Happy Gaudete Sunday

 What is Gaudete Sunday?  The day when anyone can wear pink and it's cool.  It's also the Sunday we rejoice.  For two weeks, we have been saying the Lord is coming.  Today, we say the Lord is near, and we are reminded that it is God who loves us and is still in charge and that we await his coming not with fear but with tremendous joy.  Vestments change to the rose color which is used on joyous occasions in the church.  

Another reason to rejoice was watching our students shine on Friday night.  Not only did they do a great job of singing and performing, but you could see the joy on their faces while they gave their performances.  I received sooooo many compliments not only from families but from extended family members and one former principal who had no connection to any of the children.  The evening was amazing and I told everyone who came up to me that I was not the one to thank.  Thank you, Jeff and Heather, for making the night happen.  

We also rejoice as there are 4 1/2 days left before our Christmas party.  Don't forget to bring a gift for my famous Left/Right Game.  

The faculty meeting this week is a grade-level meeting. I would like to meet with the CSW committee (Julie, Susana, Melissa, Anna, and Claudia), David, Connor, and Lisa for a few minutes prior. We can meet in room 19, which is centrally located for everyone.  

This is a reminder to make sure students bring in their Advent Angel gifts before Friday so you can be sure everyone has one. If someone forgets, please reach out to the parent.  On Friday, I will do the end-of-day prayer right after my final Christmas song, which starts at 11:55 am (less than 2 min.).  

Have a wonderful week!

On the 10th school day before Christmas break....

 There are ten more days of school before break. I'm amazed that despite all the breaks we had this Fall, I still feel like I need another. Let's pray for an uplifting, amazing Part 2 of this school year after Christmas break.  Speaking of uplifting, wait till you see the Christmas concert this year.  I've seen the script and it will be fantastic!

Please remember that we have Mass on Monday this week.  Some students with the Holy Family holy card will be in free dress, which is fine.  The rest of the week is pretty routine until we get to Friday.  Start walking over at 9:15 to church so we have time for two run-throughs.  If you can, stop by the FLC on Friday after the concert to see the PTCO after-party.  

Thank you, everyone, for a fabulous first half of the year.  Let's make 2025 even better.  

One more thing.  I hope you enjoyed Give a Little Kindness on Friday over the PA.  Now that I know how to do that (with some help from Yesenia), I will have some fun leading up to Christmas.  Enjoy!

Oh, and let's see who gets this 😁

Watch, Prepare, Rejoice

 

Today marks the beginning of Advent, a time of preparation and the beginning of a new liturgical year. As we enter this season, we are renewed with anticipation of the birth of Christ. With only three weeks of school before Christmas break, many things are happening in a short period of time.

Our Holiday Shop will be open this week; everyone should have the schedule (it can be found in Tidbits).  Someone will come to your class to pick up the students with money to shop.  

Monday, there will be people on site to work on the holes on the property.  They will start with the hole near the sidewalk at approximately 10 am.  It should not affect access to the FLC, but I will update you when they arrive in the morning.  They plan to start working on the playgrounds at 1 pm.  This means they need a clear path to the hole on the PK playground, and no one will have access to either playground after 1 pm.  Extended Day students will remain indoors unless they have finished.  The plan is to complete the work in one day. 

We have found a company to fix the gate near the basketball court, and I am just waiting for a date for the repair. The contract for the hurricane damage has also been signed, and I am waiting on start dates for that project, too. The good news is that things are happening!

Wednesday is our Advent Retreat and the start of confessions for students in grades 3-8; more details to follow.  Thank you, Melissa, for all your work on putting this together.  Finally, 6th grade will be attending Focus 11 on Friday.  Please keep them in your prayers as they explore religious vocations.  

A special hats off to Kenny, who spent the day at school yesterday fixing a leak so we could have school tomorrow.  We don't need any more school closures!  

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and have a great week!

We did it...

 and I am still amazed and very grateful!  I do believe this was our most successful Walkathon ever.  $42,000!  Thank you to everyone who supported this with money or cheering on the students.  The winning team was Pink.  They raised $6400, with the Blue team not far behind.  The real winner was the White team, which raised $17,800!!  Even though this team had double the number of students, they raised far more on a per-student basis. The White team raised approximately $150 per student versus $128 for the Pink team.  Great job everyone!!

You may have noticed I was absent for most of the second half of the Walkathon.  I was busy walking the property with two gentlemen looking at holes.  It is my hope that we get a quote this week and they can take care of the issue during Thanksgiving break.  It will require a lot of digging, excavating, repairs, cleaning out drain pipes, and putting it all back.  I am told they can do it in three days.  They will need to bring in equipment through the PK gate from the sidewalk, so please be sure everything is off the turf between the gate and hole before leaving on Friday.  I will confirm by then if this will happen next week.  If not, it will most likely happen over Christmas break.  I also hope, to get the estimate on the Angel's Wing so we can start those repairs soon too.  

