Principal Update

Dear St. Catherine Families,

We are so excited to welcome our new and returning families for the 2024-25 school year! The energy on campus this summer has been wonderful! We welcomed many students for our 8-week Summer Camp, worked with the parish on a wide range of campus beautification projects, and focused as staff on professional development around the area of building executive functioning skills. This week, staff will gather for in-service days to prepare for the year ahead.

Be sure to mark your calendars for some upcoming important opportunities to connect with staff and fellow families:

• Preschool Curriculum Night: August 26th at 6:00 PM in the Learning Commons
• K-8 Teacher Meet and Greet/Back to School BBQ: August 29th at 5:00 PM
• Parent Club hosted Welcome Back Coffee: September 3rd at drop-off

• Grades K-5 Curriculum Night: September 12th at 6:00 PM in Victoria Hall
• Grades 6-8 Curriculum Night: September 17th at 6:00 PM in Victoria Hall

We are excited for the year ahead and to have your kiddos back on campus!

Warmly,

Kathy Cox

Principal

We made our final new hire this summer in our K-8 Extended Care program, and are excited to welcome Melina Morgan as our Extended Care Assistant. Melina will be involved in our after school care daily, joining Miss Clara, Miss Bianca, and Miss Aditi, to support your kiddos after school.

As you may notice when you're back on campus, it has been a productive summer. We have worked closely with the parish to make some campus improvements involving a lot of painting and landscaping. Thanks to a Fulcrum grant, we added a shade structure in the Lions preschool play yard. You may have noticed (how could you miss it?!) the odd shade structure in the plaza. The best joke so far is if we got FAA clearance for it. Transparently, this was not what we anticipated getting, and we are working with the company to remedy that. In the meantime, we've just got to find some humor in it....

As mentioned in the weekly newsletter, we also relocated thee classrooms to best utilize campus spaces and meet student needs. The former 6th grade room is now the Spanish classroom, the former 8th grade portable is now the 6th grade classroom, and the former Spanish classroom is now the 8th grade homeroom.

In the spring, we started working with the parish to upgrade audio equipment in Victoria Hall. This project will be completed in September, in plenty of time before this year's school musical.

This past year, the Office for Catholic Schools worked with Dr. James Knight in providing professional development opportunities for administration and schools in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. This year, they have extended that partnership, allowing schools to affordably bring Dr. Knight to our individual communities. I am in the process of scheduling events for students, staff, and parents in the coming months.

In addition, we are also working with Jodee Blanco, a leader in the school world of anti-bullying with an emphasis on compassion. The Office for Catholic Schools has also broadened their partnership with her allowing schools to affordably invite Jodee into our schools, as well. We look forward to having Jodee's expertise for students, staff and parents later this school year.

This year begins the school's self study year in the accreditation process. All staff, parents, councils, and committees will play a role in this process. Be on the lookout for a survey in the coming months to share your parent perspective. Our final accreditation visit is scheduled in February 2026. During the course of this school year, you'll notice on the calendar additional days for staff to work together to complete the required self-study components. More to come as we dive in!

As our parish family configuration took effect on July 1st, it's been a pleasure to work alongside new individuals at St. Catherine. We welcomed Fr. William Heric and Fr. Duc Nguyen, as well as a new family Director of Operations, Torrie Smith. While the parishes will be working closely together during this phase of transition, the schools (St. Catherine, OLL, ASB) will largely continue as we always have. Our tasks this year will revolve mostly around calendaring and making sure events don't conflict as much as possible. We will each continue to have all-school masses and opportunities for classes to attend daily mass once/month as well.

Please be sure to say hi and introduce yourself to Fr. Heric and Fr. Duc if you see them on campus, or if you attend mass at one of the other parishes in our family. We also invite you to join us Saturday, September 14th after the 5:00 PM mass to welcome our new priests. We will gather in Victoria Hall for beverages, light snacks, and an opportunity to connect as a community. Hope to see you there!

St. Catherine of Siena Parish School is a welcoming, Christ-centered community, rooted in the Catholic faith and inspired by Gospel values. As an extension of the parish and with Jesus as our model, we are dedicated to lifelong growth in faith, love, and learning.

We recognize that the care and education of the child begins with the family and that parents are the primary educators of their children. In partnership with parents, we work to promote our students’ achievement and spiritual growth. Together we are committed to developing responsible, ethical leaders who think critically, act justly, communicate effectively, and serve willingly.

We are committed to providing a faith-filled, inclusive, and welcoming learning environment for all our students. Through our rigorous academic programs, our students will gain the cognitive, technological, and social skills necessary to become ethical, innovative leaders who successfully navigate the complex challenges of today’s world.