What Makes St. Ann a Catholic School is...

St. Ann Students at
Madonna Learning Center

Even though this is only my second year at St. Ann, this is my twenty-eighth year working is Catholic Schools (and my thirty-first in education). I have to admit that I need to sometimes step back and remind myself that St. Ann is a Catholic School first and foremost. Even though I never forget that it is a Catholic School, I sometimes have to remind myself what being a Catholic School means, and it is not just having Catholic in the school's name.

So, I thought this would be a great topic for this week's blog: What Makes St. Ann a Catholic School... 

Colts Running Club at
Autism Awareness Run

The most important thing we do during the week is to attend Mass every Thursday with Fr. Ernie. During the school Mass, 5th-8th graders sing in school choir, serve as Altar Servers, and students in grades 1-8 serve as lectors. The students also run the AV equipment for our school Mass. Mass with Fr. Ernie also becomes a Catholic question and answer session. This has become a neat part of our Mass.

Prayer is an important part of being a Catholic School. We pray the Rosary together on the first Friday of every month. We begin the school day praying the WIT Prayer followed by the Act of Contrition. We end every day praying the Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina). We also pray before lunch.

Colts Running Club at
FedEx Family House Run

We also recite the school mission statement after the prayers and Pledge of Allegiance. "Our mission is to provide a Catholic education through faith, service, and love." The staff rewrote this mission statement last year and reviewed it again this year to make it reflect what we do every day.

Our 7th and 8th graders partner with Ave Maria Home to do service projects to help the residents and improve the grounds. This is part of the service work our 7th and 8th graders need for confirmation. Even if the students aren't going through confirmation, they are still required to perform these service hours.

During the school year, the 2nd graders prepare for first reconciliation and first communion.

Cop Stop

The 8th graders study Theology of the Body in the spring. They have also started a new program called Angel Wings. The 8th graders do this every Friday morning. The students write letters and prayers for teachers they appreciate. On Friday morning, they put on their angel wings and go read their prayers for the teachers. It is nice having students praying for the teachers.

St. Faustina Youth Society volunteers at Room in the Inn to feed the homeless, Madonna Learning Center, Shepherd's Haven, Ave Maria, and St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry. They have fed first responders in our community, participated in Cop Stop through the Bartlett Police Department, and taken food to the Bartlett Fire Station on Alturia. The students of St. Faustina also pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet once a month.

Collecting Food for SVdP

Volleyball teams supported Dorothy Day House a couple of weeks ago by raising money and collecting needed items.

Every Catholic teacher became certified Eucharistic ministers under the guidance of Jerri Hess.

Colts Running Club participated in charity runs for Autism Awareness and FedEx Family House.

Journalism Club raises money for St. Jude in the fall and Catholic Charities in the spring. They also organized a book drive also for Catholic Charities and diaper drive for Birthright.

Reading Adventures with PDO

The school hosts Trivia Night every spring for the St. Connie Scholarship Fund to help families with tuition assistance.

8th graders team up with Kindergarten students in our school's Big Brother, Big Sister mentoring program.

The 3rd graders partner with students at Parents' Day Out in Reading Adventure with Ms. Cindy's students.

Praying the Divine Chaplet

The Beta Club members prepare Christmas boxes for children in poorer areas. Their boxes went to Ecuador and Peru last year through Samaritans Purse.

Don't forget all our students have religion class, daily. They are taught the importance of prayer. They learn about God's love for them. And, they are active in helping those in need.

Yes, there is more to being a Catholic School. This is just a start. No, we aren't a perfect Catholic School. No, we will never be a perfect Catholic School. Yes, we will continue to strive to improve in our Catholicity. Yes, we will continue to be a Catholic School first and an educational institution second.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Donor Luncheon

Thank You Donors!

St. Ann family and friends are very supportive and are an extremely necessary part of our school. Because of the generosity of those who support St. Ann Catholic School, we have been able to hold steady on tuition from last year. We hope to hold steady again for next year. We won't know if this is possible until March of 2020 when we put the budget together. If we can follow the plan we put in place for each department to not go over-budget, we will probably be able to hold where we are on tuition. To me, Catholic education needs to be affordable and available to all who want to be a part of St. Ann.

