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| Sunset in Orange Beach, AL |
Thursday and Friday, I worked away from St. Ann so
that I could finish the Advanc-ED accreditation process. There is no way I
could have worked from St. Ann and met the accreditation deadline for our
diocese. I spent those two days completing the narratives, graphs, charts, and
surveys that we have been working on for awhile now. Well, it is
done! About 6:45 pm last Friday, I submitted the final document, which
included 33 ELEOT classroom observations; 10 teacher, staff, student, and
parent surveys; and 36 attachments of all kinds especially ITBS and easyCBM
results. I'm sure more will need to be done. But for now, we have
met the diocesan deadlines, and the accreditation process has made it to the
next level. To all those who contributed in any way, thank you. I
will keep you posted on the progress as it is now in the hands of Superintendent Janet Donato
and the Catholic School Office. Please say a prayer that all goes
well. Divine intervention can only help.
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| My workstation and a pile of Advanc-ED paperwork when I submitted the document. |
The cameras have been ordered for the school security system. We
hope to start the installation process within the next two weeks. Thank you to
the donors who are making this possible. School security is of utmost
importance. We surveyed our students on school safety as part of the
accreditation process. 96% of the 3rd-5th graders and 98% of the 6th-8th
graders feel safe in their classrooms. Those numbers are extremely high, and we
want to make sure everyone in our school is safe from any possible harm.
The next step is to work with the installers to figure out a way
of putting speakers in the hallways, cafeteria, and gyms. We want to be able to
communicate with everyone at the school, especially in a crisis situation. They
will have to figure out what type of speakers are needed for this project. I
lean heavily on Mike Green to help figure out the best route to take on these
projects. His expertise provides a positive difference in making decisions on how best to
get these things done.
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| Once I completed the Advanc-Ed work, I was able to spend time with family on our mini-vacation. |
For those who have contributed to this project, THANKS! Once we
figure out the cost of improving the communication system, we will let everyone
know. We will need your continued support for these projects because these aren't
budgeted projects. As we see the need for improvement, we start working to make
those improvements. If we budget these projects, there would be an increase in
tuition, and we do not want to increase tuition. We depend on our supporters
for these extra projects.
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| My 7th grade class sampling Middle Eastern cuisine. |
The spike in teenage depression and suicide we have seen nationwide is scary. I had a
conversation with one of the lead counselors from Lakeside last week. The
conversation was about the huge increase of depression, harmful behavior such
as cutting, and suicide with our youth today. My one word question, “WHY?” was
answered with her two-word reply, “SOCIAL MEDIA!”
The following is a quote from an article on social media and
depression by Caroline Miller, the editorial director of the Child Mind Institute.
"Is using social media making our kids unhappy? Evidence is
mounting that there is a link between social media and depression. In several
recent studies, teenage and young adult users who spend the most time on
Instagram, Facebook and other platforms were shown to have a substantially
(from 13 to 66 percent) higher rate of reported depression than those who spent
the least time. Does that mean that Instagram and Facebook are actually causing
depression? These studies show a correlation, not causation. But it's worth a
serious look at how social media could be affecting teenagers and young adults
negatively."
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| Hanging out with my favorite person at Picnic Beach in Gulf Shores. |
Below is just one of many videos that deals with social media
and depression. If you perform a search on social media and teenage depression,
you will be shocked as to the amount of information and research there is out
there. Just watch this one video, and you can decide for yourself if you, as a
parent, need to do more research on this topic.
I
bring this up because many of our students have Instagram and Snapchat
accounts. Few young people are on Facebook because that form of social media is
for old people. Parents, if your child has a social media account, and you have
access to your child’s social media accounts and monitor those sites;
fantastic! You are ahead of the game. If not, please do not be naïve about the
dangers of social media. As you know, I’m all about communication and
transparency. Spend valuable time communicating (listening) to your children.
They need to be heard, and social media is a way for people to hear what they
have to say.
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| Support St. Ann |
Follow
your children on social media. If they don’t have a social media account, as my
Irish friends would say, “Good on you!”
God
bless you,
Didier
Aur, Principal
St.
Ann Catholic School
Smiles!
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