Dear Parents, Teachers, and Parish Staff,
Here are the articles from this week’s newsletter;
PRINCIPAL’S
CORNER
The faculty and I
spent a productive day together Friday designing our goals for the 05-06 school
year. We began with an evaluation of
this year, looked at our needs and what we can do to improve curriculum,
faith/spiritual development, character development, and community building. We also reviewed the calendar for next year,
and as soon as it is approved by Bob Mizia, Superintendent of Catholic Schools,
I will share this with you before school is out so that you can make vacation
arrangements in advance. We will also
post it on our website. Of course, you
know how much we need to have you plan vacation times around school, not during
school!
Thursday of this
week we will host a reception for our new third grade teacher (05-06), Ms.
Wilkins, who will have a chance to meet her soon-to-be third graders and their
parents from 2:50 – 3:30 in the second grade classroom. All others who would like to welcome Ms.
Wilkins are encouraged to drop by and introduce yourself.
Standardized test
scores have arrived and I will be sending these home
soon through your child’s classroom teacher.
Right now I am analyzing them to see where our strengths and weaknesses
are, and what specific skill areas need further development. While I cannot tell you how we did in
relation to last year, because the test is under a new norm, I can tell you
that we did very well in all areas.
National stanine scores of 7’s and 8’s are
consistently noted in all subtests with the exception of math procedures which
still rank 6’s and 7’s. For those who
may not understand, the 7’s and 8’s are stanine rankings
on a bell curve of from 1-9 clearly indicating above average scores. As I complete an analysis of our test scores,
I will give you more detail on the areas where we were outstanding and those
areas where improvement is needed. All
in all, I was very pleased with the results and feel we are offering a solid,
challenging academic program in which the benchmarks are being reached by most
children.
Enrollment is
looking food for next year. So that you
can tell your neighbors and friends, we still have openings in the following
grades:
K – 8
1 – Full
2 – 7
3 – Full
4 – 3
5 – Full
6 – 2
7 – 5
8 – 1
We appreciate all
that you do to market our school. The
testimony we have had from interested parents is so positive. Many are finding us via our website, and some
hear about our school through your many positive comments. We would like to be complete full for next
year and certainly have the potential to do this. Keep ‘em coming!
St. Clare Women’s
Emmaus Ministry would like to extend a warm welcome to women of the parish to
join us at our next get-together and coffee!
Please take this opportunity to meet, come and share fellowship with the
women who worship at St. Clare alongside you.
Information about our Women’s Retreat will also be available for those
who are interested. Please contact
Joanie Quinn, 503.452.1650, if you have any questions.
Where: In the
What: Fellowship and worship plus coffee and
treats!
When: Saturday, June 4th, 9:30 to 11:00
a.m.
Who: The
How: Easy!
Just mark your calendar and show up!
THE EDUCATION AND ACTION TASK FORCE OF ST.
CLARE PARISH INVITES OUR COMMUNITY TO:
Fifth
in a series on Conscience Formation tonight, Tuesday, May 17th at
7:00 p.m. in the parish hall,
We would like to
take this opportunity to welcome three members to our School Advisory Council
for the 05-06 school year in new roles. They are President of SAC, Mr. John Ferraro,
father of Joel (3) and Jamie (7); Vice-President of SAC, Mrs. Renee Cline,
mother of Michael (KA), John (4); and Secretary Linda Fanning, mother of Zoe (1).
We would also
like to take this time to apologize to Mr. Steve Michels, father of Chandler
(KA), for not getting his name correct in the previous announcement of new SAC
membership. Mr. Steve Michels will be
joining eight other SAC members in addressing the finances of the school,
program and policy development, and marketing.
Leaving SAC after
serving three years is Tom Griffith, David Blaskowsky and Jaye Fraser. We are most grateful to them for their good
advice and support of our overall program.
Director, Nancy Melzer,
extends her heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended the St. Clare Preschool
second annual art exhibit. It was a huge
success and raised over $4,000. Thanks
to everyone who worked so hard to make this such a success and to all of you
who ventured down to see our up and coming artists!
REMINDERS!
· Furniture sale! – If you would like to buy a desk or
chair, please contact Sr. Moe. Desks
will sell for $10 and chairs for $5.
- All registration fees for the 05-06 school year are due by May 31st.