St. Ann Donor Luncheon

The cost of operating a school goes up every year. So, how can we expect to hold steady on tuition? The answer to that question is that our donors make this possible. Simple. No secret formula. No magic spells. No complicated master plan. Our donors provide the school with gifts to make financial aid possible in order to help families needing tuition assistance. Our donors fulfill teacher wish lists to better help educate our students. Our donors pay for school improvements, renovations, and updates. Our donors purchase classroom furniture. Our donors enable us to improve school security. Our donors help us keep current on technology... You get the picture.

St. Ann Donor Luncheon

Because of what all our donors do for St. Ann, we are able to hold tuition steady. Donors pay for all non-budgeted items the school needs. If we add those items to the budget, the per pupil cost would increase. The per pupil increase would reflect on the tuition. The lower the per pupil cost, the lower the tuition.

We just need to continue to work hard to improve our school (Good things come to those who work hard and never quit.), stay true to our mission statement (Our mission is to provide a Catholic education through faith, service, and love.), stick to our philosophy of transparency (the reason this blog exists), include our families in day-to-day operations, continuously develop an already incredible faculty and staff, and do all this while keeping Christ and our students first.

This past Thursday, St. Ann hosted a donor luncheon. We wanted to bring our donors together to

St. Ann Donor Luncheon

simply say "Thank You" because without you, not sure St. Ann would still be here. Thank you for your faith, service, and love.

Sixty of our donors where able to break away from their busy lives to come tour St. Ann, have lunch together, and allow us the privilege of appreciating their commitment to St. Ann. It was a great day for school. For some of our donors, they had not been in the school building in decades. For others, this was their first time to visit the school.

Thank you parents, grandparents, alumni, parishioners, and friends of St. Ann Catholic School for your support. Thank you for helping to improve the lives of our students. Thank you for helping to keep our tuition affordable. Thank you for helping our teachers educate our students. Thank you for valuing a Catholic education. And, thank you for your love.

If you would like to support the students at St. Ann Catholic Schools, here are some ways you too can help.

Annual Giving

Sister Connie Passing on the Faith Scholarship

Alumni: Click Here to share your information with the school

Wish List Part 1

Wish List Part 2

If you have questions on how you can support St. Ann Catholic School, please contact Angela de Jong at angela.dejong@sascolts.org. Mrs. de Jong is our development director.

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

2019-20 St. Ann Wish List

We have a number of very generous supporters who asked me to post a school wish list for non-budgeted items the students and teachers need. Below is a wish list the teachers have started sending my way. There will be more items to come and some items have already been gifted to us, so I have taken them off the wish list.

If you would like to contribute to one or more of the wish list items, please CLICK HERE to access our giving page. In the comment section, please designate the wish list item you would like to help purchase.

For the computer lab near the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade classrooms- Califone International CII3068AV10L Switchable Headphones Classpack of 10.  Each set of 10 is $93.13.  We need two sets for a total of $186.26. To be used for IXL and ReadWorks.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013TQ7E50/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

For our growing school band: Used musical instruments in good condition.  If you have a used band instrument you no longer use, we are in need of instruments because the school band is growing, improving, and competing.

Patrick’s Press Quiz Pro Deluxe buzzer system for Knowledge Bowl competition.  The cost of the system plus shipping is $525.  $510 has been donated so for towards the purchase of the buzzer system. We are on $15 away from being able to make this purchase for the Knowledge Bowl team.  http://www.patrickspress.com/buzzers1.htm

BrainPop and BrainPop Jr. are educational websites with over 1,000 short animated movies for students in grades K-12, together with quizzes and related materials, covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, math, engineering and technology, health, and arts and music.  The cost for an annual subscription for the whole school is $2,550. An annual subscription for an individual teacher is $230 for BrainPop and $175 for BrainPop Jr.  https://www.brainpop.com

Starfall was created to teach children to read.  It includes language arts and mathematics for PK-3rd grade.  Starfall’s emphasis on phonemic awareness, systematic sequential phonics, and common sight words in conjunction with audiovisual interactivity has proven effective in teaching emergent readers.  Starfall activities are research-based and align with individual and common core state standards in English language arts and mathematics.  The cost for a school membership is $270.  The PK teachers have added Starfall to the school’s wish list.  

