The Catholic School Week 2021- 2024 theme is “Catholic Schools: Faith. Excellence. Service.” Catholic schools have a specific purpose to form students to be good citizens of the world, love God and neighbor and enrich society with the leaven of the gospel and by example of faith.

As communities of faith, Catholic schools instill in students their destiny to become saints. Academic excellence is the hallmark of Catholic education intentionally directed to the growth of the whole person – mind, body and spirit. Finally, service is fundamental to Catholic education and the core of Catholic discipleship. Service is intended to help form people who are not only witnesses to Catholic social teaching, but also active participants through social learning.

The CSW logo emphasizes that the Catholic school, like the Catholic Church, is not a building or an institution, but it is the people. As the people of God, we work together to bring the Kingdom of God to Earth and raise up the next generation to do the same. The image of teachers and students forming the foundation of the school shows that they are active people of faith who serve others and God. May we all strive to live in active service of Jesus and his mission as we nationally join together during Catholic Schools Week and always.

At All Souls Catholic School, the heart of the school are the children we serve. All our efforts are place in witnessing the Gospel to our students and to encourage them to become faith-filled your people.

There will be a number of activities for Catholic School Week which begins on Sunday. There will be a school Mass at 10:30am followed by Open House till 12:15pm. We are hoping everyone will be able to join in with this celebration. Then there will be various activities for the students during the week, including spirit days each day.

Retirement

Last week I informed the school community that I will be retiring at the end of this school year. I have spent 16 years in my ministry as principal at All Souls and have enjoyed every moment. I ask for your prayers as I move into the next stage of my life and my prayers will be with each and every one of you as you continue to send your children to the school.

Grade 8 Retreat Day

Next Thursday, February 2nd our 8th graders will join in with other 8th graders from the Archdiocese at St Hillary Parish in Tiburon for a retreat experience. Thanks to Miss Cadelago for organizing the day.

Summer School

We passed out a potential Summer School (Grade K-4) survey recently. From that survey, there was some interest in conducting a summer school for the last two weeks in June. The next stage will be for parents to complete a summer school registration form. This needs to be completed by end of February. If we receive enough registrations then we will go ahead with the summer school. The registration form will be available from Monday January 30th.

Respect Life Essay

Our students have been completing the “Respect Life” essays for the competition this year. I have been very impressed with the standard of essays that our students have been working on.

Missionary Childhood Association Christmas Competition

Our students have also been creating art work for the MCA annual Art competition. A few years ago, one of our students took out first place from all the schools in the country. We are hoping that we can repeat that this year.

Cafeteria Update

At our recent school financial board meeting, it was decided that the cafeteria program is running in deficit. This is due to the low number of sales each day. As a result of this, it will appear we will not be able to offer this program for the next school year. We will have to outsource the lunch program, as many other Catholic Schools have done during the past years. The company we are looking at is called “Choicelunch”. Parents will have a wide variety of lunches to choose from each day. You will choose on the app and the meals are delivered to the school for collection. By going this route, the free and reduced program comes to an end, as this company does not utilize the government free and reduced program

Kindergarten Registration

We are in the midst of enrolling Kindergarten students for the next school year. If you know of any kindergarten age children, please refer the parents to our admissions director at info@ssfallsoulsschool.org or call Mrs. Cierra at 650 583 3562

Preschool

We have a part time teacher assistant position opening. If you know of anyone looking for part time work and is willing to work in the Preschool, please email me at principal@ssfallsoulsschool.org

God Bless and Stay Safe,

Vincent Riener

Principal

1. New mailing address

As of 8/31, the Minneapolis office will be closed. With this, we have a new process for the checks, documents, and invoices that were being sent through the mail.

• TADS will no longer be mailing invoices. All billing accounts will be switched to “Statements sent by email”.
• If they would still like a hard copy, they or the school can log in and go to the family’s billing account > click on an invoice number > click the button to “Download as a PDF”.
• We have notified families of this by inserting a brightly colored letter in any invoices mailed out this month. We will also email families when we switch their account to emailed statements.
• If they request to have their $18 Postal mailing fee removed, we can replace it with an “Amended Mailing Fee” that is $3 per invoice we previously sent. The over payments can be applied to their future invoices but CANNOT be refunded.

• Mailed checks and money orders should be sent to our lockbox at the address below.
• Please give this new address to every family who mentions they might send a payment.
• Mailed payments sent to the 110 N 5th St. address will be forwarded, however this will cause delays and it is possible for mail to be missed in this process.
• We are in the process of updating the website, emails, and downloadable documents with the new address.
• TBD on how this will be communicated with families and schools.

Address for TADS TM and Classic FA payments

Auncor, Inc.

PO Box 850136

Minneapolis, MN 55485

29 Catholic Schools Week Mass -10:30am - followed by Open House and Science Fair

2 Archdiocesan 8th Grade Day

5 School Family Mass - 10:30am

6 Early Dismissal - 2:30pm - Faculty Meeting

6-17 Star Testing

7 School Assembly - 2:30pm

12 Rite of Enrollment for Confirmation - 10:30am

13 Archdiocesan Technology Day - 12:20 Dismissal

15 Spring Pictures

20 President's Day - Holiday

21 School Board Meeting - 6:30pm

22 Ash Wednesday - 8am Mass (Full School Uniform)

23 First Communion Parent Meeting - 7pm

27 Staff Development Meeting - 12:20 Dismissal

28 School Assembly - 2:30pm

Dear All Souls Families,

You can now 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.

Sign-in to 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 to 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 be charging your credit card for lunch payments. You are responsible for paying and adding credit to your cafeteria account.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Regards,

Ms. Escobar