Principal Update

Happy New Year, St. Catherine Families!

I hope this holiday season brought you moments of joy and peace spent with your children, family, and friends. As we enter a new year, we are reminded of the promise of hope that comes through Jesus’ birth. His presence among us offers us the chance to reflect, grow, and embrace all that the new year holds.

This is a wonderful time for reflection—an opportunity to look back on the blessings and lessons of the past year while setting new goals and visions for the year ahead. I encourage you to take time with your children to have meaningful conversations about their hopes, dreams, and aspirations for 2025. These discussions can be a powerful way to foster connection, growth, and a shared sense of purpose.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank you, our families, for your support and involvement in our school community. Your dedication and partnership have been invaluable throughout the first half of the school year. A special thank you also goes to our music teacher, Ms. Ava Jones, for the extraordinary Christmas concert that beautifully closed out 2024 at St. Catherine. The time, patience, and energy she poured into this production were truly a gift to our entire community.

As we look ahead, I am filled with excitement for the opportunities, growth, and changes the new year will bring. Together, we will continue to nurture your children’s academic, spiritual, and personal development, guided by the values of our faith.

Thank you for being such an integral part of the St. Catherine family. May God bless you and your loved ones in this new year!

With gratitude,

Kathy Cox

Principal

I want to share with you some changes in our facilities team. Glenn McMahon, our dedicated Facilities Manager, has moved on from St. Catherine. We are deeply grateful for his years of service and the care he put into maintaining and improving our campus. Please join me in thanking Glenn for all he has done for our community, and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors.

As we move forward, we are taking this opportunity to restructure the roles for facilities oversight and management, as well as custodial tasks, to better serve the needs of our school. Our goal is to ensure that our campus continues to be a safe, welcoming, and well-maintained space for all. Jakob Pruss, who currently serves as a facilities supervisor for much of Family 15 (St. Catherine/OLL/Assumption/St. Bridget), will be taking over the supervisory role at St. Catherine. We have also hired Emmanuel Navarrete who will be a shared employee, with a daily presence at St. C. In the coming weeks, we will also be hiring a full-time custodian at St. Catherine.

We are committed to a smooth transition and to maintaining high standards for our facilities. Thank you for your support and patience during this time of change.

Our Cubs Preschool instructional assistant, Alexis Papanastasiou, has taken an opportunity to return to school to complete her degree. Alexis has been a beloved member of our team, and her gentle and nurturing presence will be missed! One of our floating preschool instructional assistants, Darlene Ortiz, will be moving into the Cubs IA role beginning tomorrow. Darlene has built strong relationships with our students through her role as a floating IA, as well as her role in PM Pandas. She will continue to be in PM Pandas during part of her day, as well.

While losing staff members is always difficult, we support their new opportunities, and are grateful for their time on the St. Catherine staff.

I'm likely a bit more excited than most, but I'm thrilled to announce (unless you already noticed the repair), that our shade structure in the plaza funded by last year's Jog-a-Thon, has finally been corrected to be a reasonable height. While students didn't seem to mind the absurd height, and stood under the structure daily, we are glad that our installation company has helped us to remedy the incorrect height!

Find former talks, including "The Anxious Generation", "Raising a Digital Native", & "All in a Day's Play: Boosting Brain Power Through Play"

Navigating Neurodiversity: Strength-Based Support for ADHD Kids

With Dr. Edward (Ned) Hallowell, psychiatrist and New York Times best-selling author
Jan. 16, 2025, noon–1 p.m. PT

Confident Conversations: Guiding Kids Through Puberty and Adolescence
With Julie Metzger, founder of Great Conversations, and Peter Metzger, pediatrician
Feb. 5, 2025, 7–8 p.m. PT

The Lost Art of Civility: Raising Respectful Kids
With Robert B. Brooks and Sam Goldstein, co-authors of “Tenacity in Children” and “The Power of Resilience”
Feb. 25, 2025, noon–1 p.m. PT

Please take a moment to read the most recent Partners Update.

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.