Roaming Catholic

In my previous blog, I wrote about attending daily Mass. I not only enjoy attending daily Mass, I also enjoy being a roaming Catholic. Simply put, I enjoy roaming around to attend different Masses. This blog is about my nine-day plan to attend Mass at nine different places, and it has been a short wonderful and spiritual journey.

I started on Thursday, November 20th by attending Mass at the chapel at Our Lady Queen of Peace Retreat Center. Fr. Carl Hood from St. Francis celebrated that Mass for the Catholic school leaders and members of the diocesan Catholic school board.

On Friday, I attended our weekly all-school Mass at St. Ann - Bartlett. Fr. Jacek Kowal celebrated that Mass for the student. It is heartwarming seeing our students serve the Mass as greeters, altar servers, lectors, gift bearers, and in the choir.

On Saturday, our Cursillo grouping attends Mass at Ave Maria with Fr. Mike Morgera. We usually have about six to nine Cursillistas attending that Mass before our weekly grouping. Fr. Mike is part of our grouping as well.

For Sunday Mass, my family attends St. Michael with Fr. Ben Bradshaw. We live about one mile from St. Michael and Fr. Ben is a good family friend. He married both my children and Baptized my granddaughter. His homilies really hit home for so many, and just what many of us need.

I attended Mass on Monday at St. Louis with Fr. Keith Stewart. Not sure there is a more active daily Mass in our diocese than daily Mass at St. Louis. Even though St. Louis is not my parish, I feel as if I know half the people there.

On Tuesday, I attended Mass at Holy Rosary. I've been to Mass at Holy Rosary on several occasions, but that was my first Mass with Fr. Jeo Poulose. I got to put a name with a face. I enjoyed his homily.

Nativity in Bartlett with Fr. José Cruz was my choice for Wednesday's Mass. Nativity is a beautiful and welcoming church.  I enjoy attending Mass there with Fr. José.

Thursday was Thanksgiving day. I attended Mass at Immaculate Conception with Bishop David Talley presiding. Fr. Kacper Wojcieszko was the homilist for that Mass. Like the Mass at St. Louis, I knew quite a few people there.

Now for the last Mass of my nine-day plan. I attended St. James with Fr. Gerald Azike. Not sure you are going to find a more welcoming priest in our diocese than Fr. Gerald. If you have never attended Mass at St. James, you are missing out. I like going there for the Spanish Mass. The Mass times on their website might not be accurate so check with masstimes.org before heading to St. James.

What did I gain from being a roaming Catholic and attending nine different Masses in nine days? The answer is great spiritual growth. I want to grow in my faith and grow closer to God. Receiving the Eucharist in different places helps me to stay more focused on the words and actions taking place in the Mass. The prayers are important and I don't want to daydream my way through Mass. Everything becomes more intentional. I don't just go through the motions. I participate in the Mass and not just being present for the Mass. For these nine Masses, what helped to make me more intentional was that I had to plan which Mass I would attend and at what time. It wasn't a last minute or automatic decision. I had to be intentional in my actions.

The Church offers so much goodness. For me, it would be a shame not to be a part of all the Church has to offer. I got to experience the grandeur of the Cathedral and St. Louis as well as the down to earth warmth of Nativity and St. James. I had the honor of praying with my Cursillo brothers at Ave Maria. I heard short yet powerful daily Mass homilies from many of the priest. I like the short daily Mass homilies that give us a better insight of the daily readings. I experienced the hospitality of Fr. Gerald, the faith-filled passion of Fr. Carl, the insight of Fr. Kacper, the inclusion of Fr. Jacek, the enthusiasm of Bishop Talley, the wisdom of Fr. Keith, the piety of Fr. Jeo, the humility of Fr. Jose, and the friendships of Fr. Mike and Fr. Ben.

These nine days happen to come together just right. Not sure when I'll have an opportunity like this again. It will probably have to wait until I retire. Until then, I will do my best to be a roaming Catholic. Being a part of the Catholic Diocese of Memphis brings me much joy. And, I want to experience all the Church has to offer.