www.starfall.com

Jupiter JTU700 Tuba is the band director's dream. This 3/4 size tuba includes a detachable lead pipe, valve body and bell for easy cleaning and repair, plus durable construction that is perfect for the classroom. The tighter wrap and compact size will not overly tax younger players, while still offering an ample dynamic range and rich, sweet tone. The 378 tuba features stainless steel piston valves for easy action, plus a size, which makes the sound easy to control for beginning tuba player. The Jupiter JTU700 is a full-sounding 3/4 tuba any band director will enjoy hearing hold down the low end.  The cost for this tuba is $3,389.

If you have any questions regarding the wish list, please feel free to contact me at didier.aur@sascolts.org. Thank you.

God bless you,

Didier Aur, Principal

St. Ann Catholic School

Introducing Some New Colts Part II

Annmarie Ghio Painting Library Mural

In my last blog, I introduced four of the seven new folks at St. Ann for the 2019-20 school year. Now, it is time to introduce the rest of the gang.

We will start off with Lola Scarlett. What I've quickly learned about Ms. Scarlett is that everybody loves Lola. She has worked at so many of the Jubilee Schools plus St. Paul and St. Francis. Ms. Scarlett is our new art teacher, and she will be teaching the art classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She will continue teaching at St. Paul on Tuesday and Thursday. Ms. Scarlett is originally from Portugal and taught in Catholic Schools in Portugal for about ten years before moving to the United States. We are hoping she helps us with the school plays as well. She has already helped Annmarie Ghio paint a new mural in the library. Ms. Scarlett has been described by many who have worked with her as a ball of energy. We are excited that ball of energy will be with us at St. Ann!

Lola Scarlett Painting Library Mural

Tina Ostrowski also comes to us from the Catholic School system where she taught at St. Michael. Years ago, she was also the principal at St. Michael before moving back to Chicago. She moved to Memphis years ago and earned her Bachelor's degree from Memphis. She later received a Master's from Louis University in Chicago. She is a Cubs fan, which has already created a little competition with Stacey Griffith and Julia Langford (Cardinals fans), and John Baum (Pirates fan). Makes it more interesting that all three are in the same division. It really doesn't matter because whoever wins that division will lose to the Dodgers anyway. Kind of a moot competition there. Miss Ostrowski will be teaching 6th grade religion and social studies as well as 7th grade social studies. We are excited Miss Ostrowski will be with us at St. Ann. Just as with Lola Scarlett, people love Tina Ostrowski.

Judy Thomas is our new LIFE teacher. Mrs. Thomas worked at St. Ann last year as a part-time PK3 aid. She comes to us from Shelby County Schools (SCS) where she is a Title I teacher. One of her Title assignments was at St. Joseph where she worked with Leslie Harden, our new assistant principal. Mrs. Harden said, "Judy Thomas exudes compassion and a love for teaching and guiding students. She is extremely knowledgeable in her role as a Title teacher." Much of her teaching experience comes from working with students who need some extra academic help. So, she fits our LIFE teacher role perfectly. Mrs. Thomas is the St. Ann teacher with the most teaching certifications. And, she will continue her duties as a Title teacher with SCS.

That's it for the introduction of our new staff members. Lots of new topics coming soon in future blogs. The countdown to the first days of school for 2019-20 is on. See you soon at St. Ann!

Don't forget our $10K Challenge Match.  We are quickly approaching $8K in the St. Ann portion of the match led by the Class of '86. We would love to see other St. Ann classes help us meet the $10K match. All funds from the challenge match are earmarked for financial assistance.
https://stannbartlett.weshareonline.org/St.AnnAlumniMatchingChallenge

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

Introducing Some New Colts

Leslie Harden (L) &
Melanie Wall (R)

With the coming of a new school year, there also come changes to the school staff. We made several changes and added some new positions.

