7th and 8th grade. The cost of the new math books is $2,767.50.

Another Classroom Ready!

iPads: We would like to finish our 1-to-1 iPad initiative for PK-3 through 4th. Grades 5-8 already have 1-to-1 iPads. Cost of each iPad with Apple Care is $400.

Wireless Printers for the Classrooms: We would like to have wireless printers for all the classrooms. This would greatly help the students and teachers with their work. Each printer is $300.

We also have a lot of big ticket items like HVAC replacement,

Spirit Shop is Ready!

roof repairs, new windows, new blinds, renovate school bathrooms, finish the renovation of the St. Ann kitchen (everyone at the parish uses the kitchen), security doors, and security cameras.

Click to Support St. Ann!

If you are interested in helping with any wish list item.  Please contact me at didier.aur@sascolts.org or click on the St. Ann logo to support online. Please contact me if you have any questions.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal
St. Ann Catholic School