Live Jesus in our hearts...Forever! Amen!

Daily Mass

St. Ann Altar

"Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book" - St. John Bosco

The one good Catholic book for me was Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly. This book helped catapult me on a quest to learn as much as I can about my Catholic faith. For years, reading Catholic books has been my norm.

One of the many books I read was The Supper of the Lamb by Scott Hahn. Hahn's book has taken me to an even higher level of faith in helping to create in me a desire to attend Mass as often as possible. It has helped me to understand the meaning of the Mass and all that is taking place at the Altar, which has given me a desire to become a daily communicant.

A daily communicant is a person who receives Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist every day or as often as possible. I have for some time now been a daily communicant; Monday through Friday at St. Ann-Bartlett, Saturday at Ave Maria, and Sunday at St. Michael.

Why do I go to daily Mass? I spend those 30-minutes each morning focusing on God. It feels good to hang out with Jesus at the foot of the Cross and receive the Eucharist. Plus, the church is the perfect place to pray for others and thank God for His many blessings.

I invite you to attend one morning Mass with me and bring your family with you. Once Mass ends at 6:45am, you have plenty of time to get some breakfast before getting to where you need to be. It is a great way to start your day.

“How happy is that guardian angel who accompanies a soul to Holy Mass!” – St. John Vianney

Morning Mass starts at 6:15am at St. Ann. It is usually held in the chapel but lately we have been in the big church.

Also, I have ten copies of Rediscovering Catholicism in my office. If you would like a copy, it is yours.

God bless you,

Didier Aur

School Pillars

This blog is a continuation of the work performed by the St. Ann Values Committee. This committee was tasked with not only developing our purpose, mission, and vision statements but also forming pillars to help define our values. The values will help define who we are as a Catholic school.

Our four pillars are Pray, Learn, Respect, and Serve.

1. Always lead with prayer.
2. Always learn.
3. Respect everyone.
4. Serve your Community

The next step for the Values Committee was to define each of the pillars. The defining statements are there to support each pillar according to what they mean for St. Ann. You can see on the slides the defining statements of each pillar.

The Values Committee then went two steps farther by designating a Bible quote and a saint to correspond with each pillar. The quote and saint are on the pillar slides as well. The committee also wanted to have Bible quotes from the Old and New Testament which they were able to achieve.

As for the saints representing each pillar, the committee wanted saints from the Americas to better represent who we are. St. Katharine Drexel was selected for serve because she is the patron saint of philanthropy. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is the patron saint of Catholic Schools. St. Rose de Lima was known for her devotion to prayer. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas which goes hand-in-hand with our diversity at St. Ann. Also, Pope Francis said, "Guadalupe shows how faith is shared simply, with respect." Who better to teach us respect than the mother of God.

Next, we will be sharing our plan developed by our Behavior Committee. Have a great week.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

https://www.sascolts.org/

School Values

We have spent much time this past school year putting together our strategic plan, which we are incredibly pleased with the quality of work that has been produced. We developed four committees to start our strategic plan beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

The first committee is called our Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG - pronounce bee-hag) Committee. BHAG comes for the book Built to Last. These are the goals that are difficult to obtain but inspires everyone to give it their all to reach. From the work of this committee, we formed the Values, Behavior, and Advancement Committees.

I want to use today's blog to focus on part of the work of our Values Committee. Their work was to develop new purpose, mission, and vision statements for the school. These are important components of an organization's strategic framework that explain why the organization exists, how it will achieve its goals, and what it wants to achieve in the future.

The Values Committee met on December 11th at Our Lady Queen of Peace Retreat Center to spend a day brainstorming and developing these statements. Once these statements were written, they were presented to the BHAG Committee for review. Revisions were made and sent back to the Values Committee. The Values Committee reviewed these and did some more revising. Then, the statements were presented to the whole faculty and staff for review. Edits were made and final statements were completed. It was a lengthy process but well worth the time.

The Values Committee also developed a Student Mission Statement. They felt it is important for the students to have their own mission statement which focuses on student goals instead of school goals. The student mission statement is the one the students will recite every morning during morning announcements. 

