October 1, 2002
Dear Parents and Guardians,
As I write this letter, I can hear the sounds of rakes and leaf blowers in the on-going clean-up of Tropical Storm Isidore. We, here at school, were so fortunate: one broken window, two or three small leaks, a bit of water, lots of branches...but so very lucky! Hopefully, you and your families fared as well. It was so nice to have so many of you call or stop by to see if we needed help at school before and after the storm. May God continue to keep us safe!
The last two weekends have been busy "fund raising" weekends for our school. As you may have heard, our efforts at the Biloxi Seafood Festival were very successful. We made nearly $1700 and made many new mends for our school as well. A huge thank you to Dean Shankland for his jambalaya cooking skills and to Josie Gee for coordinating all of the workers. What great involvement from you, our parents: setting-up, taking-down, working the booths and of course, the baking (or buying) of over 200 cakes! Thank you, thank you for all you did to make it successful.
Last weekend was our third annual Golf Tournament at Sunkist Country Club. Our NPA officers, Donna Derouen, Kelly McGill, Dianne Holloway, Jennifer Schmidt, Angel Anderson and Jim Cummings along with Rose Dellenger and her cooking crew worked tirelessly to make the Tournament happen. Thanks again to those of you who helped out with the set -up, clean-up, serving and other tasks. It was great fun, a financial success for our school and it sounds as if the golfers had a good time as well! We have already scheduled next year's tournament for September 6th! Mark your calendars!
Congratulations to Mrs. Kim Audo and her husband Michael on the arrival of their triplets. Although all three babies remain under three pounds, they seem to be getting stronger each day. I know that you will continue to keep them all in prayer. During their time in Mobile, Mrs. Audo and her husband are staying at the Ronald McDonald House. One way that we can help them is to save the metal flip tops from soft drink and beverage cans. The Ronald McDonald House is able to redeem these in order to defray the cost of operating the home. Just send these to school with your child.
There are two very important attachments to this newsletter. The first, a white sheet, is a survey for the Catholic School Study. The study, commissioned by our Bishop, is being conducted by the Catholic University of America and will provide our diocese with information in order to plan for the future. You are invited to participate in the study by completing the attached survey and returning it either directly to Dr. John Convey at Catholic U or to our school and we will forward it to him. The surveys must be returned no later than October 15th. Information from the survey will be used to prepare initial data on the schools of our diocese. The second attachment (green) is a sign-up form for parent/teacher conferences which will be held on October 16th and 17th. At that time, you will receive your child's report card and have an opportunity to discuss your child's progress with the teacher. Please indicate your preferred day/time for a conference. Your child's teacher will take all of those slips and work out a master schedule for her classroom. As much as possible teachers will coordinate so that those of you who have more than one child in school will have your conferences relatively close together. Please return these preference forms as soon as possible but no later than October 8th. You will receive a letter indicating the time/date of your conference on October 10th.
Our Halloween Carnival is coming very quickly! The initial planning meeting was very well attended and all classes have selected their booths. If you have not been contacted yet about the time/place/date of your class planning meeting, please let your child's teacher know. Our carnival is always such a great time for our school and its families. Please make every effort to become involved...believe me, we need everyone's help to make it successful!
Know that all of us here at Nativity are here to help your child have a successful school year. If there is anything that we can do, please do not hesitate to contact us. May God continue to bless us and help us to see the great things happening around us!
/s Sister Mary Jo