Dear Parents and Community Members,
Thank you to so many of you for your prayers and cards over the past two weeks; it has been an awesome blessing to have a new healthy baby girl at home! My schedule has been a little busier since, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world! There seems to be many “extra” things going on at school currently and in the very near future, so I will try to communicate with all of you and keep us all on the same page as best I can. Today, there is a letter going home in regards to our upcoming Fall Festival, plus grades 3-8 now have festival dinner tickets to begin selling. There is also a picture form coming home for our upcoming fall school pictures, so please fill that out and promptly return it to school. Picture day will be on Wednesday, October 5, and the Children’s Festival is the following Wednesday, October 12!
We have also recently completed our Little Caesar’s Pizza Sale fundraiser and a collection for our St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. I am so grateful for your participation in both of those events; our students are truly entrenched in living a Christ-centered life by helping others in need and supporting the Mission of Catholic Education! Other service I have noticed going on during the early weeks of the school year that I would like to point out are: the 6th graders daily cafeteria and recess service, the 7th/8th grade crossing guards, the 3rd grade classrooms rotating parish bulletin stuffers, and many classes sending cards to Marines serving in Afghanistan.
With the end of September upon us and autumn officially beginning today, there are definitely some policy reminders I need to point out. One of the most important things for me to mention to you is the arrival/dismissal time. We must all remember the safety of every child is the most important part of dropping off and picking up our children every day. A couple things I have noticed that jeopardize this safety are people parking on the east side of the sidewalk where the carpool line is facing Second Street; please pull into the line or a parking spot along the street. Another reminder for dismissal is that the only pupils who are allowed to leave at the 2:55 “first bell” are early bus riders and carpool riders (including spots on the school side of Pierce St.). If your child has an after school activity, they should wait for the 3:01 “second bell”, and if they are a walker or have to cross the street at all, they should wait for the 3:01 bell (including students riding home with high school siblings). One final dismissal concern I have is students “roaming” the building at the end of the day with food; it is important to have our athletes eat while they’re waiting for the bus to away games. If you bring food to your child after school for them to eat before a game or other extracurricular event, then please meet them in the Little Theater after the 3:01 bell, which is when they are dismissed from their classroom. In the morning you should not be parking along First Street to bring your children in or to drop them off, this has backed up traffic a lot in the mornings especially on rainy days. There have been a few “near misses” of accidents, so please drop off on Pierce Street in front of school or at the South Door by the loading dock. If you want to walk your child in, you need to park along Pierce Street to do so (even on rainy days). I also want to make a simple reminder to check your children in the morning that they are in proper uniform, including haircut and no make-up. First quarter midterm is approaching, and I have noticed several parents have not yet checked ProgressBook and I have also noticed some students have already missed homework assignments. Please, check ProgressBook regularly (that’s why we have it), and help your children stay prioritized with studying and homework!
An important assessment week is coming up for students in grades 3, 5 and 7 this coming week. Students in those grade levels will begin to complete Scantron Performance Tests in the core subjects of Math, Science, Reading and Language Arts. Students are tested in the fall and spring to assess learning progress in those areas, and this also allows the faculty to find specific area of needed improvement in our curriculum and in each individual’s experience. I encourage you to help these students get a little extra rest and be sure they are eating properly with breakfast, lunch and dinner being balanced meals; of course, hopefully our goal is that all students are practicing these habits regularly! The fall test helps us assess that the previous year’s standards have been retained and the spring helps assess the current academic year standards; this is also why students are only tested every other year at this point in terms of Scantron. I do appreciate “performance” tests versus pure “standardized” tests, and it seems in the near future (2014-15) the State of Ohio will require a performance test vs. the current OGT “standardized” test for high school graduation.
We have continued our Accreditation process as a faculty by compiling the data from last year’s student, parent, community and staff surveys, as well as compiling data from the last several years’ assessments. This data is helping us come to a consensus on what will become our new School Improvement Plan to guide our improvement over the next four-six years. This year is a very important year for developing this plan, so please keep our staff in prayer as we meet monthly (K-12 staff) to accomplish this important task. Due to our November Accreditation Staff Meeting, school will be dismissed on Wednesday, November 16, at 1:30 p.m.; this will be for St. John’s only so there will be no Delphos City School buses running until the regular 3:00 p.m. time. Our Latchkey will open at 1:30 p.m. and remain open as any regular day until 5:30 p.m.; please plan ahead to have early dismissal arrangements made for this day.
Happy St. John’s Homecoming Weekend; I look forward to seeing many Blue Jays out at the game tonight! I want to also remind you of one last, and most important, administrative update; our students need to be going to Mass every weekend. The most important lesson we want our students to learn, is to practice their faith, so thank you for being the primary Catholic Educator of our students! If you are non-Catholic, then we encourage you to attend your Church every weekend as well and practice your faith with your children. Have a great weekend! Go Blue Jays! -Nate S.
School Lunch Menu
The October Lunch Menu should be viewed online; if you wish to have a hard copy please request one in the office or print your own from the website. Also, remember to keep money ahead of time on your children’s lunch accounts. Notice due to the festival there are a few days that our cafeteria is closed and all students are required to pack a lunch (October 12-17).
Little Caesars Pizza Kit Delivery Day (Tomorrow)
The delivery of all ordered Little Caesars Pizza Kits will be on Saturday, September 24, at the All Saints Building. Students with last names beginning with A through M, from 10:00-11:30 a.m., and last names N through Z, from 12:00-1:30 p.m. All orders must be picked up at this time, so if you cannot be there you must make other arrangements for your order. Call Shelley Kreeger with any questions, (419) 296-1877.
School Pictures
Fall School Pictures will be taken for all K-8 students and staff members on Wednesday, October 5. Please turn in your child’s picture packet by Monday, October 3. Lange Photographics will once again be taking our school pictures this year.
Camp Wilson
Our Sixth Grade will be attending Camp Wilson this coming Wednesday-Friday! This is an awesome class unity building opportunity, as well as a time when many students learn many new things about themselves and about others. Please pray for the sixth grade and the chaperones to have a blessed week of camp and hopefully some good weather, too! Thank you parents and volunteers for making this event possible!
DSJ Elementary Principal 