CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK: This year’s theme is “Dividends for Life”. We celebrate Catholic Schools week January 31-February 5. Look in the Friday folders to see the great things we will plan that week. The school will have a Mass on Sunday January 31st at 11:30. (previous dates have changed so check the web for the new dates on the 2009-2010 calendar page). We really would love all children to be there. Please wear your orange t-shirts and have the kids there early enough to sit with their friends in the choir area. It would be great to have them there by 11:00 so they can practice with the band.
TEXAS HOLD ‘EM: We are looking for volunteers to work for tuition credit during Texas Hold’Em nights in January. Please contact the office at 235-8572. We will be having fund raiser nights on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evening during the months of January, and February-April. We need your help, and money raised this month goes to our Athletic Department and Church.
DAD’s: “Let him hang out with you. Remember, he has a need to be around you, to learn what being a man is all about.” We have a Men’s Faith Sharing Group on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month in the Parish Center. Deacon Gary runs these meetings and they are a great way for us to strengthen our relationship with God. This month’s meetings are on 1/7 and 1/21 from 7-8:30. We pray together, discuss things in our lives and enjoy fellowship. All men are welcome to attend.
WEBSITE CALENDAR CHANGES: There have been changes to the 2009-2010 calendar on the website. Please print a new one for yourself and throw the one away that you received at the beginning of the year.
WEATHER: Children must dress for our weather. This means a warm coat, hat, mittens or gloves, and boots! Please label clothing. Children are outside in the morning and for recess unless the temperature drops below 15o F.
CANCELLATION OF SCHOOL: We follow the Carman Ainsworth system for snow days. If they close, then we do too. If they are delayed, then we follow the same delay time.
MLK DAY: No school Monday January 19th in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. Enjoy your day. Remember; take a moment to pray for equality and peace for people of all diverse backgrounds.
GREEN SCHOOL COMMITTEE: We will be meeting on January 11@ 6:00 in the teacher’s lounge. At the meeting, we will be addressing our Earth Day Celebration 2010 and the possibility of a school wide T-shirt design contest. We will also review our Green School Certification that Mrs. Voto is in charge of. Having a student representative at the meeting would be great! Last year we had Collin Murphy- Hey Collin, what do you think!!??
GREEN TIP: Take a gander at whatever you put on your body, from deodorants to shampoos. Antiperspirants, for instance, work by clogging pores with aluminum salts, a metal that may play a role in Alzheimer’s disease. Try this: go to www.scorecard.org a website where you can type in ingredients to learn their hazards. For Green Options try www.melaleuca.com, www.burtsbees.com, www.aubrey-organics.com, or www.aveda.com.
MASS: A Student Mass is held most Wednesdays of the school year at 8:30 AM. You are always welcome to attend and participate. Each class takes a turn planning the Mass. These Masses are a special part of St. Pius X Catholic School. Students are encouraged to give to the church both on Wednesdays and Sundays.
GRIEF COUNSELING: This is a great opportunity for children struggling with the loss of a loved one, to know they’re not alone. Genesys Hospice will be running a six week program on 1/12, 1/19, 1/26, 2/2, 2/9 and 2/16. The sessions will be for 45 minutes and students will break into 3 separate age groups. They will go to their respective age group sometime between the hours of 8:15-11:15 (there are 3 sessions each day). If parents are interested in a group for themselves, please call the school office and Mr. Kaplan will notify Genesys. Grant monies cover the cost of this program.
SPELLING BEE: We have in class spelling bees coming up. The winners will be moving on to the All-Parochial Spelling Bee at St. John Vianney, which will be held on January 12th @ 6:30 pm. Winners will be announced by January 6th.
JANUARY LUNCH: coming the first week of the New Year. For now, keep your December lunch calendar as it has the first week of January on it.
FREE THROW CONTEST: The SPX Knights of Columbus are sponsoring a Free Throw Contest for students 10-14 years of age. It will be held in the school gym on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 6:30 P.M.
FROM THE PRINCIPAL: Happy New Year Everyone! By the time you read this I will have sent an email to you with this newsletter attached. I am going to hopefully continue emailing you newsletters and if people are looking to go paperless as we move ahead then this will work great for them! If all goes well over the holidays I will be creating a facebook page for the school. It will be my page, but it will be a business page.
This is a great way for us to network and market our school. Welcome to SPX in the 21st century!
The New Year is sure to bring about many challenges and successes for us all. Our school will begin to aggressively work on our enrollment management for the 2010-2011 school year in January. While we are always working on our enrollment, January marks Catholic Schools Week and it is a great time for me to get out to other parishes and talk to people about our school. We have many DVD’s to give out and I will be quite busy talking at different churches throughout the month. One may wonder if we have enough students. We need to have a consistent incoming flow of children in our preschool, kindergarten and 1st grade classes and this will be a major focus for us over the next 6-8 months. By far our greatest focus is maintaining enrollment- that is you! Our Mission is at the top of this newsletter. Do we deliver this to you and your child? We have a relationship where you should share concerns and successes with me. How are we doing? I will be sending out a survey soon that will hopefully give me insight into your opinions on classroom instruction, Catholic schooling, school vision, etc. Change is good. It’s a great way for us to strengthen our faith in God.
Keep The Faith
–R.J. Kaplan