June Comes to an End

Holy Family Statue

My first month at St. Ann has come to an end. Until next year, June is once again behind us, which means that Christmas is less than six months away. I'm excited because the Hallmark Christmas movies have started. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Christmas movies any time of the year! I'm writing this blog while watching The Christmas Train.

My fourth week at St. Ann was cut a little short as the school was being tiled. Hard to work when you cannot get to your office or walk around school. Timing was perfect as my wife, Kelley, and I took a couple of days off and traveled to Michigan to attend a wedding.

Tiling the Hallway

We took a detour to the University of Notre Dame on the return leg of the trip. Kelley had never visited the campus. The best part at Notre Dame was lighting candles and praying at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to light a candle and pray for family, friends, and St. Ann Parish and School.

Tiling the Hallway

Our dining experiences included Sandy Point Beach House in West Olive, MI: 8th Street Grille in Holland, MI; The Butler in Saugatuck, MI overlooking Kalamazoo Lake; and Firefly Grill in Effingham, IL. All these restaurants were excellent, and hope to have the opportunity to dine there again one day. Kelley and I love to try-out new restaurants. We were not disappointed.

Sunset on Lake Michigan with
Dennis and Liz Myers

We drove roughly 1,700 miles in six different states on our extended weekend travel.  Thank God for cruise control and Hilton Hotels. It was nice spending time together just the two of us. After 33 years of marriage, we still enjoy each other's company.

But now, it is time to get back to work!

The budget is not yet set. Susan Hunt and I have it down to about a $50,000 deficit. That's a huge improvement as to where the budget was two weeks ago. We still have some work to do. There is no more room on the expense side to cut. We have to make up the difference on the revenue side.

Rebecca Holder at the Catholic Diocese tutored me on Paylocity (payroll software). I worked with Paylocity at Resurrection but that was three years

Grotto at Notre Dame

ago. I needed a refresher course. I'm sure there will be many phone calls to Rebecca before next payday.

I was also able to meet with Nicole McGlaughin. For those who don't know Nicole, she is the communication director for St. Ann. Along with Angela de Jong, we are going to create a communication plan to help everyone stay more informed about the school. I'm excited Nicole will be helping to promote the school. This is just another example of the parish and school working together.

Looking forward to Selina Trouy and Angela de Jong returning from their vacations. It is not fun being the new guy at work without them there. Kind of like going through my day with one eye shut. People had questions, I had very few answers.

Candle on the Left is for St. Ann

Teachers have been sending me their classroom discipline policies. I read through the middle school discipline policy, and it looks pretty well set. I like what I read. Just need to finish reviewing the individual policies to see where we are. I would like to review the policies with the teachers to see if and where improvements need to be made.

We will continue to move forward. The directive I received from Fr. Ernie when I was hired is to improve the quality of the school. That will be our focus. We want St. Ann Catholic School to be the first option of the parishioners of St. Ann Catholic Church. This is our parish and our school, together. We want to make the school such a great school that our parishioners feel there is no other option but St. Ann. Working together, we can accomplish the directive of improving the school. The teachers and parents I have met are all on board. The parish already has a culture of family. We need to expand on that culture to include excellence, and excellence is achieved one small step at a time starting with the right attitude.

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Colin Powell once said, "If you are going to achieve excellence in

With Kelley at Sunset on
Lake Michigan

big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude."

We need your prayers and support.

Thanks for reading this blog.

God bless you,

Didier Aur
Principal, St. Ann Catholic School - Bartlett, TN