Sunday, August 26, 2018

Experiencing the Holy Presence of God

Mrs. Cooper's Kindergarten Class
We just completed our third week of school, and still have another week to go before we see the end of August. Remember when school started at the end of August or even after Labor Day? We are about to start our fourth week, and some schools are just getting underway. I'm thankful to have the students at school a little bit earlier this year.

My arrival time at St. Ann is roughly 6:30 am. I want to arrive early enough to dedicate time to write the morning prayer. I start the prayer with an introduction of the Saint of the Day, which means I read several sources about the saint in order to know what I'm writing about. Following the introduction of the Saint of the Day, I write a prayer focusing on the work of the saint, and ask God to help us become more like the Saint of the Day.

We begin the morning prayer the way I was taught by the Christian Brothers, and have done now for so many years by reciting: "Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God." We end the morning prayer asking for the intercession of the Saint of the Day and St. Ann. This is followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, the St. Ann mission statement, the lunch menu, and announcing those celebrating a birthday that day.

James Newell Coating
the Fence
The reason I mentioned how we begin the morning prayer is that I am currently reading a book entitled Let Us Remember: Stories of the Holy Presence of God. It is a book about how Lasallians across the world have experienced the Holy Presence of God in their lives. While reading this book, I decided to share some of the ways I experience the Holy Presence of God at St. Ann.

I experience the Holy Presence of God:

  • every morning seeing the students in the carpool line smiling as they arrive at school (most of the students really are smiling).
  • knowing that the e-Care ladies arrive before I do, and are already taking care of some of our students.
  • as the 1st graders leave morning care in a line heading off to the classroom under the guidance of Mrs. Harty.
  • when Abe Abuelouf comes to St. Ann in the middle of the day to teach one religion class
  • when Jimmy Crews shows up to teach a thirty minute coding class during Extracurricular Exploration at the end of every school day.
  • seeing the daily volunteers such as those working the carpool line, repairing the gate, helping in the library, heading up the Knowledge Bowl team, working with the band, coaching the athletic teams...  Thank you volunteers. You help make everything and everyone better.
  • seeing the Fall Festival leaders give so much of their time and creativity to support St. Ann Church and School.
  • every time my 7th graders enter World Geography class.
    May Young Working
    Morning Carpool
  • when one of our teachers puts in extra effort to meet the needs of the students.
  • when Rebecca Holder at the diocese patiently helps me figure out Paylocity so we can all receive a paycheck. Thanks Rebecca.
  • every time Mrs. Slattery laughs.
  • when Memphis Catholic interns arrive.
  • seeing John Moranville wait for his friends before entering the school.
  • when Kate and Savannah Bannister greet me with a "Good morning Mr. Aur."
  • when parents/grandparents roll down the car window to say "Have a wonderful day."

These are but a few instances of experiencing the Holy Presence of God on a daily basis. I hope you also experience the Holy Presence of God in your lives many times over. Remember to look for God in the little things in life.

Barry Wymore Repairing
the Gate
Momentum is really picking up for the St. Ann Fall Festival. The student contest for selling car raffle tickets ends on Monday, September 10th. If you need additional raffle tickets, you can come by the school office or contact Jamie Coggins at jawc1101@yahoo.com. For more information about the Fall Fest, check out https://stannfallfest.org/.

 St. Ann Fall FestThere are two weeks left in the first session of Extracurricular Exploration for the middle school students. We need some more creative ideas for the second session. Mrs. Griffith is considering switching from Robotics to Roller Coaster building. I still want to offer a baking class. That would be fun if we could only find someone to lead that class.

George Dhuy working
the Carpool line
Want to thank George "Paw Paw" Dhuy and May Young for helping with the morning carpool line. Your presence, actions, and smiles make a big difference.

Thank you also to Barry Wymore for rebuilding the gate between the school and cafeteria. The campus is looking better all the time.