It was a great process which took time and energy to develop. We are thankful for all those who contributed to developing the purpose, mission, and vision statements especially to our Values Committee.

The Values Committee was also responsible for developing the school pillars which will be presented next.

I do want to say that any planning is fantastic but of no use if there is not action behind the plans. These plans are not being put on a shelf somewhere as nice decorations. We are putting them into action. You will see this now and in the months to come. "Good thoughts are no better than good dreams if you don't follow through." - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

Education Changes Every Hour!

Another school year has begun, which happens to be my 35th year in education. You would think that by now, I would have a handle on education with all this experience. There is something you should know about educating our children. NO ONE HAS A HANDLE ON EDUCATION! NO ONE! Yes, the all caps means I'm screaming this.

Education doesn't change every year or even every day. Education changes every hour! The complexity of the human brain in conjunction with the ever evolving human emotional make-up, especially that of a middle schooler, makes every single hour of educating children a mystery. Education is like the 142 staircases at Hogwarts. One minute you are going up, the next down, and the next the whole staircase disappears. But then again, that's why I LOVE being an educator. No two hours are ever close to being the same.

When thinking about all the hourly changes taking place with education, don't forget to factor in the social-emotional and educational problems caused by the COVID-19 shutdown. Most of the students coming to us the past few years who were not in the classroom have been testing between one to four years below grade level. Now, it is up to our school to fix the harm that's been done.

Guess what? I love that challenge. And, I know we will succeed. I know this because I have faith in our work. "Do good and evil will not come your way." (Tobit 12:7) We are doing good!

It will take years to overcome what was deprived the students during the shutdown. It will take time, hard work, long hours, cooperation between parents and educators, patience, grit, compassion, love, and faith. My job in this process is to let the teachers work their magic and be there to support everyone. 

Our enrollment is up once again and we have added more classes. So, I know what we are doing works. Our admissions team is working harder than ever to make certain we can assist the new students. Our team is already making improvements to the admissions process for the 2024-25 school year. God, I love the folks I work with.

As for the 2023-24 school year, let's kick this pig and git 'er done! With lots of kindness, love, and doing good ahead of us, let the work begin. Like the Skyy song, Let Love Shine. Great throwback to the 80s.

God bless you and love!

What Do Educators Do In The Summer?

There's a misconception out there that educators have summers off. Wish that were the truth. Since most educators aren't independently wealthy, many have a 2nd job during the summer to help support their families. And, when not working, much of the summer is spent preparing for the coming school year.

Our educators have required work and professional development to complete in order to be prepared. Summer is a much needed time to relax but it also a time for becoming better at our craft. Lots of professional development takes place during the summer.

PK educators not only have to complete the diocesan required professional development hours but also have an added 30-hours of specified documented training for the Tennessee Department of Education. Because of the importance of early childhood literacy, 10 of those hours deal with developmentally appropriate literacy practices for pre-kindergarten students. 

All our educators are also required to have an additional 10-hours of documented Catholic religious professional development. Much is required of our educators annually, and even more is required of our PK educators.

On top of this, Catholic Mutual (our insurance company) requires annual active shooter training and the much dreaded bloodborne pathogens training. Cannot forget the first-aid and CPR training every two years. 

And yes, the principal has to go through all this training as well. This includes the 10-hours each of religious training and early childhood literacy. So far this summer, I have completed over 20 of the overall hours needed of professional development.

All the required professional development for our educators is not cheap. The school pays for the professional development. I'm always searching for free professional development opportunities. For certification purposes, many require payment. I get it! The people and organizations leading professional development sessions have to make a living.

13 of our educators will participate in The Bodine School's Structured Literacy Institute this summer. The cost is $50 per educators; inexpensive but adds up.

Educate LLC out of New York will host 2-days of professional development for the educators in our diocese. Just the cost to St. Ann for the 2-days is $4,020.

The required first-aid and CPR training isn't cheap either.

If you are looking to help St. Ann, donations to help pay for professional development are a great way to support our teachers and their work with the children. Your support is much appreciated.

