Weekly Update to Families

Dear Academy Families,

Next Friday, we will celebrate All Saints’ Day. Our 2nd Grade Saints will be leading us in our All Saints’ Day Mass on Friday, November 1st at 10am. We will also be visited by our Superintendent Deacon McCormick that day and he looks forward to seeing all of our Saints.

Each one of us has a favorite Saint, one who we pray to, we model our life after, and one we look to for support and guidance.

Saints’ lives show us how to live out our faith. They show us what God can accomplish through frail humanity. They provide tangible lessons on being a Catholic, and inspire us to live our faith more fully.

We possess the attributes of Saints in so many ways. What can we learn from the lives of the saints? ... Saints are simply ordinary people who lived in the midst of difficulties, uncertainty, and suffering. Despite these circumstances they made extraordinary choices to put their faith into action. Their lives can teach us to do the same.

Important life lessons that we can learn from the Saints:

• How true joy comes not from earthly status, but from following Christ, like St. Francis of Assisi;

• How God answers our prayers, but often in a way demanding our patience;

• Like Mary Magdalene, how no one is beyond the power of the grace of God;

• How we can worship God and grow in holiness through both work and prayer, sometimes combined;

• How, through charity and prayer, impossible situations can be transformed and family members converted;

• How we may be called upon to endure great sufferings – but if so, God will always sustain us.

May the Saints in heaven inspire us this week! Please see below some reminders of the upcoming weeks ahead at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy. This week is sure to be an eventful one.

Have a great weekend. We look forward to seeing many of you at our Annual Trunk or Treat event on Sunday.

Dr. Scharbach

Many of our 8th graders from St. Francis de Sales Parish will be blessed with the Gifts of the Holy Spirit during their Confirmation on Friday 10/25. I am sure that both masses will be prayerful and beautiful, and we are so proud of all of our 8th graders during this very special time in their lives.

Due to the mass on 10/25 being at 1pm and 4pm, the 8th Grade class is off on Friday 10/25. The rest of the school has an early dismissal at 12pm.

We hope you have a fun and safe time Trick or Treating with your children. Please remind your older children about the importance of respecting everyone’s property and making safe decisions on Halloween. Please keep in mind to always check the Halloween candy you give your kids to make sure it is okay for them to eat. There has been a nationwide surge in products that are candy-like and contain cannabis. Please be on the lookout to help keep all our children safe.

On Thursday 10/31 all students will be able to dress down in Orange and Black or their favorite Halloween shirt. Just a reminder that students cannot wear costumes to school.

This week, Halloween celebrations and candy will no doubt be abundant. With this fun and exciting time comes a significant safety concern for many students in our school building. We are asking for your help in providing a safe school environment for all students.

For some of our students any exposure to peanuts/nuts may cause a life-threatening allergic reaction that requires emergency medical treatment. To reduce the chance of this occurring, we ask that you do not send any peanut or nut containing products to school with your child. If your child has eaten peanuts/nuts before coming to school, please be sure your child’s hands and face have been thoroughly washed before entering the school. It is very helpful to leave the candy at home and send the children in with a traditional snack. We appreciate your support with these procedures.

On Monday we received the results of the Spring 2024 New York State Test ELA, Math and Science Exams. On Thursday 10/24 we will send home parent reports to our current 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders who took the test at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy last spring. If your child was in another school last year and took the state tests, please reach out to them directly to receive your child’s score. In next week's blast we hope to share how our school achieved compared to the other schools in District 27.

All students must be in their uniform on Wednesday 10/30 for class picture day.

In a few weeks, on Thursday, 11/7 for Nursery-Grade 3 and on Thursday, 11/14 for our 4th through 7th graders is individual picture day. All those students who are getting pictures may remain in their school uniform or dress up for their picture. Please remind your child that dressing up for pictures is very different than dressing down. All those students who are not getting pictures taken are to be in their full school uniform. If your child has gym on picture day please have them wear sneakers if they are dressing up or bring a change of shoes so they can participate in gym. To order pictures please use the link below.

Last year the Academy Family Association hosted a Veterans appreciation prayer service. We would like to continue this tradition Thursday night, November 7th at 6pm. There will be a brief fellowship in the small hall afterwards, until 7:00PM.

This is a great opportunity to show our gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices our veterans have made for our country and for each of us.

We encourage you to invite any family, friends and neighbors who are veterans.

Please RSVP to lhayden@stfrancisschoolbh.net prior to Monday 11/4.

We sincerely hope you will join us for this worthy event!

St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy is happy to bring back our popular Sherwood Forest Farms Christmas Wreaths and Evergreens sale. Earlier today your youngest child was sent home with a brochure that details the items available for sale this year. For 2024, families can choose to have items shipped directly to the Academy for distribution, or have your items shipped directly to the recipient! Within the brochure are pricing details as well as the particulars regarding local/Academy distribution or Direct Mail gift items. Products under the local/Academy distribution are priced more competitively due to the reduced shipping costs.

