October, 2010

Dear St. Catharine Families,

We’re at “interim” time for the first quarter….hard to believe!  September has flown and thankfully the weather is turning cooler.  Students in grades 1 – 6 will receive an interim in their folders today.  Students in grades 7 – 8 will be sent their interims via mail. 

There are four important items to be noted:
1. Our school website is “up and running”!  There is a lot of information that will still be added, but we will continue to add additional items as we move along.  Most importantly, the homework site is ready for teacher input. Again, all students are required to use their planners.  This homework site is for parents to check for either verification or additional information.  Please also note that the website will always contain updated information, so we would ask parents to check on a daily basis.

2. All schools have been offered the opportunity to have a “flu vaccine” clinic at their schools.    This information is included in the packet.  If you are interested, please return the enclosed signed forms.  The Health Dept. will bill an insurance co. for the cost of the vaccine - this is not "free". No money will be exchanged at the clinic. For those families without insurance, the vaccine is still available  - just put no insurance.  Past vaccine records (most importantly for under 9 years of age) should reflect if the child received the H1N1 vaccine last year (both doses?)  If they didn’t receive both doses, they will need both doses this year.  Please fill in with appropriate dates.  The date for this immunization is Wednesday, October 6 from 8:30 – 10:30.

3. I have included a re-print of a recent article in the Dispatch regarding the grading system in many of our surrounding school districts.  As many of you know, our Progress Report, that is standards based, was a difficult transition for many of our families.  The issues that these school systems are now addressing are ones that we’ve responded to on our Progress Report that has been in effect for a number of years.  As a Catholic school system, we pride ourselves in addressing challenging issues and familiarizing ourselves with proven educational research related to this topic.  We feel that we do strive to provide reports that give an accurate reflection of student academic progress without the filters that can sometimes impact the final grade.

4. As we begin this school year, our classes will continue to address issues of respect for others and the hurt created by any bullying situations.  We do have high standards for our students as members of a Catholic school community.  We ask for parent support on this topic.  Be aware that students are not supervised on the school grounds after school hours.   You know that teachers are supervising your children during school hours, but after school hours, there is no adult present to supervise any students.  Even students in the middle school (and perhaps more) need adults to be present.  In addition, we need your help in supervising the texting and e-mails that can create ramifications in the school lives of our students.  As noted in our “Parent to Parent” programs, parents are our first “line of defense” in closely monitoring texting and e-mails.  Facebook accounts require students to be 14 years of age to open an account.  Since children must be 14 years of age to have a Facebook account, our students are generally younger than this age.  Given this age limitation, Facebook accounts should not be an issue for our school students.

Thank you, in advance, for helping us with these issues.  The wonderful part of St. Catharine School is building a sense of community and working together to support your children and our students as they grow and develop into responsible young adults.

Happy Fall!

Sincerely,

Janet L. Weisner, Principal