Just know that many educators have been at school this summer working camps, administering screening assessments for new students, and getting their classrooms ready for the new school year. Summer is a time of renewal and re-energizing, but St. Ann educators are always available to do what needs to be done, and I love them for their dedication and passion.

Hope this gives you a better perspective of what educators do during the summer.  So, please help support your local Catholic School educator.

Help Support Our Teachers!

God bess you and love,

Didier Aur, Principal & Professional Development Specialist

Receiving the Sacraments

One of the most rewarding events for Catholic school administrators is when our students receive the sacraments. For this school year, our 8th graders were Confirmed back in January.  In two weeks, our 2nd graders will receive First Communion. In the past couple of weeks, our 2nd through 8th graders participated in Reconciliation. In between, several of our students, some non-Catholic and some Catholic but new to St. Ann, have decided that they would like to become Catholic or receive the Sacraments they have missed. These students have now been Baptized, received First Communion, and/or Confirmed in the Catholic faith.

With some of our non-Catholic students becoming Catholic, they also bring their families into the Church through RCIA. I have to believe that a big reason this is happening is because we are setting a great example of our faith through our daily actions. I'm not talking just about the actions and faith of the faculty and staff, I'm talking about all who enter our building on a daily basis consisting of students, parents/grandparents, volunteers, and church staff including all who attend the Friday school Mass with the students. We all set a great example of faith through prayer and deeds to our work for the Catholic Church.

I would like to give a special shout-out to everyone on the church and school staff who make certain all students are prepared to receive the Sacraments. Thank you to Fr. Ernie, Kathy Schober, Melodee Pohl, Katie Dyer, Brittany Martinez, and Kelly Pettit at the church office for all the preparation in making the Sacramental events happen. Thank you to our teachers who work with our students in sacramental preparation; this includes all the teachers from PK3-8th grade who teach religion with a special shout-out to Carol Caesar for making sure all the middle schoolers preparing to receive the Sacraments are ready.

A final thank you goes out to all the parents who entrust us to teach our Catholic beliefs to the children in preparation of receiving the Sacraments.

God bless you and Happy Easter,

Didier Aur, Principal

Vocation with Love

Pope Francis once wrote, "There is a kind of beauty, one that is unrelated to appearances or fashion, in men and women who pursue their personal vocation with love, who act selflessly for their community, for their nation, who work hard at building a happy family, who advance social harmony with selfless and unrecognized efforts."

When I read this, I thought of the educators I work with every day. St. Ann is fortunate to have many outstanding educators who give their heart and soul to educate our youth. They live out their vocation with love daily.

My favorite responsibility as principal is to perform classroom observations because I get to see the educators and learners in action. This is probably the least favorite part of my teachers' day. It is a contrast of opposites.

Not sure who I'm amazed by more, the educators or the learners. They all do incredible work, both appear to live their vocation. They also take pride in doing great work; outcome is important to both groups. Doing well is an expectation.

Here is a quick review of the great classroom activities I witnessed this past week while performing classroom observation.

Ms. Seller's PK3 class, the students were learning how to write the letter Q.

Ms. Farm's PK4 class, the students were learning about insects using the Scholastic Big World magazine.

Coach Angotti's PE class, the PK3 students were doing yoga.

Mrs. Morgan's PK4 class, the students were working on shapes and sorting using coins, legos, Play-doh, blocks, drawings, and IXL.

Ms. Green's art class, the PK4 students were working on shamrock pictures getting ready for St. Patrick's Day.

Mrs. Jolly's kindergarten class, the students were writing a story on what they can do on a rainy day. Kindergarten students writing a story is pretty awesome.

Ms. Scarlett's art class, the 2nd graders were working on creating water color paintings about Spring time.

Mrs. Thomas' LIFE class, the 3rd graders were working on math, adding 3 double-digit numbers from word problems.

Mrs. Miller's 4th grade class, the students were working on book reports, Amira, IXL, writing, and math problems all at the same time with all students super-focused and getting the job done!