The first addition is we added Leslie Harden as our new assistant principal/counselor/8th grade religion teacher. Leslie comes to us from St. Joseph Catholic School. She served as principal at St. Joseph. Leslie also served as principal at Little Flower. We have been co-principals for the Jubilee Schools and friends for a number of years. She will bring with her a wealth of Catholic School experience. St. Ann will continue to improve and grow with Leslie Harden working with the teachers and students.

As St. Ann continues to grow, we are adding new classes. We will have two PK4 classes. Lori Morgan will continue as one of the PK4 teachers. Deborah Harty will be the other PK4 teacher.

Layla Post will serve as the PK4 aid.  Mrs. Post actually spent the later part of the 2018-19 school year at St. Ann.  When Mrs. Harty needed an aid because of an injury she sustained at work, Mrs. Post served as her aid.  The teachers thought so highly of her they asked that we hire her to replace Wanda Sexton in the PK classroom.  Mrs. Post is a St. Ann, St, Benedict, and Colorado State University alum.  She earned a B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies with a focus on Child Development.  She plans to continue her studies at either the U. of Memphis or CBU.

With Amanda Bannister returning to the PK3 classroom, Selina Trouy has returned to the position of office manager.  As we say in the office, Mrs. Trouy is once again the face of St. Ann.

Jennifer Burnett will replace Selina Trouy as our new finance manager. Mrs. Burnett grew up a member of St. Ann Parish.  She is a graduate of Bartlett and U. of Memphis where she earned a B.S. in Education.  She comes to us after spending the past thirteen years at Varsity Spirit. Mrs. Burnett is not only a St. Ann employee, she is also a St. Ann parent. Being able to have her children with her at St. Ann is priceless. For six years, I had my children with me at Helias Catholic High School, Those were the best six years of my professional career because I had the opportunity to share every school day with my children.

With Deborah Harty moving to PK4, Melanie Wall will serve as our new 1st grade teacher. Ms. Wall comes highly recommended to us by the great folks at the Jubilee Schools. She comes to us by way of St. John Catholic School.  She is a lifelong Memphian having graduated from St. Mary's, Briarcrest, and U. of Memphis with a Bachelor's degree in English and Master's degree in Early Childhood Education. Ms. Wall has spent a lot of her summer at St. Ann getting ready for the new school year. Her classroom is ready to go.

In my next blog, I will introduce Tina Ostrowski, Judy Thomas, and Lola Scarlett.

Don't forget our $10K Challenge Match.  We are quickly approaching $7K in the St. Ann portion of the match led by the Class of '86. We would love to see other St. Ann classes help us meet the $10K match. All funds from the challenge match are earmarked for financial assistance.
https://stannbartlett.weshareonline.org/St.AnnAlumniMatchingChallenge

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

Grit

I love the word grit when used to describe students who give their best effort to succeed. It is the effort they give especially when the learning gets tough that helps develop grit. Grit is the mental toughness needed for an individual to achieve success. Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania wrote in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance that "grit is a strong predictor of success and ability to reach one's goals."

As an educator, I feel we do a disservice to our students if we do not push them to work harder by reading at higher levels, solving more difficult problems, and grasping deeper concepts regardless of the subject matter. I do not expect my educators to develop easy lessons for the students. Teach with love and compassion, but do not accept lower level work. Push them to struggle. If they struggle and persevere, they develop grit. If they struggle and give up, they aren't developing the grit needed to succeed when the going gets tough. Anybody can succeed when things are easy.

So, a word to educators and parents: do not make things easy on your students and children. Push them to develop grit because we all know people who fold like a house of cards whenever things get tough. They cannot handle the pressure and blame others for their lack of success. Let's help our students learn how to deal with failure and still move forward.

Unfortunately, I did not possess this grit when it came to academics especially when I struggled in school. CBHS was definitely a struggle for me. Thank God I had teachers who would not give up on me and pushed me to succeed. They didn't make it easy on me. They held me accountable. Catching up academically at CBHS was my battle. My parents never dreamed of stepping in and finding a way to make it easier for me academically. That's why they sent me CBHS. They did not want to make it easier for me.  Just the opposite, and I'm glad they did.

I had grit in athletics but not enough for me to fulfill my dream of making soccer my career. I could have used more grit there. But, where I have always had grit is in the work place.

