March 6, 2003

Dear Parents and Guardians,

The beads have been put away and the colorful decorations have been put in boxes. The Mardi Gras colors of purple, green and gold have been replaced by the more subdued purple of the Lenten Season. May this holy time be truly a time of reflection, change and growth for each of us.

Great things are happening! We are pleased to announce several additions to our Nativity BVM School programs. First of all, we are planning to hold a summer program specifically for preschool age children. We have found that this is a great need in our area since children of this age are generally not eligible for summer programs offered through other groups. Children must be 3, 4 or 5 and be either enrolled or enrolling in our Nativity Preschool or Kindergarten programs. Enrollment is limited. Secondly, our Nativity BVM PreSchool is expanding to include a half day preschool program for the 2003-2004 school year. Many parents have requested this and we feel ready to respond to tins need. Finally, final preparations are being made for a week long summer camp program for children in grades 1-6. One camp will be in June with the other in July. Specific information will be available for all of these programs at our Open House on March 9th.

Attached to this newsletter is the tuition information sheet for the 2003-2004 school year. Our School Board members and other financial consultants met on several occasions to look at our school needs and work out a budget for our school year. It is astounding to realize that our school budget is nearly $1,000,000.00. So many of our expenses are fixed: utilities, insurance and assessments. Salaries and benefits are a significant portion of our budget as are other instructional costs. You know how frugal we are and how we recycle materials and make use of donated items. Yet, our expenses continue to increase. Federal funding and, of course, interest income are declining. As a non-public school, state revenue is extremely limited. Fund raising through our NPA, Nativity Parish financial support, donations and tuition/fees make up our income. We have tried to be conservative in our tuition increase for this year and yet have tried to provide the necessary funding to continue the quality education found here at Nativity BVM School.

We hope to see you at our Open House on March 9th from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.! The Open House is a wonderful time for you to visit our classrooms, shop in our Book Fair, speak with staff members and visit with other families. It is also a perfect time to bring friends, relatives or neighbors who might be considering our school for the new school year.

Standardized testing will begin for all students in Grade I through 6 on March 17th and continue each day anti] the testing has been completed. The testing is one more way that we can determine how well a child is performing academically and what more we can do to provide for a successful school experience. Please be sure that your child arrives on time for classes. is well rested and is ready to do his or her best. We will not be testing on Wednesday, March 19th since nearly 30 of our children will be participating in the Regional Science Fair. If you would like to help by proctoring for the test, and have not been contacted, please call the school office and offer your services!

Registration packets will be sent home with current Nativity BVM students on Monday, March 17th. Registration for new families who are members of the parish will be held later in the month and Open Registration will begin on April 1st. We anticipate that our enrollment will continue to grow as it has done these last years.

The major fund raising activity of our school year will be held on March 29th here at our school. Our Fifth Annual Nativity School Raffle is a wonderful time of food, folks and fun that raises significant money for our school. The success of this event really depends on the level of your participation. If you would like to sell additional tickets or have a silent auction item to donate, please contact the school office or one of our NPA officers. Remember, all proceeds benefit your child!

May we continue to pray for peace in our hearts, homes and world and may we continue to support one another in prayer. God Bless You!

/s Sister Mary Jo