Middle School Choir
It has taken three weeks, but I have finally cleared space on my calendar to get into the classrooms to do some observations. I observed nine classes, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Our teachers do a great job. The first observation is an informal observation. It is more so that I can see what's going on. The second observation will be a formal observation. I'm hoping to observe every teacher twice per month. My role as an observer is to help teachers in lesson planning, preparation, and delivery. I enjoy working with teachers mainly because I enjoy teaching.

 Alumni Facebook Page
We have a development committee that meets every Thursday. The committee is made up of Lori Locke, Nick Scully, Angela de Jong, and me. In order to continue offering Catholic education, we need to plan for the future. Planning for the future should have started in 1960 when the school first opened. It didn't happen then so we are doing it now. Our hope is that we have enough time and support where we can strengthen and improve the school financially and academically so that St. Ann Catholic School will be here and viable for years to come. We plan to have a captain and co-captain(s) for every class starting with 1968, the first graduating class at St. Ann.

Catholic schools cannot survive without alumni involvement and support. The development committee is working to engage St. Ann alumni. That's why we invested in a new database. That's why we offer Monday Notes to anyone interested in staying up to date with what's happening at St. Ann. That's one reason I publish this blog every Sunday. We want everyone who is a part of the St. Ann community to be in-the-know. We want to be transparent in what we are doing. We want everyone to take ownership of the school.

That is why we are announcing a Fat Tuesday Alumni Party on March 5th! We will be hosting a dinner party for all alumni 21 and over. Please save the date. We will be sending out more information about this alumni party.

 Support St. Ann Catholic School
Please keep in mind we need your support. There are so many areas we could use your help. If you would like to know how you can help St. Ann Catholic School, please contact me. Great things don't just happen. We have to create a vision, plan for the future, work our tails off, and come together to make great things happen. Be a part of making great things happen. Get off the sidelines and get in the game. Join us as we work to produce excellence now and for the future. We need your support.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal



Sunday, August 19, 2018

Great Things Are Taking Place!

Teresa Ferrante, LIFE Teacher
We are excited to announce the hiring of a LIFE teacher to join our St. Ann family. Well, in this case, our new LIFE teacher will be rejoining the St. Ann family. Teresa Ferrante is our new LIFE teacher! She is a graduate of St. Ann as well as a parishioner. Miss Ferrante comes from a long line of educators, including her grandmother, Rose Ferrante, who was my son's 2nd grade teacher at St. Dominic. Miss Ferrante received her Bachelor's degree in English from Christian Brothers University, and is working on her Master's in Education also from CBU. What is even better is that Miss Ferrante, as a students at St. Ann, was part of the LIFE program. God surely has his ways. Incredible! Thank you Miss Ferrante for saying yes to teaching at St. Ann. Welcome home!

Cierrah F.
Memphis Catholic Intern
Starting Monday morning, interns from Memphis Catholic High School, will be working in the school office. Memphis Catholic's internship program known as Education That Works is an incredible program where every high school student at Memphis Catholic has an internship in businesses, corporate offices, hospitals, non-profits, and schools throughout Shelby County. Senior Cierrah F. will work at St. Ann every Monday and rotate every fourth Friday. Junior Anna P. will work every Tuesday and rotate Fridays as well. The sophomore and freshman students have yet to be assigned. I am thrilled that St. Ann will be part of the Memphis Catholic internship program. This will be a great experience for our school, staff, and students. When you come by St. Ann and see our Memphis Catholic interns, please welcome them.

Anna P.
Memphis Catholic Intern
Morning carpool line is going great. I have two volunteers helping unload the cars in the morning. Having volunteers out there helps make morning carpool much safer and easier, especially with getting all the backpacks, lunches, gym bags, and musical instruments out of the cars. We are there to greet the students, and help everyone start the school day off on a positive note. Thank you volunteers.