In all the places I have worked since I was a teenager, I have never been the smartest person in the room, but I did and will continue to out-work everyone in the room. I put in more time, energy, and passion into my work and have constantly moved up. I am proud of that. I love to work and I love where I work. And believe me, it takes every bit of time, energy, passion, and love to push forward at St. Ann. Most people wouldn't know this but it is a tough place to work.

For those of you who did not hear nor read my speech to the 8th graders at graduation (check out my previous blog to read the graduation speech), one of the things I focused on was not being afraid to fail. There is nothing wrong with failing if you are working hard to succeed, and you work even harder to pick yourself up and try again. Failure happens. Failure is a part of success.

This is a lesson Kelley and I taught our children early on in life, but we used a different phraseology with them. Instead of saying "Don't be afraid to fail," we would ask the question, "Are you afraid of success?" It was our way of teaching them that they cannot be afraid of dedicating the time and energy needed in order to succeed. Success isn't easy and it shouldn't be. You do not learn nor grow when times are easy. That happens through struggles and hard work; grit.

As a soccer player, if my team scored goals easily, it wasn't worthy of a celebration. Yet, the hard-earned goals are still etched in my mind. I am a believer that a hard-earned D, C or B is more worthy than an easy A. As parents, we need to remember that. Instead of complaining, making excuses, or looking for others to blame for hard-earned grades that are less than an A, we should praise our children for earning the tough grades. And, if they didn't work hard for that D, C, or B, there should be negative consequences involved. Think I was grounded and in summer school most of my high school years. I wasn't the best student. I paid the price. And, it helped teach me a valuable lesson. If you want to succeed, there is a price to pay.

There is something else I've learned about parenting. Do not praise your child(ren) for being smart and/or talented. Ex: You are so smart or I cannot believe how talented you are. Instead, praise your child(ren) for working hard in trying to accomplish a goal. The way I look at it, you might be smarter than me, but I'm going to outwork you. Being smart gets you nowhere if you don't have the grit to see things through.

My parents didn't praise me for doing what I was suppose to do. They praised me when I went above and beyond. I am very thankful for their parenting because they helped create the grit I needed to succeed in the workplace. My children were raised the same way. Through hard work and dedication, they have become the young people Kelley and I hoped they would be. We are extremely thankful. We led by example and our children followed. That doesn't always happen, but it did for us.

Did we make mistakes as parents? Oh God, we made mistakes just as all parents do. But we never fought our children's battles for them. We taught them their battles were for them to fight and overcome. How else are they going to survive and become independent in this world? It is a dog eat dog world out there and we are all wearing milk bone underwear (thanks Norm Peterson from Cheers).

Yes, I have the right to give advice and lecture on parenting. I'm old enough, my children are grown up, and I have worked with thousands of school aged children. I have made mistakes, but I have also learned a lot of lessons. Learn from me so as not to make the same mistakes.

Teach your children to walk on their own two feet. Helicoptering and snowplowing helps no one. No one wants to see their child struggle but the sooner they learn how to fight their own battles, the better off they will be. I've heard several parents at St. Ann use this phrase when their child complains and I love it. "Suck it up, Buttercup. That's life." I heard a great quote last week that makes so much sense. "Don't love your children so much that no one else can."

I love my children and all my students. I love them enough to make sure to teach them to be independent and successful. I love them enough to not keep them from failing. I love them enough to teach them how to get up and keep working to succeed. And, I love them enough to not do it for them. It is hard to step back sometimes. But, it is necessary.

Wishing all children throughout Shelby County a restful and safe summer.

Now, go read a book.

St. Ann...Pray for Us!
Live Jesus in our hearts...Forever!

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

Spring Break '19!

Spring Break '19! Sounds exciting doesn't it. Years ago, Spring Break meant travel, the beach, overseas soccer tournaments (Italy, Mexico, and Brazil), mission trips, spending time with my own children, or just a break from work to relax. Even though Spring Break '19 sounds exciting, it has now become another work-week at a bit slower pace. No getting to the office by 6:30 am. No carpool lines. No phone calls. And, almost no emails. Yes, I got a lot of work accomplished over Spring Break '19 that I normally would not have accomplished. It is just that I'm the type of person that if I'm going to be at work, I prefer to be there when the classrooms are filled with students and teachers and the office is busy with people coming and going.

