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Thursday Thoughts
March 12, 2009
Carlton Rider, Principal |
Our St. Mary students were great
representatives of our school this past
Saturday, March 7th, at the regional
Spelling Bee at OU-L. Dominic Detwiler,
Carter Corcoran, Tyler Corcoran, Ben Smith,
and Brandon Shull all made it through the
first rounds. Carter Corcoran, a fourth
grader, was fifth in the competition and won
a medal. Congratulations on a job well done!
It’s rare that I am out of the building for
more than a day or so but this week I was
out Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday due to an
Administrative Professional Development
meeting at DeSales High School on Monday and
an External Validation at St. Mary School in
Marion the other two days. There are four
principals involved in an External
Validation and one chairperson. The
chairperson is usually another principal,
but that principal has to be from outside
the diocese. For two days we take a look at
the school’s new five year plan, make
recommendations for improvement, meet with
the school’s steering committee, principal,
and pastor, and then it is up to the school
and its faculty and administration to make
any improvements in their plan based on
input from the validation team. It takes the
school two years to prepare for this meeting
and five years to actually implement the
plan. There are two progress reports due
during the five years that are sent to the
Ohio Catholic Schools Accrediting
Association which monitors the school’s
progress. Next year we will be going through
an Internal and External Validation. Work
has begun as regards this process and
updates have been provided to you as regards
survey results and will continue to be
provided to you in the coming months.
Although being a member of the External
Validation Team takes you out of your
building for a couple days, it is always
good to see what is going on in other
Catholic schools around the diocese.
We continue to have problems with traffic
after school. This past Friday I received a
call from a lady who was upset by the fact
that traffic was backed down Chestnut hill
due to buses picking up children. I also got
a call from a transportation supervision
upset over the fact that parents continue to
park in the bus lane in front of the school
when buses are trying to pick up students.
It got us from both sides that day! One of
the bus drivers actually stopped a policeman
who had someone pulled over in front of the
Primary Building to complain about the
situation. As you may recall, our Advisory
Board made an attempt to deal with this
situation last year, but no solution was
found to alleviate the problem. With the
above being said, I am again asking for your
cooperation. The area in front of the school
needs to be kept clear of parked cars until
3:00 p.m. We have one bus that doesn’t
arrive until around 2:50 or 2:55 each day.
The driver really gets upset if he can’t
pull up to the curb to pick up the students.
A bus driver is not allowed to load students
while parked in the middle of the street.
The bus must come to the curb. We will be
directing students to the patio side of the
building or the Pearl Street side for pick
up. Please arrange for your child to meet
you there if you are picking him or her up
or arrange for pick up at another location;
one of our parking lots for example. I ask
that you please cooperate so that we can
help you to pick up your child safely. If
you would like to volunteer to be an adult
after-school-traffic supervisor let me know.
I’ll train you and even give you a patrol
belt that will give you all the authority
you will need to move cars out of the bus
lane until 3:00!
Speaking of our parking lots. . . Some of
you have noticed that certain parking spaces
are reserved along the east side of the
parking lot across from the main building.
These spaces were purchased at our Holiday
Happening at a high price by the Corcoran
and Edwards families. Please observe the
hours posted on the signs that apply Monday
– Friday when school is in session. I
realize that the bushes sometimes obscure
the signs but we will make every effort to
keep the signs visible and the parking
spaces marked so that people won’t park in
these two areas. These spaces belong to
these families until this year’s Holiday
Happening in mid-November. You may bid on
one or both during the live auction which
takes place on the Sunday afternoon of the
Happening.
On Monday, March 9th our band students in
grades 5 – 8 and members of our Honor’s
choir, in conjunction with Lancaster
Community Concerts, were given the
opportunity to listen to music provided by
Bronn and Katherine Journey. The Journey’s
were in Lancaster this past weekend as part
of the Lancaster Community Concerts series.
Students were also given an opportunity to
ask questions and to be part of a dialogue
with the Journeys. Many thanks to Linda
Kauffman, a member of Lancaster St. Mary
parish, for arranging the visit.
Previous Messages:
March 5, 2009
February 26, 2009
February 19, 2009
February 12, 2009
February 5, 2009
January 29, 2009
January 8, 2009
December 11, 2008
December 4, 2008
November 27, 2008
November 20, 2008
November 13, 2008
November 6, 2008
October 30, 2008
October 23, 2008
October 16, 2008
October 9, 2008
October 2, 2008
September 25, 2008
September 18, 2008
September 11, 2008
September 4, 2008
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