After-school carpool line is also going well. Thank you for being patient, lining up properly, and being safe. Here are two huge NO-NOs for any carpool line: 1) DON'T BE ON YOUR CELL PHONE IN THE CARPOOL LINE! 2) DON'T GET IMPATIENT AND CUT THE LINE! Most of the children aren't looking both ways, and they trust all the adults to keep them safe. All it takes is one distracted driver for something really bad to happen. Let's put ALL the students' safety first, and not just the students in your car. Thanks.

John Hisaw, New SAS Parent
Parents' Night last Thursday evening was pretty cool. It was great seeing so many parents attending this event, and meeting the teachers. We have a plethora of fantastic parents at St. Ann. It is extremely uplifting seeing so many young parents attending Parents' Night. I'm excited to have the opportunity to work with the parents, especially the forward thinking, positive ones. And, most are forward thinking, positive parents. I hear many positive comments about the atmosphere we are creating at St. Ann. It takes all of us working together to not only create but maintain this positive atmosphere. I am grateful you entrust your children to our care.

The role of Home & School is to support the school. One way Home & School raises money to support the school is through selling of apparel in the Spirit Shop. A great way to show off our Colt pride is by wearing SA apparel out in the community. Please stop by the Spirit Shop, and support the school by supporting Home & School.

St. Ann Fall Fest takes place October 19th & 20th. Check out the Fall Fest website at https://stannfallfest.org/ and Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/stannfallfest/. Half of the proceeds from the festival go to support the school. We need to fully support the St. Ann Fall Fest. It is for our parish and our school! We have a St. Ann Fall Fest assembly on Monday at 2:30 in the gym to get the students ready for the Fall Fest. Looking forward to supporting this event.


Thanks to Mike Green for getting the 2nd computer lab up and running. It is great that St. Ann has two fully-functioning computer labs for the students. The students have access to Microsoft and Apple products. They are going to be well ahead of many students from other schools because of the technology available to them. My hope is they learn to code using the PC and Apple, and that they will also be taught Word and Pages, Excel and Numbers, and PowerPoint and Keynote. They will be getting the best of both technology worlds.

We now offer band and choir for 5th-8th grade five-days a week. We have music for PreK-4th grade every other day (A-Day and B-Day schedules). Art and PE are offered to all students every other day. PreK-5th grade also have computer every other day.

If you have participated in the St. Ann band, we want you to come back and play with our current band. Our band director, John Baum, and I want to have a concert where graduates of the St. Ann band participate. We also want to get parents who play an instrument to participate in this concert. If you would like to be a part of this concert, please contact Mr Baum at john.baum@sascolts.org. Our current band has over 30 students not including our 5th grade band. By the way, we now have a Jazz Band! Mr. Baum is considering taking the band to a band competition in St. Louis, MO. I hope this happens.

There are 50 students in the St. Ann choir! Their first performance of the year was at Mass last Thursday, and they were simply fantastic. Great work Mr. Cooper! Awesome leadership. I cannot wait to hear them in concert. If you want to hear excellence, attend Mass on Thursday mornings at 8:15. Our choir performs at the school Mass.

The 1st Mass of the year for our students took place last Thursday. You already know the choir was excellent. The lectors, servers, and gift bearers were well prepared, and did a great job. Looking forward to Mass next Thursday.

Sr. Connie
Scholarship Winners
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2018 Sr. Connie Passing on the Faith Scholarship. The purpose of the scholarship is to reward students who are formed and grow in the Catholic faith at St. Ann Catholic School. Congratulations to this year's recipients: Channing Gossett (2nd grade), Lexi Morrison (4th grade), and Maria Bair (7th grade).

