St. Catherine of Siena Parish

THE FALCON

The last two weeks have had plenty of little events and holidays to keep our home and school lives interesting. Let's see...Catholic Schools Week, Super Bowl, Valentine's, Presidents' Day, Mardi Gras, (Ash Wednesday), Winter Olympics, Trivia Night, etc. I guess it turns out this is a pretty festive time of the year. So find a cause to celebrate, a place to stay warm, and share some family time before we dive into the madness of March.

THE LATEST

• Service Hours

Reports should have gone home on Wednesday. Ask us if you didn't see yours. The reason that we send them is not only to inform about where you stand, but to let you check for errors or omissions. Please do let me know if there is a problem. They are usually easy to sort out. If you keep copies of the hours you submitted, it's often just a matter of re-entering them into the system. Families have been asking about upcoming events that they can use to get hours. Let me point out just a few. Contact the office and we'll get you in touch with the right people:

-Trivia Night (coming up fast), 2/27. We need runners and other helpers from 6 - 11 PM.

-Kindergarten Info Night, 3/2. We need help with child care from 6-8 PM.

-Spring Musical, 4/15 and 16. The help will be needed in March as we prepare sets and costumes.

-Playground improvements. At some point we will be conducting some large scale improvements to the playground, once the weather thaws. We'll let everyone know.

-Race for Education, 5/28. We need help the day of, but we also have a lot of behind the scenes prep work that will occur between March and the day of the event. Some of it can even potentially be done at home.

• Communication conundrum

Preparations for the ND Mass this week and the shuffling of permission forms (and numerous other recent examples...lunch orders, SCRIP, etc.) have highlighted some of the communication perils that can occur in a school. Just consider the chain of unlikely events that need to occur: information from office to communication folder; folder to classroom teacher; folder from teacher to student; folder from student to backpack; folder from backpack to parent; items reviewed and completed by parent, often on behalf of several siblings; items returned to backpack; student back to school; student removes items from backpack; student removes items from folder; student returns folder and forms to teacher (some stay in the classroom, others go to the office); teacher returns folder and forms to office; office records, sorts, and processes paperwork, etc, etc, etc.

When you consider the 13+ steps that have to happen successfully for items to make it from our office and back through the whole cycle, it shouldn't be too surprising that things sometimes get mixed up. I have heard parents suggest that it should be the teachers' (or, alternatively, the office's) job to individually check all the folders and empty them for the students. (For that matter, maybe they should individually check every locker, desk, and backpack too.) In primary grades this is a reasonable expectation. After 3rd or 4th grade, most of our teachers and staff will insist that it is the students' job to be personally responsible and take the initiative to do this themselves, if necessary, learning the hard way from the experience if they forget.

What is lost in the finger-pointing is the fact the misplaced or undelivered items cause a lot of frustration for students, parents, teachers, and the office alike. We all suffer from breakdowns in the system. On top of this, there are actual consequences if permission forms, lunch orders, and SCRIP orders are overlooked or misplaced. In an attempt to tighten up the situation, and perhaps urge a little more accountability from all parties, I am suggesting the following steps:

a. PARENTS: Please remind all of your children every day (especially oldest/only) how important it is to return both the folder itself and the forms that you put back inside. Remind them specifically if there are things that need to be returned that same day. They should empty the folder when they get back to school and hand all items back in according to how the teacher asks to have it done.

b. PRINCIPAL/TEACHERS/STUDENTS: It will take some getting into the habit, but I will begin trying to remind students during morning and Mass announcements to check folders, backpacks, and desks for forms and folders to return before going to their 2nd period class. This is especially critical on Thursdays (the day that most students bring the folders back), because there isn't the usual time after church to get the classroom in order. It's usually a scramble to get to the next period. That could be one reason for a lot of forgotten items.

c. OFFICE: We have assigned one of our secretaries the weekly task of sorting and double checking every returned communication folder that comes through the office. This will be kind of a last failsafe. On the other hand, it won't solve the problem of loose items or envelopes that never make it out of the backpack or locker.

Believe me, if I had a magic solution to training children to be dependable and responsible, I could probably make a lot of money by writing a book about it. Some students learn it quickly and others never seem to find it. We can all keep doing our best to remind and support them to be independent, with an occasional need to intervene and just do it for them. Thanks for your patience and help.

• Valentine's note: I suggested to teachers that we limit classroom Valentine's parties this year (definitely in middle school and to a lesser extent in elementary). This was for several reasons, not the least of which included nutrition, learning time, and the fact that we just had Catholic Schools Week. The 8th grade still had their sucker sale and the lower grades conducted a field trip, so there is plenty going on today in any event. Some teachers may hold card exchanges and pass out a treat if they want to. We will acknowledge Mardi Gras next week (Tuesday) by allowing students to dress down for $1. (Wear beads if they choose.) Opportunities to dress down are not rare in February, but I always think of Fat Tuesday as one worth celebrating. In it's festive form (putting aside some of the more modern excesses), there is both the cultural legacy (French as well as many Latin cultures i.e. 'Carnival') as well as the Catholic legacy, albeit secular in form. Proceeds will benefit the American Heart Association.

• BK/Papa Vino's/Chili coupon books are selling well. We've collected just over 1/3 of our goal. We've met just under 50% of the school quota, and nearly 40% of families have fulfilled their individual quotas. 4th grade is leading with exactly 50% of their quota returned. Thanks to those who have worked to complete this quickly (whether with a genuine grin or a forced smile). Families have 2 more weeks to complete their sales and return the money. As it stands, we have about 150 booklets actually left to hand out, so if you plan to be in the running as a top-selling family, claim your additional booklets soon!

We are not going to announce that students are selling at weekend Masses. If you wish to hang around by the doors or in the lobby after Masses, no doubt there could be some takers.

• IMPORTANT NOTICE. Financial aid applications for 2010-2011 are now available at www.factstuitionaid.com. We will begin opening next year's registration in a few more weeks, but we decided to make this available now. Here is what we will be expecting of families who request (and would eventually receive) aid for next year:

1. You must be an active, registered, and participating member of the parish or a non-parish family in good standing (parish families always receive first priority; we do our best to support all).

2. You must be paid up to date with this year's tuition (or have a catch-up plan in place with the business office. You will need to be paid in full by June 30 to receive final approval.

3. You must be willing to apply for free/reduced lunch in the fall (it used to be encouraged; it will now be required).

4. Families with 3 or more children total spread among any of the Catholic schools in our diocese must apply and verify your tax data by May 1 in order to receive consideration by the Large Family Fund. If you do not apply to LFF, you will not receive additional consideration from the parish.

• The Christmas DVD is now ready for pre-ordering: $5 each, primarily to cover production costs. We will wait one more week before processing. Here is the order form.

• You should have received information about this year's Young Authors' Conference at Marian High School (on March 27). This is a very good quality event for grades K-6. Every student in those grades has had the opportunity to compose one or more creative stories, poetry, or other non-fiction this year. Let's get involved this year and give your children a chance to learn from real authors and to interact and share ideas with their peers from other Catholic schools.

• Last week we sent home information about an upcoming H1N1 clinic on Friday 2/19. This can include adults and volunteers as well as students. Although the first big wave of H1N1 peaked about the end of October, experts are unclear about the possibility of a second wave. If that never happens, it will be only because the majority of our population has either already had the virus or else been vaccinated. We can probably still take last minute forms on Tuesday. Ask in the office if you need another copy.