I think I Neflixed (I just verbed Netflix.) just about every night during Spring Break. I watched a few episodes of Loser and the first season of Cricket Fever. Looking forward to season 2 to see how the Mumbai Indians fair, and cheer them on to hopefully making the tournament. They missed the tournament by one game. I watched several other movies including Pele', Cars 3, Period, End of Sentence, and several documentaries. I did watch at least one Hallmark Christmas movie.

New Fascia & Soffit

I actually planned to take off Friday but ended up working to wrap things up.  I did take off Wednesday for no particular reason; just did. I cannot remember what I did. Oh yes, I do remember what I did. I SLEPT! That was nice. I slept.

Here's something I did that was pretty cool. I've been waiting for some warm and dry (Dry is the operative word here.) weather so I could finish a project started about a month ago. About half of the fascia and soffit on the back house needed to be replaced. This weekend, I finished repairing the trim, caulked the joints, and painted the repaired sections. It is not often I am able to do home repairs such as this especially due to the lack of time to complete the project and my lack of construction skills. So, I have to brag a little about finishing this home construction project.

Gym Camera View

Speaking of construction projects, a special thanks to Tony Mulrooney and Nathan Harmeier for completing the school security camera project. Nathan Harmeier with Above and Beyond Electric Company installed the wiring from one end of the school to the other. And, if you know the school layout, there are about six different ends to the building. Once the wiring was installed, Tony came in and installed and programmed all the cameras. He still has a little bit of programming to do but the school security camera system is up and running. This was phase one of our school security plan. Now, it is on to phase two, which is installing intercom speakers in the hallways.

This week is STREAM Night week. On Thursday, March 21st from 5:30-7:00 pm, we will host our second STREAM Night for this year. It will be an evening of curiosity, exploration, and discovery for all who attend. We will be showcasing work by students from PK 3 through 8th grade. Several organizations throughout the community will also present projects including Pink Palace Museum, St. Agnes Academy, Bartlett Crime Unit, and several more. Come out and join us in the school gym.

Student Spotlight:
Arabella Schiavone has been swimming competitively since the age of 7. She swims for Memphis Thunder Aquatic Club in Collierville. Recently, she competed in the 2-day Polar Bear invitational, and participated in six events. Her events included 100 yard Individual Medley, 50 yard Freestyle, 50 yard Breast Stroke, 100 yard Freestyle, 50 yard Butterfly, and 100 yard Backstroke. She ribboned in 4 of her 6 events, and even took 4th place in her 50 Fly and 7th place in her 50 Breast and 100 Back. She continues to shed time off each event every race! Congratulations Arabella!

We have so many students involved in bowling that we have our own bowling league. During the St. Ann School Bowling League, Ethan Nichols (5th grader) bowled his highest score ever. This was a scratch game with no handicap. Ethan bowled a 244. Way to go Ethan. Looking forward to you bowling a 300 game. High school bowling coaches might be visiting you soon.

Luca de Jong played the roles of Skater Dude and Jock in Disney's High School Musical production at the Bartlett Performing Arts and Conference Center. St. Ann alumni, Penny Rosenberg, played the role of Sharpay. Luca is an athlete, musician, actor, and honor student: think we are seeing the creation of a Renaissance Man.

We start the last quarter this week. We need everyone sharp and working hard. There are so many activities scheduled for the last two and a half months of school. This is a time to work harder and not get spring fever. No one on campus needs to coast to the end. This is when all of us need to sprint to the finish. Let's encourage everyone to give their best effort starting with ourselves.

One last thing, please keep the students and staff in your prayers. We need the strength of the whole parish to finish strong.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

God bless you,
Didier Aur, Principal

Doing Good for the Sake of Doing Good

Want to start this blog with some great news. The security cameras and all the wiring have been ordered and have arrived at school. The installation of the security cameras begins tomorrow morning! I'm looking forward to having the cameras in place to better protect everyone on campus. I'm also looking forward to the next step in making our campus more secure by adding the speakers to the hallways, gyms, cafeteria, and kitchen. After that, we will work on replacing the door locks.