To those wonderful folks who are stepping up to support the school, thank you! More donations are coming in to help make our school become even better. Donations are also coming in to help families afford a St. Ann education. We even have an alum who now lives in Michigan give a very nice donation to the kitchen renovation. It is his way of saying thank you for what St. Ann did for him. Several donors have signed up to become recurring donors. I love the recurring donations. As an administrator, recurring donations makes my life so much easier in so many different ways. We know the donations will be there to help the students. Please consider becoming a recurring donor in support of St. Ann and our students.
 Support St. Ann Catholic School
Support St. Ann Catholic School


Thank you.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal

Sunday, August 12, 2018

The First Week Has Come and Gone

Robotics Class
Since today is Father's Day in Brazil, I want to dedicate this blog to my father, Rhomes João Amin Aur, who is in heaven. Love and miss you. We went from being father/son to great friends.

Going to start with gratitude and say "Thank You" to several people. In my last blog, I asked for someone who would help the church and school with some welding. On the first day of school, a parent approached me, said he is a welder, and he volunteered to help. He is working with our maintenance department to fix the gate separating the school entrance from the dumpster area. In all the hustle and bustle of the first day of school, I didn't catch his name. I plan to make up for that tomorrow morning.

SA Gear
Thank you Kathy Schiavone for all the work she is putting into running the Colts Spirit Shop. This is an every day volunteer position, and Kathy is working hard to help Home & School support St. Ann. The hardest part has to be coordinating the uniform resale. Glad Kathy is in charge of that. The new St. Ann Colts shirts and hats look awesome. Thanks for organizing that as well. I bought an SA hat on Friday. By the way, I did discover that it is possible to lock yourself in the Colts Spirit Shop. Not a good feeling. That might be the first door lock we change.

Our last day of in-service was last Monday. We used that day to finish getting the classrooms ready for the students. Our in-service meeting was used to review the different teacher/student/lesson observation tools we will use for evaluation. We want to make sure all of us are on the same page in lesson preparation and delivery. The better aligned our lessons, the better job we are going to do for our students.

World Geography Class
I met this week with Amy Fielder of the Bartlett City Schools Title program to review what state funds are available to St. Ann. Part of the funds available are to help schools with student safety. Looks like we are going to be able to use our funds to install cameras in the hallways. If that works, the next step is to work on the door locks. For that, we are going to need support from the St. Ann community to help pay for the new door locks. I've got an idea for that. I'll tell you about it next week.

The Thursday Notes are moving to Monday Notes. We are making this change to better inform you of what's coming up for the week since this blog basically recaps the previous week. The first Monday Notes will go out on August 20th. We are using a new platform to send the Monday Notes as well. Many of you are familiar with Constant Contact and MailChimp. Our Monday Notes will work like those two platforms. But, we are using the platform provided by our new database, Bloomerang.  If you are interested in receiving Monday Notes, please contact Angela de Jong at angela.dejong@sascolts.org to give her your email address.

Jazz Band Practice
The Extracurricular Exploration (EE) classes started this week for the 6th-8th graders. We narrowed the offerings down to five classes. The demand for the technology classes caught me by surprise. The demand for 3-D Printing, Coding, and Robotics is going to make us evaluate our offerings for the next EE term. We will probably have to offer more technology classes. The other EE classes are Jazz Band and Creative Writing. The EE classes are from 2:25-2:55 pm every day. This is how the middle schoolers are ending their day. The 1st EE term is from Aug. 9th- Sept. 7th. The 2nd EE term is from Sept. 10th-Oct. 5th. The 3rd EE term is from Oct. 10th-Nov. 9th. The 4th EE term is from Nov. 12th-Dec. 14th. Still looking for ideas. Would love to offer cooking/baking as an EE class. We need someone to teach this class.

3-D Printing Class
From my last blog, I was hoping to work a less than 12-hour day and have an uninterrupted 10-hours of sleep. Well, last Friday was only a 9-hour work day, and I did get 10-hours of sleep last night. It wasn't uninterrupted sleep but it was 10-hours of sleep. I guess that means I will probably spend part of the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary working since that's the day I was planning on getting my 10-hours of sleep.