Mrs. Wendenon's SPARKS class, the 4th graders were working with robots.

Mrs. Langford's 6th grade math class, the students were working on converting fractions to decimals and decimals to fractions.

Ms. Caesar's 7th grade social studies class, the students were learning about U.S. geography and competing on naming the states.

There is no substitute for our vocation with love, which includes hard work, passion, dedication, and faith. That's what all these teachers have in common. What a great common denominator to have in those who are helping to shape the future.

I began with a Pope Francis quote, so I'll end with a Pope Francis quote. "Nothing exists by chance. Our relationship with God is what makes us great, it is our enthronement. By nature, we are practically nothing, by vocation, by calling, we are the children of the great King!"

God bless you and love to all,

Didier Aur

Previous blog: Linkin Galdonez: Caught in the Crossfire

When is Han Solo Going to Slow Down the Millennium Falcon?

If you are a Star Wars fan, you know Han Solo used the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon to make the jump to light speed. I feel like we are on the Millennium Falcon with the hyperdrive fully engaged, going light speed, and not being able to slow down to enjoy the ride. When is Han Solo going to slow down the Millennium Falcon?

After experiencing the most exhausting of all years, this summer leading up to the 21-22 school year has been even more exhausting. If anything, time has accelerated, and we only have one more week to prepare for teacher in-service and the new year. Wow!

The workload for the administrative team is heaviest during the summer. Preparing for the new school year takes place in a two-month span; June and July. The to-do list for getting the school ready has been longer and more involved than any of my previous 33 years in education. The long list isn't just for me; it is for the administrative staff, IT, teachers, maintenance, custodians, fall fest, PRE, and Home & School. Everyone has more on their plate than ever before and busting their tails making sure we are ready.

Life is sure going by quickly, and I don't have the energy I once did. Yet, the workload and number of hours spent at St. Ann continue to increase. Because of this, my hobbies have taken a back seat. Haven't spent nearly as much time on the soccer field or on my bicycle as I wish I had.  After an extra hard day at work, it is sometimes difficult finding the time and energy for either. My trip to ride the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska never did materialize. Disappointing, but glad I live .2 miles from the Greenline, and able to go for a quick ride now and then.

I'm not complaining by any means because I actually enjoy going to work every day. I am thankful to be at St. Ann and work with the most wonderful people. I am thrilled the whole team is on board to make St. Ann the best and continue to build such an incredible culture for our students and families. Our team will walk through fire for each other and the children. For those who might take our school for granted, the grass at St. Ann is a beautiful, lush, deep green.

This year is going to be a mix of pre-COVID and COVID times. It is almost as if we are reinventing education once again. That's why all the extra work. Planning last summer was a monster. We have had to almost completely revise our plans all over again this summer. When we just about have everything figured out, here comes the Delta variant. Yay! This yay is followed with an eye roll, sigh, head shake, and a few expletives. Here we go again.

We successfully and safely made it through last year. We will do it again together this year. Keep calm and persevere. 

If St. Ann is not on your prayer list, please add us. If you normally don't pray, please start. If you already pray for St. Ann, thank you.

Dear God, please give us the faith, strength, fortitude, wisdom, humility, and passion needed to continue to move St. Ann forward, and keep our people safe. Bless us all. Amen.

Hey Han Solo, how about you slowing the Millennium Falcon down a bit! Much appreciate you doing that.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

Is That a Light We Are Seeing?

Is that a light we are seeing at the end of the narrow COVID-19 tunnel; the light we have been anticipating since last March? I do believe it is! The end of the tunnel is getting closer. The problem is the end is still far away. Yet, the tunnel is no longer quite narrow. Due to the work of our incredible scientists, researchers, chemists, medical professionals, volunteers..., the tunnel is growing wider, allowing more light to shine through giving us a much needed sense of hope that we are getting closer to the end of the tunnel. If we do not continue to do the things we need to do to keep us safe, the tunnel will continue to widen, but the end will be no nearer.

