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....
5. 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