Preparing in Hope and Courage

School Entrance

Kelley and I enjoy attending Saturday Vigil at St. Ann with either Fr. Ernie or Fr. Parham, and Sunday Mass at St. Michael with Fr. Ben Bradshaw. We have some great priests in our diocese. Through their homilies, they help us grow as Christians.

This weekend, Fr. Parham's homily was about hope. Hope is a virtue as is faith, charity, and love. His definition of hope goes a lot deeper than most of our definitions of hope, and I didn't quite understand everything he had to say. No surprise there. To me, hope is a want for something better such as a better life especially an eternal life. I was taught when there is a lack of hope in our lives, evil uses this lack of hope to enter our lives.

Teacher Lounge is Clean!

Fr. Ben's homily was about courage. As Christians, we must have the courage to grow in our faith. As one of my former students in Missouri once said, "We are not called to be comfortable." That former student is soon to be Fr. Brad Berhorst!  We are called to make a positive difference in the world. It is hard to make a positive difference if we aren't willing to sacrifice. I've always said that being a Christian is not easy. If you are going to walk the Christian walk, more is expected of you. Saying yes is just the beginning. It takes some courage to say yes, but it takes a lot of courage to live a truly authentic Christian life. It takes courage to live a life of faith, hope, charity, and love.

Kitchen Work Stations Refinished

I bring this up because as we plan for this new school year, we plan in hope and courage. Our hope is for a better life for our students and ourselves. We need to have the courage to push beyond our comfort zone, to grow as teachers in Christ, help our students grow in their faith, and open our hearts for all to see the Christians we truly are. Fr. Ben always says that it takes courage to open ourselves to the world. What sets Catholic Schools apart from other schools is Jesus Christ. Yes, we work to educate the whole child (mind, heart, body, and soul), but the ultimate goal for our students is salvation.

Kitchen Wall Repainted

This week has been super busy at St. Ann. Our staff participated in an active shooter training with Bartlett City Schools and the Bartlett Police Department. Thank you to Dr. David Stephens and Dr. Korrie White from Bartlett City Schools for allowing us to participate in the drill. I would also like to thank Captain Steve Sones of the Bartlett Police Department for leading the drill. Captain Sones and I met at St. Ann for a walk through to make a list of corrective measures needed to ensure our students and staff are safe. Captain Sones will also participate in a Q&A on school safety with our staff during in-service this week.

More Kitchen Work Stations

Angela de Jong and I met with Home & School representatives this week. Part of the meeting was to figure out expenses and contributions for the 2017-18 school year. We needed to finish up old business before discussing 2018-19. Plans are in the works for Home & School events. You will be hearing more about these from the Home & School representatives.

Two other staff members have decided not to return to St. Ann. Erica Winchester has the opportunity to become a stay at home mom and raise her children. Rebecca Bates has taken a library position at Immaculate Conception. We thank both of them for their years of service to the students at St. Ann.

Kitchen Make Over

I hired Justin Kissell as our new Language Arts and Social Studies teacher. He will also be the Student Council moderator. Many of you know Mr. Kissell because he is a parishioner, attended St. Ann Catholic School, and taught here for six years. He comes back to us after teaching several years at Resurrection Catholic School under the direction of Principal James Shelton.

I have made an offer to an incredible teacher for the LIFE position. I have known this person since the 90's. I plan to meet with this candidate this week to hopefully finalize the offer. Please say a prayer for this person as they discern this opportunity to work in a Catholic School. Chances are slim, but all things are possible with prayer.

The construction and clean up are reaching crunch time. We are almost there. We are hosting a walk through next Sunday, August 5th, after the two morning Masses. Come see the school and all the improvements.

Principal's Office (finally)

After being in my office since the beginning of June, my office is finally clean! The junk room it used to be is no longer the junk room. I've even rearranged the office, and my memorabilia and books from so many years in education now populate my office. I need to hang my college diplomas in my office, and pretend I'm some kind of intellectual. Maybe not. I would rather hang my children's diplomas on my office wall. Their diplomas are more important to me.

The school enrollment has climbed to over 200 students with several families applying, and some on the waiting list. Students are still taking the entrance test. Thank you for Angela de Jong and Selina Trouy for their work on student admissions. I'm sure the numbers will continue to fluctuate between now and the first day of school.

Crosses on My Office Wall
Rosary from the Vatican

We are working on the EXTRAS for the middle schoolers. This is a thirty minute period at the end of the school day where the middle schoolers will be able to participate in a variety of classes from robotics to coding to creative writing to blogging/vlogging... We have many options we are discussing. Thanks to Jimmy Crews for saying yes to teaching a coding extra for our middle schoolers. Home economics was going to be one of the offering but that went out the window. Maybe we have a parent out there who would be willing to lead a home economics extra for our students. We want parent and community participation in offering these extras. I'm looking for a guitar player to lead a guitar club as an extra. If you have an idea for an extra (30 minute ungraded class for the students to do something fun yet educational), please call me at the school or send me an email at didier.aur@sascolts.org.

During in-service, Liz Wehmeyer is going to lead three sessions in iPad and Apple professional development for our staff. Ms. Wehmeyer is a St. Ann parishioner and parent. She is an employee of Bartlett City Schools in their IT department, and is Apple certified. What a great resource for our teachers and students. Thank you Liz Wehmeyer!

As I do with every blog, I will end with asking for your support. The last blog had a wish list we need help with. If you have the ability to help make a difference, we need your help. Check out last week's blog for the wish list. Click on the school logo to go to our donation page. Without your support, Catholic education doesn't happen. It has always been that way. No more bingo to subsidize Catholic education. We have a great thing going. Need your support to keep it going.

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