Lord God,

You sent your Son into the world,

And before his hour had come,

He washed his disciples’ feet.

You had given all things into his hands.

He had come from you, and was going to you,

And what did he do?

He knelt down on the floor,

And washed his friends’ feet.

He was their teacher and their Lord,

Yet he washed their feet.

Lord God, help us learn from his example;

Help us to do as he has done for us.

The world will know we are his disciples

If we love one another.

Strengthen our hands and our wills for love

And for service.

Keep before our eyes the image of your Son,

Who, being God, became a Servant for our sake.

All glory be to him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

One God, now and forever.

Amen.

It has been 21 days that we have been operating under Distance Learning conditions, and as such we all have experienced a change in life and how we educate our children. It will be an experience that the children will never forget in their lives. From visiting different Zoom sessions and looking at the work the teachers have been preparing I have been so impressed with the changes that our teachers have made in such a short time. It has been wonderful to see the children in sessions asking questions to their teachers. I believe that the students are taking more ownership of their learning. In any case we all need to give credit to the teachers, they have been the first responders to our children.

As we are all struggling with “The New Normal” we are all asking when we will be getting back to our normal lives. The emphasis is on normal! It would appear at this stage that the way we do things in the future will be different, especially with our hygiene. Time will tell.

At this time of me writing to you I have not heard about if we will be returning to school after May 1st. We are aware that the Public-School system has closed all their buildings for the rest of the school year. As soon as I find out what the Archdiocese decides I will inform you.

Holy Week services in the parish will be online, starting with Holy Thursday tonight and Good Friday tomorrow afternoon. The Easter Vigil will take place on Saturday evening. For the live online access click here

Financial Aid

Please ensure you complete the financial Aid applications by April 15th. If you have not yet completed the Re-registration process can you do so as soon as possible. It was due March 15th. Due to the economic situation of people we have decided to extend the registration fee onto the TADs account for next year. If you are able to pay it, please do so at time of the registration.

Finances

All invoices will be finalized within the next two weeks and they will be available on TADs. Decision on certain fees if already paid for will be a credit or with 8th graders a check will be sent in the mail for those families who have paid fees where services will not be received. More information on that when we know more about school closure.

Appeal

Covid-19 All Souls Appeal: I wish to thank those families who have donated to the Appeal that we are running at the moment to assist our families in need. If you are able to donate to this appeal click here

Staff

I wish to congratulate Mrs. Lucchesi as she will be leaving us on April 24th for maternity leave and also with this news she has informed us she will be leaving our school community to look after her children. Mrs. Lucchesi has been with the school since 2010 as our Social Studies/History and 5th grade homeroom teacher. During that time, she has participated in many of the school activities and has been the moderator of the Yearbook committee. We will all miss her and wish her all the best with the birth of her child.

We have hired Mr. Smith who will take over this position at the beginning of the new school year. We wish him all the best as he joins our community.

Grade Three Poems

I am posting some poems from our 3rd graders on the Quarantine. Congratulations for such wonderful pieces of writing. I think these are real pieces of work as they are lived out experiences. Well done students.

I like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one a blessed Easter and please remain healthy and I look forward to seeing you after the Easter break.

God Bless.

Vincent Riener

Principal

“Mama said there’d be days like this, there’d be days like this, mama said.”

- The Shirelles

Actually, I don’t know that my mom could have anticipated days like these. She grew up in the Depression, lived through World War II, and survived many times of turmoil and loss. I doubt she’d have anticipated what we are going through now, sheltering in place and maintaining our social distance. I do know that she'd have faced this situation with her usual stoic calm and would have been taking care of her family and friends as best she could.

These are certainly unprecedented times, and I feel like we are all taking care as best we can. Teachers jumped into distance learning on very short notice and with little preparation, and they are doing an amazing job. Parents became teachers and kitchens became home schools in the blink of an eye, and families are learning together. We all have had to adapt to a new normal, but we’re making it work in our own ways in our own situations. We’re making it work by working together while we’re apart.

As you prepare to celebrate Easter with your families, please do so with the sense of togetherness that is such a part of our All Souls community. Easter’s promise of renewal and rebirth carries extra meaning this year. I wish you joy, love, and good health. Happy Easter.

All the best,

Miss J

Dear All Souls Families,

As of Wednesday, November 6 you can pay and add credit to your child/children's cafeteria account through SchoolSpeak! Your payment will be processed through PayPal with a 3% convenience fee for all transactions.

Please sign into your SchoolSpeak account and select "Lunch Order" in the quick links menu on the left. The "Pay" tab will direct you to your payment options. You may pay the cafeteria balance through your existing PayPal account or as a guest using your credit or debit card. You may also add credit into your child/children's cafeteria account. If you wish, you may still make cash or check payments to the school office.

Please note, for the families that have a credit card on file I will no longer will be charging your credit card for lunch payments. You are now responsible for paying and adding credit to your cafeteria account.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards,

Ms. Escobar

9 - Holy Thursday

10 - Good Friday

12 -Easter Sunday

13-17 -Easter Vacation

20 -School Resumes - Distance Learning Resumes

20 -Staff Dev. Mtg. (Zoom) - 12:20 Dismissal

21 -School Board Mtg. (Zoom) - 6:30pm

22 -Fun Run - To be rescheduled

23 -Agape - 2pm - To be rescheduled

25 -First Holy Eucharist - To be rescheduled

Below please find the free and reduced lunch application for the 2019-2020 school year.

Box Tops for Education was started by General Mills in California back in 1996, after the company decided they wanted to create a program to help support education and benefit America’s schools. All Souls has benefitted from this program over the years, receiving sports equipment, microscopes, and a variety of other educational items.

You can help by clipping the Box Tops off approved products you already have in your pantry. You don't need to clip the actual product UPC — just the Box Tops logo will do. From frozen foods to produce and household cleaning products, there are literally hundreds of opportunities to help, and each Box Top is worth 10 cents. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up fast.

There are so many participating companies! Participating companies and product lines include General Mills, Green Giant, Totino's, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Ziploc, Hefty, Juicy Juice, Betty Crocker and many more. For a full list of eligible items check the Box Tops for Education website at https://www.boxtops4education.com/earn .

Please see the flyer below for more details about new additions to the Box Tops program.