IStation and Kindle Fire

The faculty and staff at St. Ann are constantly working to improve the education we offer our students. I have never worked with such hardworking and creative educators who are willing to step out of their comfort zone to try something new and different if they feel it will help our students.

Our St. Ann families, friends, and alumni have joined in by financially supporting our efforts to incorporate new programs, material, and technologies so that we are able to enhance our educational offerings for our students. We have asked for support, been extremely transparent regarding our needs, and have been faithful stewards of the many gifts we have received. I do feel the improvements are visible and take place on a daily basis. Because of these factors and many more, those who want to see St. Ann continue to improve and grow have stepped up to support the work taking place.

Sometimes, the ideas on how to grow and improve don't come from within. They come from those outside our school. That's how it is with Mike Devereaux. Just to refresh your memory, Mike Devereaux is the gentleman who lives in Dallas, TX and challenged St. Ann to match his $10,000 donation.

Well, Mike is super involve with education especially Catholic education in the Dallas area. He learned about IStation (www.istation.com) and how this program is helping schools. IStation is a fun, interactive program that allows the children to engage in reading and math activities that target challenges they may be encountering with particular reading and math skills.

He offered to pay for an IStation subscription for St. Ann PK-2nd grade. So, we took him up on his offer!

Leslie Harden (assistant principal) is our IStation leader. She has been working with Angela Odum (2nd grade teacher) and Melanie Wall (1st grade teacher) on using IStation in the classroom. Our 1st and 2nd graders have been using IStation and love it. With Istation, the teachers have a chance to differentiate instruction while allowing the program to create the lesson plans and activities for the students. Furthermore, the students get an individualized learning plan that hones in on what the students may need for extra practice.

When, Mike Devereaux learned that our students are having to share iPads (4 students to every 1 iPad in 1st and 2nd grade), he did his research with the IStation folks. He discovered the best technology for IStation and younger students is the Kindle Fire HD8. So, Mike is challenging us once again. This time, the challenge is to raise half of the cost so that St. Ann will be 1-to-1 with the Kindle Fire in the classroom. That way, students don't have to wait in line to use IStation.

With that being said, we are seeking $2,800 to purchase Kindle Fires for our first and second grade classrooms. We need a total of $5,600, which Mike is willing to give us half if we raise the other half! With this, we can purchase 45 Kindle Fire HD8 (32GB) including protective case and two charging carts. The charging carts will keep the Kindles charged and protected.

The cost of purchasing 45 iPads would be over $22,000. The Kindle Fire option for our younger students makes much more sense. Plus, they will be able to use the Kindle Fire with other programs they use.

How can you help? CLICK HERE to donate to this challenge. In the comment section, please write for IStation or Kindle Fire. We've sent out this information via direct email request and Facebook. Our supporters have already started giving to help our students. We will keep you posted via our Facebook page on the progress of this challenge.

Thank you for helping our students and teachers.

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

Click here to read previous blog.

Fall Fest and the School

The importance of transparency in the workplace cannot be overstated. I learned this years ago when I first became a school administrator. I quickly learned that being a Catholic School administrator is much more than knowing about curriculum, instruction, and student discipline. It is about being accountable to everyone, leading by example and faith, developing relationships, working with parents, building a development network, hiring the best people possible, creating a great team, and becoming a trustworthy leader.

In order to learn more about leadership, I turned to leadership experts for help. I started reading leadership books by John Maxwell, Jon Gordon, Stephen Covey, Jim Collins, Patrick Lencioni, Joel Manby, and The Arbinger Institute. I listen to Minute with Maxwell every morning when I arrive at St. Ann. Been doing that for years. My favorite leadership books are The Energy Bus and Soup by Jon Gordon and Love Works by Joel Manby.

These leadership gurus have many commonalities in their leadership styles. One of several commonalities that stuck with me was transparency. You have to be transparent in what you do or you are going to do whatever you do all alone with no support. No matter how good your idea, you will be on your own unless you keep your team informed and included on what's going on. If you want to succeed and do what's best for the company, you need to be transparent. Transparency creates trust and leads to success.

This brings me to the St. Ann Fall Fest and here's the transparency part regarding Fall Fest and the school budget. The budget for the the 2019-20 school year is a little less than $1.8 million. Most of the school's income comes from tuition. But, with 59% of the families receiving financial aid, there's a pretty big income gap that needs to be filled. The single biggest income gap filler is the St. Ann Fall Fest.

We projected the Fall Fest would make up $50,000 of the school's income gap. That's what it did last year, and hope to repeat that this year. We need for Fall Fest to at least make up that gap because that's what we put in the school's budget.

When the Fall Fest organizers ask the school families to sell raffle tickets, this is why. When they ask us to sell even more raffle tickets on top of the tickets already sold, this is why. The car raffle was the single biggest ticket item and income producer last year. Period! With the choice of one of two cars this year, we anticipate the car raffle ticket sales to be higher than last year. As of today, we are actually down by about $5,000 on the car raffle. That's 1,000 $5 raffle tickets less than last year.

If you haven't purchased car raffle tickets, please consider buying a pack of 10 tickets. We have them in the school office. Come on by.

If you have friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and/or relatives who would like a chance to win a car, please consider selling them tickets.

For more information, call the school office at (901) 386-3328 or visit the Fall Fest website at https://stannfallfest.org/. For more information regarding the car raffle and to purchase raffle tickets online, visit https://stannfallfest.org/home/schedule/raffle/.

If you are unable to purchase raffle tickets, come by this weekend and join us at the best party in Bartlett, TN at the St. Ann Fall Fest.

Thank you for supporting St. Ann Catholic School.

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

Click here to read previous blog.