I've been taking my lunch to work all summer long. Now that the kitchen is up and running, I have been buying my lunch.  When I bring my lunch, I tend to still get hungry around 3:00 pm. By the time I get home, I'm super hungry. Getting a nice hot lunch, I don't get hungry later in the day. Thank you Noel for lunch, especially pizza Friday!
Blessing the Back Packs
I got back a little while ago from St. Ann where Fr. Ernie blessed students, teachers, and back packs. Thanks Father! We need all the blessings we can get.

Here's an area where we could use some help, and it will take very little of your time. During morning drop-off, I would love to have a couple of parents help greet the students and unload the cars. This is not only a nice way to start the school day for our students, it also helps with safety. When I greet and help the students in the first car in the drop-off line, there might be as many as five cars lined up behind the first car ready to unload. Having two other folks there greeting and helping the students will make a positive difference in so many ways. There is nothing wrong with starting the day with a smile. No special training needed to smile and be friendly. Please help.

Creative Writing Class
Our PK-3 teacher, Kristen Sellers, will be tending to a family emergency. She will not be at school this week. We have hired two teachers to take her place until she returns. We want to make sure our students receive the best care possible from the best and most experienced teachers available. So, Casie Garrett and Judy Thomas will sub for Ms. Sellers this week. They are both certified and experienced teachers. Mrs. Garrett is also a St. Ann parishioner and parent. Her son is in Mrs. Cooper's kindergarten class. Mrs. Thomas' most recent experience working in a Catholic School comes from teaching at St. Joseph. Mrs. Thomas comes highly recommended by the principal at St. Joseph, Leslie Harden. Let's support these two teachers as they work with our youngest students in filling in for Ms. Sellers. And, please keep Ms. Sellers' family in your prayers. We will keep you updated.

Coding Class
Our development committee continues to move forward. We know the future of the school depends on the work we do today. We not only have to constantly improve the quality of education we offer our students, we must reach out to alumni, parishioners, parents, grandparents, and friends every day. Schools that are successful never forget those who have walked their halls. Tomorrow will not be here if we don't build now! When we invite you to come back and be a part of St. Ann Catholic School, please say yes. We will update you more on our development plan as we continue to put the plan in place.

Great things are happening at St. Ann Catholic School. We invite you to be a part of the turn-around taking place. There's lots of enthusiasm surrounding the school renovation, parish enhancements, academic offerings, and the parish and school aligning the religious curriculum. Fr. Ernie is bringing us together. The focus is on the positives and eliminating the negatives, which we are accomplishing. We have to keep moving forward together while maintaining positive energy. We want and need you to be a part of what's happening. Please join us.

Here are some ways to help:
1. Pray for St. Ann Catholic School
2. Volunteer to work the carpool line.
3. Support our scholarship program to help a family afford a St. Ann education. Our scholarships are all need based. Please consider providing a quarter ($1,625), half ($3,250), or full scholarship ($6,500) for a student. Any amount will help a family.
4. Donate to a project such as the kitchen renovation, replacing the door locks, purchase a wireless classroom printer, help a family purchase school uniforms, or....
 Support St. Ann Catholic School5. Contact Tracy Angotti, tracy.angotti@sascolts.org, to help coach an athletic team.
6. Support one of the Extracurricular Exploration classes such as purchasing robotics kits.

Our invitation is out there for you to accept. Hope you say yes to St. Ann.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal



Sunday, August 5, 2018

Strategic Plan, Accreditation, and Teacher In-Service

Ryan Cooper's puppy, Cadence
This has been one busy summer! This week has been the busiest one yet. School hasn't started, we still have one more day of in-service, students start on Tuesday, and I'm ready for a day off. Don't get me wrong, I'm super-excited about the new school year at St. Ann, seeing our students on the first day, working with our incredible staff, and once again being in the classroom teaching. I just need a less than a twelve-hour work day, and maybe ten hours of uninterrupted sleep. Come on Feast of the Assumption (our next day off). This isn't my first rodeo, so I'll survive.

