August 28, 2008

Dear Parents and Guardians,

"In God we trust" certainly seems to be an appropriate theme as this school year progresses. I know that all of us are a little anxious right now, but I encourage you to remember that God IS with us and we need to continue to trust in God. Obviously, we never know what the future holds. However, from experience, we know that we can count ont he love and support of God and of those around us.

We have had a great first month of school. We know that there have been some tears and some challenging moments but the children have done a great job in getting adjusted back into school. Learning is going on in each and every room, each and every moment. One of the blessings that I have is to be able to visit the classrooms each day and sell all that is going on. It is so important that students arrive before the 8:00 bell sot that they can settle in and be ready to begin the day. Likewise, it is equally important that children are present until dismissal time so that they can experience the entire school day.

It is so exciting to se first-time visitors to our building discover the physical changes to our building. You have probably noticed our newest "change" -- our brand new front doors! They certainly are beautiful and dress up the front of our building. With the installation of the doors, our summer reconstruction project has been completed. Thanks be to God!

You have done a terrific job with our traffic pattern in the morning as well at dismissal. Basically, we enter from Benachi, exit at Porter and do not had south of the building. On rainy days, as you have discovered, children should be dropped off by the gym where we have that large overhang. In dropping children off, please be sure that they cross in front of your vehicle and, if crossing the center lane, wait for an adult to cross them all the way. Our sixth grade morning valets are ready to help with our youngest children but you have seen that children of all grades are ready and eager to help escort the young children into the building.

Because of possible weather problems, I have decided to postpone our Parent Information night set for this evening. I know that you, as well as our staff, have many things to do in preparation and I felt that it would be difficult for us to focus on school issues. We will reschedule this meeting as soon as possible. Finally, as we learned several years ago, it is important for us to keep our routines the same. Because of that, we made some changes in our August 29th celebration. Please remember that in the event of a sever storm, I can assure that we will reopen school as quickly as possible. We will establish a way to communicate (notebook in front of school) in order to connect and share information. Information about school re-opening would be through the regular media outlets - TV, radio, website (if possible).

Know that i am praying for each of you and for your families. Know that many, many people are holding us in prayer. Let us trust in God and know and experience his peace and his love.

/s Sister Mary Jo