Dear Parent/Guardians,
It is great to see our children back at school already to learn for the new school year. It has been a good start so far and we are all looking to have a wonderful school year. We have had our Back-to-School Parent Meetings and have had our safety drills. Students are now familiar with safety procedures, including fire, earthquake, lockdown, and evacuation procedures. There is one change with lock down now. We will not be running regular lockdown drills as we have had in the past. The County does not suggest continuing with this format but rather go over the procedures with students as a “table talk” session. We are adding security mirrors on the stairwells to assist with security, along with adding an extra piece of gate to the existing gate between the lower and upper yard.
Sunday Mass
May I remind you that as Catholics we have an obligation to attend weekly Sunday Mass. I would strongly suggest if you have not been doing so that you take your family to Mass and set the example to your child/children. The pastor has a difficult time to write a reference for High School admissions when he does not see you attend Mass.
Music
We outsource our Music program to Rhythm and Moves and now they are unable to find teacher for many of their schools. We hope they will find one for us very soon.
Window Project
The window project is now completed, along with the painting of Miller Street and the two side walls of the building. We are now trying to fix the problem that the city engineer has created with the kindergarten door. This is holding up the completion of the sidewalk concreting. The Archdiocese facilities manager is working with the city on this along with the Archdiocese engineer.
Volunteer Hours
MobileServe app is up and running with the tracking of volunteer hours for participating parents. Please ensure you add your hours and email to the respective supervisor to verify your hours. Please do not put block hours thinking you are going to do the job. Hours need to be added as you work each time. We are also using the app for festival, which means non-participating families need to sign up on the app. Check SchoolSpeak for instructions.
New Grading Scale
We have adopted the new grading scale from the Archdiocese, but at the moment SchoolSpeak has not made the changes to our school. They need to go into each school to make the changes. It is out of our control.. It should be completed very shortly. With the changes your child's grade will be updated to reflect the new scale. We thank you for your patience.
Uniform
Some students are not wearing the correct uniform, especially some of the boys in Junior high. Please check the pants and ensure they are the correct ones from Simply Uniform. Sweaters, other than school sweaters are not permitted to be worn during class time. If a child feels cold, they may wear it outside but need to remove it once entering the building.
COVID-19 Testing
As per the guidelines, students will need to return to school on Tuesday September 6th with a negative test. We issued test kits yesterday to students. Please test your child on Monday night or Tuesday morning. If there is a positive result email covid@ssfallsoulsschool.org. There is no need to email if the result is negative. Thanks for your attention to this matter. Students will be required to wear masks for the 10 days from September 6th to September 16th, then masks will be optional indoors.
Cafeteria
As a reminder to everyone, the cafeteria is funded solely through sales. Lately the sales have been down. We are monitoring the sales through to December and will review the financials to see whether we can operate under the current conditions. In the event there is a deficit, we will need to suspend services and outsource the lunch program. To avoid this from happening, we need more students eating from the cafeteria. Our school has been able to maintain the cafeteria all these years but recently with costs increasing it is becoming more difficult to do so.
ICA Students
We are fortunate to have ICA students working in the school this year, as we had last year. They will be working in the reception area and with Grades 3 and 4. ICA offers a work study program from Grades 9 through 12. Companies assist with tuition for the students. The students graduate from ICA attending many of the universities of their choice. Thanks to ICA for providing the girls to work with us.
Guatemala Appeal
We start our Annual Guatemala appeal today and will continue throughout September. The appeal helps many of the children in Guatemala especially in the villages where they need clothes, shoes, medical supplies, toothbrushes, toothpaste, school supplies and backpacks. If you can contact companies for such donations that will be appreciated. As we do every year financial contributions to assist with shipping costs is also most grateful. Please have your child bring the supplies to their classroom where we are storing them. We will be shipping the supplies on October 3, so they will reach Guatemala for Christmas. Your generosity is much appreciated.
Picture Day
Wednesday, September 7th is Picture Day. A flyer went home with students yesterday.
All students must be in Full School Uniform. Please remember non-uniform accessories are not permitted on Picture Day. All hair and haircuts must meet school's protocol. Please refer to our Parent Student Handbook - Pg.37 - 8.9.11.
God Bless and Stay Safe,
Vincent Riener
Principal