I want to thank Susan Hunt, all St. Ann staff members, the St. Ann maintenance department, the custodial team, and volunteers for their work in getting the school ready for the first day of school. The school is looking great!

School Walk Through
Fr. Ernie asked that we host a "School Walk Through" for parishioners to see the improvements before the first day of school. Today, we hosted a "School Walk Through" after the 8:30 and 11:30 Mass. I personally expected to see a small crowd during each walk through. Boy, was I surprised by the large turnout. Thank you to all the parishioners who turned out to see the school improvements. I wish I could take some credit for the improvements, but all credit belongs to Fr. Ernie, Susan Hunt, our generous donors, and all those working under the direction of Susan Hunt. If you are a St. Ann parishioner and don't know Susan, you need to meet her. She is the parish administrator, which means she runs the place. It also means that she is on duty 24/7. Well, maybe not 24/7, but pretty close.

Blessing from Bishop Holley
In-service started this past Tuesday with Bishop Holley celebrating Mass for all Catholic School employees at St. Francis. That's always a great way of bringing us together to kick-off the new school year.

This was followed up with a presentation I borrowed from the Christian Brothers back in 2002 to help remind Catholic School teachers of our role as Catholic School educators. Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves why we have dedicated our teaching careers to working in Catholic Schools. With all the years I have worked for the Christian Brothers, I've received a lot of training on the teaching philosophies of St. John Baptist de La Salle. I like to share what I've learned with my teachers. He was a saint ahead of his time. Incredible!

Liz Wehmeyer & Kids
I'm sending out a great big thank you to Liz Wehmeyer. Liz led three technology sessions for our teachers. The first session was to start all of us towards becoming Apple certified instructors. Would be great for St. Ann if all instructors became Apple certified since our students use iPads. The second session was on Apps and ideas for use in the classroom. The final session was on web design. We aren't there yet but would be nice if all teachers created a website. It is a great communication tool. I'm hoping that we can get Liz to lead more sessions throughout the year to help our teachers.

This is an accreditation school year. The process to become accredited once again by AdvancED has begun. At the same time, we need to develop a strategic plan for the school. To begin the process, the staff came together to rewrite the school's mission and vision statements.

A mission statement answers the question "Why do we exist?" A mission state is also supposed to be between 10-15 words (fit on a t-shirt). Our new mission statement is:

Working on Mission Statement
"Our mission is to provide a Catholic education through faith, service, and love."

That explains why we exist in less than fifteen words!

A vision statement lets everyone know where we plan to be in 5 to 10 years. It is future-casting. Just like the mission statement, it is a short statement but looking into the future. In our case, we are looking at the next five years.  Our vision statement is:

"We envision a thriving school for all children that will provide a
Working on Vision Statement
premier education in the Catholic tradition."


This vision statement is quantitative: All Children
Future-Casting: Will Provide
Using descriptive superlatives: Thriving Schools and Premier Education

I really like our new mission and vision statements.

Our next step is to develop goals for achieving our vision statement.

Signing Up for Camp Invention
Our student orientation and new comers meeting was pretty awesome. We had a big crowd show up with lots of parents and grandparents. Thank you to Home & School for sponsoring the event. I enjoyed meeting the new families at the new comers meeting. Thank you Dawn Lewis for organizing the food, and Jimmy Crews for taking charge of the meeting.

Annmarie Ghio led several sessions for the teachers. These included PlusPortal and gradebook, using different classroom Apps, and library and STREAM orientation. I hope we all take advantage of Ms. Ghio's expertise. The students will greatly benefit from her work in the library and STREAM. She is also going to make the library more accessible to the students before and after school.

STREAM Session
Gay Landaiche, of the Bodine School, taught a session on dyslexia. We all learned much from her presentation. We now have several great resources to use with our dyslexic students. The presentation was eye-opening to me. We will all be more aware of learning differences in our students. Thanks to Priscilla Williams for organizing this presentation.