My style of leadership is one where I work with people to get their input on what needs to be done. I don't lead in a vacuum. I want people's input and help in making decisions. When things go well, everyone gets credit. I think that is very important. And, I will take the blame when things don't go the way they are supposed to go. Hey, that's part of leadership. I'll throw myself under the bus, but I will do my best to never throw anyone else under the bus.

I say all this because there are some times where I have to make a decision without getting everyone's input. I don't like doing that, but I will make those decisions every once in awhile and move forward with that decision.

Select Members of the SAS Band
Performed at CBHS.

One of those decisions I've made recently has to do with the Extracurricular Exploration (EE). As part of the Advanc-ED accreditation process, I reviewed, reviewed, and reviewed our students' ITBS and easyCBM scores. I saw individual strengths and weaknesses. I discovered where our students can benefit from extra help and those who will benefit by giving extra help.


So, in organizing this latest EE, I added tutoring to the EE

classes. Except, I did not make this class an optional class for students. The middle school teachers submitted a list of students who need extra help in different subject areas. I confirmed the names on the list with the test scores. I did not ask the students on the list if they wanted to be in the tutoring class, I pretty much mandated it. But, I mandated it for a purpose, and that is to give our students another opportunity to improve academically. Student academic success is part of my job.

There is something else I did with the EE tutoring class. I reviewed the test scores and got the students with the highest test scores, who I felt would do a good job of tutoring classmates in helping those classmates improve academically, and made them tutors. I did not ask those students if they would tutor, I assigned them as tutors for that EE class.

I have several reasons for doing this. So, here's my explanation. Let me start off by saying that assigning these students as tutors is about as high a compliment as I can pay any student. If I know you have the academic ability to help other students succeed, and I believe you have what it takes to help other students succeed, you have won my confidence and trust. There are plenty of adults out there I wouldn't want tutoring in my school, but these students that have been selected to tutor, I want them to not only share their knowledge, I also want them to use the talents God has given them to help others. "To whom much is given, from him much is expected." (Luke 12:48) God gave you the talent, I'm giving you an opportunity to use your God-given talent.

At the school Mass last Thursday, Fr. Bill talked about how teaching is a witness. He even used the example of students teaching students. He said that when students teach students, they are doing God's work. In today's Gospel reading from Luke, we are reminded to "do to others as you would have them do to you." With that in mind, I'm going to do the best I can to help others because I sure hope they will help me when I need it. That's not the main reason I help others. The main reason I help others is because I was taught to see Jesus in all my brothers and sisters. I sure hope they see Jesus in me.

Also in today's Gospel, a part that stands out for me is "lend expecting nothing back." These tutors are lending their knowledge to their classmates, and together, their knowledge will grow. Your reward is knowing that you are doing God's work. In the end, "gifts will be given to you," for you are doing good for the sake of doing good.

I would like to thank Patrick Bennett, Jonathan Clowney, Brayan Garcia, Luca de Jong, James Kargauer, and Logan Wymore, for helping to tutor their classmates. I also want to thank Stacey Griffith and Teresa Ferrante for leading the Tutoring EE. Without all of you, this tutoring effort would be fruitless.

Student Shout Out:
This past weekend Jonah Odum competed in the TN-AAU Region 4 Championship and placed 4th out of 10 wrestlers. This qualifies Jonah to compete in the TN-AAU State Tournament where only the top 4 athletes from each region can compete. During Jonah’s qualifying match, he overcame extreme adversity. He was down four points with 30 seconds left. Jonah was able to flip his opponent and put him on his back where he then pinned him to earn his spot to compete at the state championship.  Congratulations to Jonah and good luck while competing at the state tournament in Knoxville, TN on March 2nd.

Parents, please share student shout outs with me so that we may recognize our students in my blog and morning announcements.

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

St. Ann: Our Mission and Vision

St. Ann Catholic School Mission and Vision Statement

Mission: Our mission is to provide a Catholic education through faith, service, and love.