The wider tunnel is an optical illusion giving us a somewhat mythical sense of security. I do not desire to use the term "false sense of security" because we are moving in the right direction safely in opening up society to what we consider normal. The issue is that we can very quickly and easily fall back to the high pandemic transmission levels especially with the new variants of Coronavirus if we let our guard down.

The big step taking place for all schools is with teachers and staff having received the 1st dose (and for some the 2nd dose) of the vaccine. Most everyone at St. Ann will receive the 2nd dose during the Spring Break.

The CDC just announced this morning that fully vaccinated adults can now gather without masks, but asks that we continue to follow COVID-19 protocol in social distancing, hand-washing, and wearing masks. To me, this is good news giving us another opportunity of hope that the light we are seeing at the end of the tunnel is real.

As for children under 12 years of age, there is no timeline for their vaccination. I just read an article in the NY Times about vaccinating children. The part that stood out with me is that "moving below 12 years of age will require a new study and potentially a modified formulation or dose schedule." A vaccine for children under 12 isn't going to happen for awhile. The current vaccines are considered safe for 16 and above. Trials are now taking place for children 12-15 years of age.

The next step for us is to see how well we can control the spread of COVID-19 during Spring Break. Even though our numbers have been declining, will we see another spike with people gathering as they did during Thanksgiving and Christmas? Will we let down our guard and push COVID-19 protocol aside? The answers totally depend on us and our behavior during Spring Break. It is in our hands.

I am fully confident we at St. Ann will remain a safe haven for students, see the vaccination process through for our staff, follow all protocol set by the CDC and our own COVID-19 task force, and continue to see our virtual students return. With only 5% of our students on virtual learning, this is a great sign we are doing the right thing.

As we move forward, the parents of our virtual students are feeling better about their child(ren) returning to school in-person. Last week, we had two students return with two more returning after Spring Break. There are several others weighing the return to the in-person school option. And, I'm looking forward to the day virtual learning comes to an end and we have all our students attending school in-person.

Children aren't meant to sit at home learning in front of a computer. They need the interaction that comes from being with their classmates all day long. Educationally, they might do okay through virtual learning, but virtual learning doesn't help the social, emotional, or physical development of a child. Unfortunately, virtual learning is the only option many children have been afforded. Now that the tunnel is wider with more light shining through, attending school in-person is an option and a very good option at that.

As we head into Spring Break, let's enjoy the family time together and the warming weather while being mindful that we are still in the tunnel.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Only 4-Months Left

There are only 4-months left of this epic school year; the year of the Coronavirus. In a month and a half, we will reach the one-year anniversary of the March 16th switch to virtual learning for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. On this year's first anniversary, I hope to be enjoying Spring Break 2021 since Spring Break 2020 was pretty much non-existent. That break was spent preparing for virtual learning. For me, March 16th is a day to be remembered like 9/11. Unlike 9/11, March 16th has many positives to go along with it like our staff successfully implementing virtual learning; something we had no idea how to do five days before then.

Since the start of the pandemic, the world has experienced 2.23 million COVID-19 deaths. The United States has had 439K deaths. I, like everyone else, have lost friends and loved ones during this pandemic. Many families that have lost a loved one recently are having to wait up to a week or so to even meet with funeral home directors to plan a funeral.

I heard this simile today. "Life is like a fog, it appears, quickly dissipates and goes away." What a terrible, yet so accurate way of describing our lives on earth. I want to be more than a fog, at least to myself and my family anyway. That's why I love to wake early and get to work each day because even though my life, like the fog, will quickly dissipate and go away, I want to make a positive difference (too much negative out there already) while I'm still here. If I can first make a positive difference in my own life, maybe that will rub off on others, and help make the lives of those around me just a little bit better. As St. Teresa of Calcutta once said, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."

During this pandemic, depression and anxiety have run rampant throughout the world. We have seen it at St. Ann with the students, but mainly when the school year started back in August. With the staff, the anxiety was present just before March 16th during the conversion from live to virtual learning. Since then, things have gotten better and the school year has been running smoothly with a few speed bumps along the way to slow things down. Anxiety still exists, but at a much lower level. I feel this is the case because our students and staff are present and our education has been live. For the few who are online, their education has been extremely individualized because of the work of our three online teachers. This has greatly reduced anxiety and increased learning levels.