Dyslexia Session
We have a new golf coach! Paul Mann, a good friend of mine, has agreed to coach our golf team. Paul is a great golfer and all-around athlete. He is a former two-sport athlete at the University of Memphis. Coach Mann is retired. He was the chief compliance officer at FTB Advisors, Inc. He is also one of the nicest guys I've ever met. I am thrilled he will coach our golfers. This is a great time to be a St. Ann golfer. Contact Tracy Angotti at tracy.angotti@sascolts.org if your child is interested in joining the golf team.

Here is a list of the middle school extras: (classes starting at 2:25 every day)
1.   Jazz Band/All instruments including Jazz singing (John Baum)
2.   Bowling (Sally Fillion)- Bowling will probably end at 3:30 instead of 3:00.
3.   Handbells (Ryan Cooper)
4.   Robotics (Stacey Griffith)
5.   Creative Writing/Blogging (Justin Kissell)
6.   Anime Art (Katie Jones)
7.   Archery (Didier Aur)
8.   Cooking/Baking (???? Anyone interested?)
9.   Coding (Jimmy Crews)
10. 3-D Printing (Annmarie Ghio)
More news to be sent out this week.

The Crews Family!
Thank you to Jimmy Crews for helping Mike Green update all school and church technology. They are getting everything up and running. Come Tuesday, we will be ready! Thanks guys!

Thank you to Captain Steve Sones from the Bartlett Police Department for leading a session on school safety. Captain Sones and I did a walk through the school to determine hot spots that need some safety improvements.  There are several issues that need to be addressed ASAP. The first line of defense against an intruder is making sure the school is in lockdown mode 24/7. We have this covered. The interior doors are to be locked as well, blinds should be on every exterior window, and classroom door windows ready to be covered. The teachers know the safest areas in their classroom, and they have been through active shooter training. In all my years, I never thought I would be writing about active shooter training but it is a reality in this world we live in.

We have room for improvement. This is where we need your financial support. We need to improve
School Safety Session
school safety to better protect our students. We need to better secure our classroom doors. In order to do that, we need to change out the door locks and devices. We have roughly fifty classroom doors. To replace the door knobs to stronger, safer door knobs and re-key the doors for easier access for police and fire personnel, it will take roughly $7,000. This is a small amount when considering the safety of our students and staff. This includes all the students and staff in PRE who use the classrooms. We also need to replace many of the window blinds, and add interior cameras in every hallway. If you are interested in helping us improve school safety, please contact me.

Sports Sign Up
The school and church need someone who is a welder who can help us with a small project to secure one of the gates behind the school. If you are a welder, and can help us, please contact me.

One of the sessions we had during in-service was on the state of the Catholic Schools. I believe this was eye-opening to our staff members. This is a presentation I would like to make to the parish council, and even to the parents and parishioners. As you have figured out, I believe in transparency. We all need to know where Catholic Schools stand. I see the future for the schools as positive but the road is a bumpy one. We all need to know where we stand.

I have asked for donations and support for several projects we are
working on. Two weeks ago, I created a wish list, and put that list in my blog. Well, several people have stepped forward, and have started to contribute to the cause. To those wonderful supporters, THANK YOU! Without support, no Catholic School can survive. Tuition only pays part of the bills. Any extras and improvements come from supporters, alumni, parents, grandparents, parishioners, and friends. No non-profit stands on its own two feet without help from the community. We are no different. If we want to improve, and provide our students what they need, it takes support from us all. Even public school systems depend on foundations and donations to help provide for the needs of the students. Taxes don't cover all the costs. If you don't believe me, check out the Bartlett Education Foundation and Shelby County Education Foundation. All non-profits need community support.

 Support St. Ann Catholic School
We need your support. If you are interested in helping, please click on the St. Ann logo or contact me. My email is didier.aur@sascolts.org.

We are building and improving. We aren't just dreaming, we are doing.

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