There is not too much happening this week, except Friday when volunteers will be transforming the school in preparation for Christmas.  

Lastly, for those of you who were during the time Fr. Bill was the pastor, I received word this weekend that Mike Juran recently passed away.  I do not have details, but I do know he was 76, and his body was in decline for some time now after years of being a stunt car driver.  He is being buried near Buffalo, where he was from.  If you don't know who Mike is, a video was produced at the old church when he was Fr. Mike and interviewed about his stunt car driving days (see below).  Legend has it that he was the stunt driver for Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit II.  Enjoy the video, and have a great week!

Link to YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sCY9mmtqAs  

With Respect, Honor, and Gratitude...

 we remember our Veterans.  Please be sure your Morning Show is running on time Monday for a special Veteran's Day prayer service.  There may even be some singing :)

Teachers, please be sure all ATLs and comments are completed by Monday morning.  Mary and I will start going through them as there is a quick turnaround this week.  The faculty meeting this week is the second part of the Socratic Seminar.  For those teachers who have completed their conferences, you are still required to be here (if normally scheduled to be here Friday afternoons) until 3:30 pm.  

Here is what I learned at the principal's meeting Friday, we are doing a great job of sharing our Catholic Identity with our students and our parents.  I also learned the consensus is, throw away the religion books, but that's another conversation.  We talked about hurricane make up days.  What I know and what I feel good about are two different things.  I know we do not have to make up any days.  I would not feel good about not making up some of these days.  This will be a discussion before a decision is made.  

I will resend the Walkathon schedule tomorrow to everyone.  Please be supportive and wear you team's colors.  

Lastly, I have hired someone part-time to help with maintenance at the school.  His name is Kenny and his first day is Wednesday.  He will work from 12:30-4:30 so that he can make repairs after school hours and is here to help Ken with lunch clean-up.  

Have a wonderful week!

Wait your Turn!

 This is how I usually feel right after Halloween (although I saw Christmas decorations in one store in mid-October). 

In case you missed it in Tidbits, we will still have our full week off for Thanksgiving (Yay!).  I have a principal's meeting this Friday, at which time I will get more information about making up days missed.  Until turkey time, we have three weeks of uninterupted school (with the exception of the Walkathon on Nov. 15).  This week is the time to wrap up the Trimester and then transition into Trimester II next week.  If students have been struggling, let them know that the start of a new trimester is a great opportunity to set goals and aim for success.  

Some updates on happenings around the school and parish:

• Fr. Dermot will be away this week visiting family in Ireland.
• The health department is finally submitting my application for the FLC and I'm hoping they review it quickly.  I sent them everything they needed about a month ago but the hurricane put them behind like everything else.
• I am still waiting on a quote for the Angel's Wing and PK room repairs and hope to hear from them this week.
• There are two holes on the playgrounds (one on the main near the sidewalk) and one on the PK playground.  They should be covered with a cone and a table.  They have been reported but please be patient.  We do not have a facilities director right now (Tony resigned) and Ken has been out so hoping to address them this week.
• I have been searching high and low for someone to come out and fix the gate.  Everyone is booked out 2-4 weeks.  I have also reached out to a few parents to help too.  Please know I am working on it.  If anyone knows a guy, I'm all ears.  

Have a wonderful week!

Oh When The Saints...

 With the disruptions from the hurricanes, I seemed to have lost track of time and I don't know where October went, but here it is, almost Nov. 1.  As a faculty, we did not talk about All Saints, but I believe all (most) have some information for what we typically do on that day and in Religion class before/after that day.  Typically, this happens:

• PK-2 dress up as saints (1st grade may have a plan for something different which is fine)
• Gr. 3-5 design t-shirts representing the saints and wear them on that day (talk among yourselves and let me know what you plan for that day)
• Middle School has done many different things (let's talk at the Tuesday meeting about your plan)
• Students complete a saint project in Religion (makes a great summative grade).  Sometimes the research is done in October and students present their work on Nov. 1 (like in 2nd grade) others may continuing learning about saints in the month of November.  
• PK and Kinder process in at Mass before the priest and PK keeps on going out the side door.  Susana, talk to Connor about how you want to sit.  

Since Friday is a holy day of obligation, we will be going to Mass Friday instead of Wednesday.  On Thursday, students may wear Halloween/Fall colors t-shirt and jeans.  Finally, next weekend is Fall Back when we get ONE EXTRA HOUR OF SLEEP!  I've waited all year for that!

Have a great week!