We have learned many lessons along the way. A number of the changes we have made will be permanent changes simply because they are better. During this time, I have learned more than ever before about education, and it appears our teachers have learned how to educate our students in better ways. With the implementation of a new Math and Language Arts curriculum and the great work of our teachers with the students, we have seen tremendous results in the winter easyCBM scores. The improvements we have seen especially in math are incredible. There was an increase, with some very substantial increases, in both math assessments for all grades Kinder-8th! Just a reminder that math was the hardest hit subject during virtual learning.

With the new strain of COVID-19 approaching and expected to hit us in March (I'm starting to dislike March), and the lack of vaccines available, we will continue with all the current precautions in place.  This isn't the time to let up, but instead to reinforce procedures to keep everyone safe.

There are a lot of things happening in our world. It is up to us to decide if those happenings are negative or positive. I think you know me well enough by now to know that I'm going to put on my rose-colored glasses and look for all the good that I can. Bad things happen and tragedies occur. That's part of life. They aren't fun, but we have to deal with them. Longfellow once wrote, "Into each life some rain must fall." I'm glad I like the rain.

Let us find the positives in our lives and enjoy the fog while it is here.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Beyond Our Comfort Zone

My good friend and great American philosopher, Dennis Myers once said, "In order to grow, you have to be willing to go through some type of transformation. And, you cannot go through any type of transformation if you aren't willing to venture outside your comfort zone." In 2020, individuals and businesses alike, in order to grow and for some just to survive, have had to recreate themselves by venturing outside their comfort zone to lengths previously unimagined.

The Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Memphis have ventured beyond any type of comfort zone and continue "to go where no one has gone before" as we advance in our journey through transformative changes to grow and frankly, stay alive. Each Catholic School has had to recreate themselves into institutions of education never imagined before, and we will probably never go back to where we were.

With 2020 coming to an end (Happy New Year!), even though we thought things would get better in 2021, the hardest part of educating our students and surviving this pandemic is yet to come. With COVID-19 continuing to spread and hospitals being at capacity, we are all going to have to double-down to do all in our power to keep the children and school staff safe.

According to Dr. Bruce Randolph, Health Officer of the Shelby County Health Department, COVID-19 transmission is not taking place in schools. Transmission is taking place at family gatherings and social events.

Our parents have been fantastic and really the first line of defense in keeping everyone safe. Parents have been keeping the school well informed if any family member has been exposed to or tested positive for COVID-19,  and they have immediately pulled their child from school until tested and served the necessary quarantine time. If a child comes to the office not feeling well, parents have promptly come to school to take their child home. And, parents have not sent their child to school if they aren't feeling well. In the past, parents would say things like “it’s nothing” or "you'll be fine." That is no longer acceptable and parents have been fantastic about keeping everyone safe.

Even though the CDC has reversed their original theory on COVID-19 and contact surfaces, we are not going to take cleaning lightly. The students and staff have done an outstanding job of cleaning and sanitizing. We will spend the first couple of days back from the Christmas break reviewing the COVID-19 cleaning rules and procedures.

We will still take temperatures of anyone entering the building. The faculty workroom will continue to serve as the COVID room for any student not feeling well. We will continue to limit non-school personnel access to the school building. We will continue to have lunch in the classroom or outside when weather permits. We will continue to encourage teachers to take the students outdoors when possible. We will continue to run the same drop-off and pick-up procedure because it is working and keeping the students separated. We will continue to enforce the face mask/shield policy. We will continue to follow the PAA guidelines in limiting contact sports. We will continue to contact parents who fail to contact us when their child not be in school. And, we will continue to rack our brains to figure out things we never thought about before in keeping our students and staff safe. That's tough to do.

Also, Fr. Ernie and I decided that for the first couple of weeks back, our students will not attend daily Mass.