Vision: We envision a thriving school for all children that will provide a premier education in the Catholic tradition.

This message goes out to everyone who is part of the St. Ann community, especially since our accreditation process takes place in less than two months. I want to share these statements so our greater community is informed. I want you to be aware of the mission and vision statement the St. Ann staff created during the first days of in-service last August. The staff came together to examine and update the school's mission and vision statement, which should be reviewed every year. The last time it was updated was in 2013 when the school was going through the last accreditation process.

7th Graders Taking Geography Test

Our goal in developing new statements was to write an honest statement that could be understood, lived out, and memorized by everyone at St. Ann, especially the students. The previous mission statement was inclusive but too long to be memorized, especially by students. The mission statement answers the question of why we exist. Well, we exist to provide a Catholic education through faith, service, and love. The vision statement is future-casting in guiding us to where we hope to be five years from now. As we look to the future, our goal is to improve the quality of education we offer our students to the point we are offering a premier education to all our students at every level. At present, we provide our students a very good education. We aren't premier yet, but I do believe with a lot of hard work, we will get there sooner than later. What I ask from every teacher, staff member, student, family, parishioner, alumni, and supporter is to help get to where we need to be. Let's become a premier Catholic school for all our students together.

Chess Extracurricular Exploration

At this point, the accreditation process is taking most of my time. With so much yet to be done, the accreditation process hangs over all of us. As the head of school, this is the fifth time I've led a school through the accreditation process. This is nothing new to me. Every five years, the accrediting agency changes the accreditation process to keep up with the changing times. The idea of the process is that work is done on a yearly basis to achieve a five-year goal. There are steps that need to be put into place to be able to reach goals.

Scholastic Book Fair

One of the goals from 2013 was to improve math scores on the ITBS by five normal curve equivalent (NCE) points. This is a great goal to achieve. I wasn't at St. Ann five years ago, so I commend those who set that goal. A five NCE point improvement makes sense; one NCE point for every year of a five-year process. The first year, 2014, huge improvements were achieved, only to drop back near the original scores. The five NCE points were not achieved by any grade after five years. These scores are from the ITBS, which is administered late April or early May. The other two goals dealt with increasing the amount of technology used in classrooms and in classroom instruction.

Scholastic Book Fair

The goals we are setting for this new accreditation process will not be five-year goals but one-year goals. After accomplishing these three goals, we will set three more goals for the following year. If we achieve three goals on a consistent basis, our test scores will improve; everything will improve. In the words of Fr. Ernie, "Improve the quality of the school." That's what we are doing. Sustainable improvement cannot happen over night and cannot be done in a vacuum. Improvement is going to take time, and is going to take us working together.

Library Volunteers

St. Ann Improvement Goals:

1. St. Ann needs to add a school counselor to the staff. The hope is that the school counselor will also be qualified to work as the school’s assistant principal.

2.  St. Ann would like to become a one-to-one school with iPads for grades 2-4. We are already one-to-one in grades 5-8.

3.  St. Ann would like to develop more individualized lessons geared toward the individual students to better serve them.  This is where a counselor and assistant principal would help, especially in breaking down the data and helping teachers create more individualized lesson plans.

Kindergarten Free Play

All the Catholic Schools of this diocese minus the Jubilee Schools are going through the AdvancED accreditation process together. The visiting AdvancED team will be here April 1st & 2nd to meet with all the school leaders. One of their meetings is with parents from all the schools. Lori Locke and Jimmy Crews will be the parents representing St. Ann.

Members of AdvancED School Improvement Plan committee are: Didier Aur (principal), Angela de Jong (development director), Annmarie Ghio (teacher), Teresa Ferrante (teacher), Mike Green (technology coordinator), Susan Hunt (parish administrator), Lori Locke (Home & School president), Liz Wehmeyer (parent and Apple certified teacher), and Fr. William Parham (associate pastor).

Thank you to everyone who completed a teacher, staff, parent, or student survey last fall. These surveys have come in handy in developing goals for the school. We hope to use annual surveys to keep the improvement process going.

Support St. Ann

If you have a little time, please say some prayers for a successful accreditation process. We need and appreciate those prayers.

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