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

Colts Cafe'

When people think of school cafeterias, they don't think of them as restaurants. Yet, our Colts Cafe' is just like any restaurant you see lining Stage Road. About the only difference is the Colts Cafe' serves only St. Ann students and staff.

We have a cafeteria manager, Noel Syriac. She is wonderful and is responsible for making sure the Cafe' is fully staffed, made spotless after every meal and passing health inspections, planning the meals a month ahead of time, overseeing purchases, serving a quality meal, while making sure the students and staff are happy and served quickly.

When Fr. Ernie hired me, I said that I would take the first year to see how the school operates. After the first year, improvements would be made where needed.

With that being said, we have made changes with the Colts Cafe' because the Cafe' has not been making a profit. At the end of 2018-19, the Colts Cafe' was roughly $24K in the red, and it is my understanding this has been the norm. We have to figure out how to increase revenue without increasing our prices.

So, Noel and I met this summer to review the numbers. In order for the Cafe' to break even, our revenue needs to be $400 per day. Last year, revenue was about $260 per day, which left us short $140 per day. -$140 per day times 170 days equals -$23.8K. There's our roughly -$24K difference.

How do we increase revenue?

Noel calculated each meal served. What we had to do was figure our what meals the students and staff were and were not purchasing. After the review, we have simply eliminated all non-profitable meals.

The second part of our plan to increase revenue is to better advertise our lunches. We want to make it easier for you to know what we are going to serve. Here's the link to our Colts Cafe' website page.  https://www.saintannbartlettschool.org/colts-cafe/

The third part of our plan is for me to be as transparent as I possibly can via my blog, and let you know about the profits and losses as well as the changes we are making with the Colts Cafe'.

The fourth part of our plan is to give you another option on school birthday parties. Whenever a student celebrates a birthday, many parents bring in pizzas and cupcakes for the class. When you bring in pizza for the whole class, the Colts Cafe' will have a whole class not purchase lunch. When you bring in cupcakes for the whole class, the Colts Cafe' will have a whole class not purchase desserts. We miss out on revenue from the foods not purchased. I'm sure the pizza companies greatly appreciate when you purchase 5 to 8 pizzas for your child's class to eat. We don't.

Here's our option to you. When you plan to bring pizzas and/or cupcakes to celebrate your child's birthday, contact Noel Syriac at noel.syriac@sascolts.org to order pizzas and cupcakes from the Colts Cafe'. Our pizzas are fresh, homemade, less expensive, and will be ready and waiting for you at school. The same with the cupcakes. Noel will have cupcakes ready that will also meet the needs of our students with food allergies. No eggs or milk in the cupcake or frosting. By the way, the pizzas are also gluten free.

All you have to do is contact Noel a couple of days before the birthday and she will take care of you. You can pay online with your PayForIt account https://www.payforit.net/, or you can just pay the Cafe'. We want to simplify the birthday process for you while helping you celebrate your child's birthday.

Last Friday was day one of the new planned improvements for the Colts Cafe'. Our revenue for that day was over $600. We are headed in the right direction. Please continue to give the Colts Cafe' the opportunity to serve you and the students and staff at St. Ann. 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

St. Ann Alumni Matching Challenge

A number of years ago, I was introduced to Dallas businessman Mike Devereaux. Even though Mike is not Catholic, he loves the role that Catholic education has played in his, his wife's, and children's lives. Mike is a product of Catholic Schools in Cincinnati (Our Lady of the Rosary and Roger Bacon High School). His wife is a graduate of Bishop Byrne here in Memphis. His sons graduated from Jesuit Dallas.

Mike has been a supporter of Catholic education in Memphis for many years. In our conversation, Mike has decided to continue to support by challenging St. Ann Catholic School.

Mike and Carol Devereaux have a $10,000 challenge match earmarked for tuition assistance for St. Ann. We are required to raise $10,000 to receive the match. This $20,000 will help provide families with much needed financial aid.

It is important for the future of St. Ann to have more alumni involvement and support. We are turning to our alumni to help meet this challenge match. We need your support to help our students become St. Ann alumni just like you.

Our goal is to not only match the Devereaux donation but to match it several times over because we are currently giving over $100,000 in tuition assistance for the 2019-20 school year to help our families. And, our fundraising goal for the new school year is $130,000 in tuition assistance. That's a tall order but we believe we can reach this goal. $130,000 is our BHAG (Big Harry Audacious Goal)! In order to achieve big results, we need to set big harry audacious goals.

Do you have to be an alumni to give? NO! We want and need our alumni to give and that is the main target audience but not the only target audience. We need support from everyone.

Financial assistance at St. Ann is not merit based (scholastic or athletic).  All financial assistance is awarded on the basis of need.  The average families receiving aid is headed by a single parent with two children in school and have a yearly income of approximately $35,000.

Please consider supporting St. Ann in order to help more families with tuition assistance. We cannot underestimate the importance of a Catholic education for all children.

And, let’s not leave money on the table.

Please contact me at didier.aur@sascolts.org for more information.

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

Blogging Changes

"Progress is impossible without change." I used these words on progress to review my blog in order to figure out what changes need to be made. Readership of my blog was extremely high then dropped off quite a bit towards the end of the year. The novelty of the blog simply wore off. I need to do something different. If my blog isn't progressing, it is time to make some changes.

If you have been reading my blogs, you know that I have no problem trying to do things differently and changing things up. I'll take a chance on making things work. If it doesn't work, change/improve it and move on. With that being said, I am making several changes to my blog.

First of all, the blog is TOO long! A blog needs to be shorter because blogs should be a quick read. We live in a time where you have 3 to 9 seconds to get and keep people's attention. If not, the backspace and delete keys work quickly. So, I plan to shorten the blog.

Secondly, the blog focuses on too many topics. The blog should cover one topic at a time. Kind of like when you are writing a paper; focus on one topic.  In many of my previous blogs, I tried to cover way too many topics. So, I will focus on one topic for each blog. This will be so hard to do because I have so many topics I would like to cover.

Thirdly, I started this blog back in 2011 when I lived in Missouri. The reason I started this blog was to focus on Catholic education with an emphasis on Lasallian education because of my roots with the Christian Brothers. Not only am I a graduate of CBHS and CBU, but I also worked at CBHS, Holy Names, Helias, and Resurrection. All these schools were part of the Lasallian family. Plus, I am a founding member of the Blue Streak Scholarship Foundation, which is an organization whose mission is founded on the teachings of St. John Baptist de La Salle. Today, I am serving my third term as president of Blue Streak. My plan is to continue focusing on different aspects of Catholic education especially with updates on St. Ann Catholic School.

And finally, I will make the blog a little less predictable. Instead of publishing the blog every Sunday evening, I'll publish it at different times when I have something to share. And, I already have a long list of topics I would like to share via my blog.

Let's see what change will bring. Some people hate change. I'm not one of them.

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