- Friday, May 20th is the last day to
check “Lost and Found” for this month.
After Friday, everything is packed up and shipped off to St.
Vincent de Paul.
- Saturday, May 21st from 8:00 to 12:00
is the SAC retreat
MANDATORY SAFETY TRAINING VIDEO, THURSDAY 5/19
If you are planning on being
with school kids four or more times next year during the course of the school
day you must view the “Safety Training Video”.
It will be presented this Thursday evening, May 19th, by Mrs.
Nancy Melzer and Mrs. Colleen O’Mahony in the school library. Childcare will be provided. Bring your own popcorn! The video is about 30 minutes long. Please be sure to fill out the forms that
will be available that evening documenting that you have
viewed this video. Thank you.
CENTRAL CATHOLIC SUMMER SPORT CAMPS
Central Catholic Summer Sport
Camps, along with Valley Catholic Sport Camps, can now be viewed on our website
in the “Quick Links” box under “Coming Events”.
As we receive other sport camp opportunities through our neighboring
schools, we will try to post those on our website as well.
05-06 Supply Lists
As promised, the 05-06 school
supply lists are available for those early shoppers who want to get a head
start. A copy can be picked up in the
office or downloaded from our website under “forms”.
SCRIP NEWS
Special orders are due
Friday, May 20th. They will
be delivered to you by Friday, May 27th. Please plan ahead as this is the last special
order of the school year.
May is “Customer Appreciation
Month”. If you purchase over $500 you
will receive a $10 Starbucks card. If
you purchase over $250, you will receive a $6 certificate to Krispy Kreme.
We are STILL looking for a
publicity chairperson for the SCRIP committee next year, no experience
required. Please contact Jeanne Raffety
or Joan Spiller if you can help.
This letter comes from the “Office of the Vicar
General”
Fr. Tom Farley has asked us to post this for your
information
Reverend and Dear Father or
Pastoral Administrator:
There has been an incident
recently where a child was abused in a restroom during coffee and donuts in one
of our parishes and another incident when a child going to the restroom during
Sunday Mass was sexually abused. In one
instance the abuser was known and in the other incident, it was a stranger who
was not able to be apprehended. In both
incidents the proper reports were made to authorities. But the real issue, of course, is to do
whatever we can to keep children as safe as possible.
Abuse experts and law
enforcement officials are telling us that restrooms in libraries and churches
have become the preferred stalking grounds of predators. This seems to be because in either of these
places parents presume safety and will let their children go to the bathroom
unaccompanied – something they would never do in a mall or other public place.
After consultation with our
Archdiocesan Ministry Review Board, I am asking you to urge your parishioners
to accompany their children to the restroom at church. I would also urge you to alert your ushers to
anyone lurking around church restrooms.
We all know that kids like to take “breaks” during Mass and probably go
to the restroom more than they truly need to go, and for a while it might be a
little more disruptive if mom or dad goes with them. On the other hand, it might eventually cut
down on the number of those unnecessary trips to the rest room. In any case, we do need to see to the safety
of our children, so I urge you to make the appropriate announcements as soon as
possible and follow up with periodic bulletin notices.
Thank you for your attention
to this matter,
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Dennis J O’Donovan
Vicar General
Please parents, be prudent in
knowing the surroundings of your children at all times. Thank you.
THURSDAY, May 26th 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Please come join us for our
annual Art and Book Fair during our Open House on Thursday, May 26th,
in the school hallways from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
You will see exciting works
of art created by your own children. The
hallways will be filled with the exceptional paintings and drawings of your
students. Mrs. Acurso looks forward to
this night each year to show off the talents of your children.
Mrs. Napoli will be busy
running the St. Clare Book Fair in the school library. Come purchase new books for your children to
read, and help stock up our library with new and exciting titles to help enrich
your child’s reading at school.
There will be lots to see as
you stroll through our hallways. We
encourage you to invite your friends, neighbors and any relatives who may want
to learn more about St. Clare. Let them
experience the quality of our teaching and learning through the children’s
class work and through their framed art that will be portrayed on the walls.
It will be an evening of true
awe as you view the creations of your students.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and we look forward to seeing you all here on
Thursday, May 26th!
That’s all
for this week. Enjoy the rest of it!