This leads me to family gatherings and travel. If your child participated in family Christmas gatherings with family members not in the same household, please make sure no one at that gathering tested positive for COVID-19 or have had symptoms. We have a number of students who traveled to Mexico for the break. Those students will quarantine and go to virtual learning until they are tested and/or serve the recommended quarantine time.

We all did a great job of keeping everyone safe during the first semester. The biggest safety test is upon us. We will have to work together to continue to keep everyone safe. As Bishop David Talley said in his meeting with the pastors and principals, "Schools may be the safest place for our children to be because we shelter and protect them."

Thank you St. Ann parents and staff for working so diligently to put everyone's safety, especially the students', first. Please continue to communicate with school office personnel regarding household exposure and positive testing that could possibly affect our students' health and safety.

And, until May 28th, we will continue to live way beyond our comfort zone so transformation can take place and everyone can continue to grow.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

I Was The Jinx

We are starting our sixth week of school already with Fall Break coming in a little over three weeks. We were hoping to go a little farther than one month before our first positive COVID-19 case, but one month is as far as we got. Just so everyone knows, I'm the one who jinxed us as for our first positive test. At 7:27 am on September 4th, I sent out the following email to the St. Ann staff:

"We are finishing week four of the 2020-21 school year. We weren’t certain we would make it this far without a shutdown, but we are doing things right and keeping our people safe for the most part. We have had a number of scares and sent a number of students home on the side of caution.

It is time for our first break- Labor Day! Thanks for getting us this far into the school year. We have a long way to go and we have to keep our guard up to keep everyone safe. Let’s be vigilant and do all we can to prevent a shutdown.  Over the 3-day break, stay safe and be smart.

I appreciate everyone of you very much.  I appreciate your heart and your dedication to St. Ann and our students.  You and St. Ann are in my daily prayers.  I am thankful I get to work with all of you."

That is how I jinxed us because at 11:00 am, we received the positive COVID-19 test result and started putting our COVID-19 plan into action; a plan which we hoped to never have to use. Thank goodness the front office staff was on their game. We typed up COVID-19 notifications letters, one each for 7-M (7th grade Mr. Maranise's class), all middle school grades, 3rd grade, and the whole school. The letters were emailed out and we also contacted every 3rd and 7-M parent by phone in case they didn't get the email. Those parents were here in no time to pick up their children with all their school books/materials and started the quarantine process. Many of the 7-M parents have had their children tested for COVID-19 as well. Ms. Ghio and the middle school teachers were also tested.

Ms. Ghio used the shutdown plan all teachers have in place and her class was virtual by Tuesday morning since Monday was Labor Day. The middle school teachers did the same with 7-M. Unfortunately, we have experience in successfully switching to virtual learning in no time flat.

I'm thinking that all this happened because I planned to take off at noon that Friday to drive to Orange Beach for the Labor Day weekend, and hoped to be there in time for dinner. It was a little before dinner time when Kelley and I actually left for Orange Beach. I'm not complaining because I got to go to Orange Beach for the Labor Day weekend! The bad part was the drive back from Orange Beach. That became a two-day ordeal, but that's a whole other story.

At 2:49 pm, here's my follow-up email to the St. Ann staff:

"Did I jinx us or what!!!! Man, I am never sending out another email like this one ever again.  Sorry, sorry, sorry.  Going to give myself lashes.  Where are the sackcloth and ashes? Forgive me Father for I have sinned."

So, what we hoped wouldn't be the inevitable positive COVID-19 test came. We were prepared to deal with this situation. We really don't want to have to deal with it again. It is avoidable if we all follow the rules developed by the Diocesan Transition Task Force and the St. Ann Rules and Procedures Committee.

Let's do our best to keep everyone safe and sound. Let's all make good decision so that we won't have to quarantine again. As we move into the future, will one or more classes at St. Ann have to quarantine? If I were a betting man, I'd say yes. The thing is, I'm not a betting man but I am a hoping man. And, I hope we can count on one another to do the right thing to keep everyone safe. Honesty, communication, and prayer go a long way in keep us all safe.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Previous Blog: https://didieraur.blogspot.com/2020/08/there-is-no-finish-line.html