The direct delivery gift items are perfect for out of town family and friends. If you annually purchase gifts for co-workers and business associates and never know what to buy, consider one of the Direct Delivery items which can be shipped directly to their home or business. These beautiful wreaths, garlands, and centerpieces are made with lush and fragrant greens from the Pacific Northwest and are delivered fresh.

Local Distribution items will be delivered to St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy before Thanksgiving. The school will notify purchasers when they can pick up their items. Direct-delivery items are shipped individually and start arriving the week of Thanksgiving. Arrival is guaranteed no later than two weeks after Thanksgiving Day.

All orders are due by Friday, November 1st. Orders must be placed online.

Place your order by clicking the link below.

Come and see our brand new online school store. We have some great items with our school name and Franny, our Mascot. Right now we are having a great offer: 20% Off Everything. Please use the Code: PLAYOFF20

This offer ends on 10/25

Choose your own designs! These are great items to wear on dress-down days, weekends, Blue and Gold Day, or just around the house.

Great brands (Nike, North Face, Under Armor, Puma, and more) and great quality. All orders are shipped directly to your home.

Many of our Early Childhood classes have been spending time the past few weeks reviewing simple fire safety procedures. October is the perfect time to educate and talk with your whole family about fire safety: including testing alarms, changing the batteries or upgrading to 10- year sealed battery alarms, knowing how to use a fire extinguisher and escape route planning. Please take some time this weekend to review some simple fire safety tips with your family. A short conversation this weekend can be a life saving one

For those members of our community that have yet to add the App to their mobile device please search for ST. FRANCIS DE SALES ACADEMY in the App Store or Google Play. This is a great way to stay current with school events, your child’s HW, tuition account, and child’s grades.

The general NYC High School application is now open.. This application is due by Wednesday December 4th. If your child is interested in applying to the NYC Public High School we ask that you please let us know at admin@stfrancisschoolbh.net no later than Monday, November 18th. This will give us enough time to create a MySchools account, upload grades and make sure that the choices (up to 12) are correct.

Today marks the start of our 2024-2025 Yearbook Sale! The yearbook is a great way to remember special events throughout the year! All students will be featured in the yearbook on their class page!

If you would like to order a school yearbook, (delivery in June) please fill out the following form.

After you submit your order you will be charged on your FACTS account during the month of January.

Payment is expected within 20 days of posting.

The completed form(s) is due by Thursday, December 5th. Since we have to send in our yearly order soon after there will be no orders accepted after this date.

**Class of 2025 Families, any graduate that has $130 (cost of a full page age) worth of ads in the yearbook will receive a free yearbook, up to two free yearbooks. Please keep this in mind when placing your order.

For the safety and well being of each and every child in our school, all volunteers must go through the following process:

1) Read and sign a code of conduct

2) Have a background check

3) Take part in the VIRTUS program. (Register at virtusonline.org)

After completing the VIRTUS Program we ask that you please bring to the office a copy of your certificate for us to keep track of in our database. We hope that this is not an inconvenience for anyone, but we need to be sure that all adults who interact with students are in compliance.

Also a reminder that VIRTUS now requires anyone working with children to complete “re-certification” training every seven years.

If your VIRTUS certification was more than seven years ago (before December 2016), please log on to www.virtusonline.org and complete the self-paced module, Protecting God’s Children On-Line Awareness Session 4.0_Brooklyn and also complete an updated background check if indicated for your account.

If you need assistance with your account, such as user name and/or password, please contact the VIRTUS Help Desk at 1-888-847-8870. For further information or assistance, or if you are unsure if you were trained before 2016, please email Lisa Hayden at lhayden@stfrancisschoolbh.net.

As mentioned at Back to School Night and many times this year our school will be going through Cognia Accreditation this year. (similar to Middle States Accreditation) The Accreditation Process helps institutions make the most of their talents and resources. On November 12th and 13th, a team of evaluators will be visiting our school to work through the Accreditation process. They will be interviewing various students, teachers, Board members, administrators, etc. as well as visiting classrooms for observations. We will be preparing extensively for their visit and look forward to a successful few days. Please note that both on 11/12 and 11/13 the administrative team will not be available for any meetings on these dates and will have limited access to their email and phone.

St Francis De Sales Church next Family mass will be held on Sunday 11/3 at 10am. The mass will feature Grades 1 and 7. Please join them with your family. There will be light refreshments served afterwards.

If your Grade 1 and 7 family would like to be part of the Offertory procession or if your Grade 1 and 7 child would like to be a greeter , handing out bulletins please contact Janet Donohue at jDon1110@aol.com.

Hope to see you there as we celebrate our faith.

Just a reminder that Tuesday, November 5th is a scheduled day off for students for a professional development day.

All parents who are interested in helping to fundraise and plan for the Class of 2025 are invited to join the administration on Monday, November 18th at 7pm to begin the process of creating committees for this special event. This meeting will be via Zoom. An invite will be in next week’s email update.

St. Francis de Sales Catholic Academy

Asst. Principal: Mrs. Maureen Hayes

Email: admin@stfrancisschoolbh.net
Website: https://stfrancisacademybh.org/
Location: 219 Beach 129 Street Belle Harbor, NY 11694
Phone: (718) 634-2775
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SFDSCA