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Thursday Thoughts
September 11, 2008
Carlton Rider, Principal |
It’s hard to believe that we are already
nearly three weeks into the new school year
and our faculty, students, and parents seem
to be getting back into many of the
activities that mark the beginning of a new
school year, especially those after-school
sport practices and other activities.
Our faculty, as well as myself, were pleased
with the turnout of parents for our
parent/teacher meetings on August 26th for
grades 2 – 8. This was a good opportunity
for our parents to meet our teachers and for
our teachers to share their expectations and
goals for the year with the parents of our
students. Again, if you have any concerns,
please share them with your child’s teacher
or teachers. Our teachers are more than
willing to clarify any misunderstandings or
issues with our parents.
There are still those who seem to spread
rumors and half-truths about our school, its
administration, faculty, staff and coaching
staff. Whenever somebody approaches me about
a supposed rumor and tells me that everybody
wonders why this or that is happening, I
will be asking that person for names so I
can get to the bottom of what is being said.
It is hard to sometimes avoid getting caught
up in the rumor mill but start challenging
what others might say, especially negative
talk, and start talking about all the good
things that happen at our school.
Thank you for your response to my letter
concerning the National School Alert System
by sending to school your telephone numbers
and e-mail addresses so you can be
contacted. Hopefully we will never have to
use this system but it is nice to know that
it is in place should we need to contact our
parents in an emergency situation. If you
have not sent in your information, please do
so as soon as possible.
We are all looking forward to our Opening
School Mass on Friday, September 12th with
Bishop Frederick Campbell as the principle
celebrant. Our students have been fortunate
in having our Bishop participate in our
Opening Mass two out of the past four years.
Last year the Vicar General of our diocese,
Monsignor Stephan Moloney, was the main
celebrant. Our parents, faculty, staff, and
students have had rare opportunities to be
present at liturgies with some high ranking
members of the clergy in our diocese.
In the weeks to come you will be getting
information concerning our re-accreditation
process which will begin this year. Surveys
will be given to our board members, faculty,
parents, and students and the results of
those surveys will help determine goals for
the next five years.
I hope that you like our new website! If you
would like to see other information posted
on our site or have comments please let me
know and I will forward to Mrs. Blom. Our
website address is
www.greenapple.com/~stmarylab.
Minutes of our Advisory Board meetings will
be posted on our website as soon as possible
after each meeting. My administrative report
will appear under the Advisory Board link
each month.
Our athletes are doing very well to this
point in their fall sports seasons. For
those new to our school, St. Mary’s sponsors
7th and 8th grade boys and girls cross
country, 7th and 8th grade girls’
volleyball, and 7th and 8th grade boys’
football. We also have those involved in
junior high soccer but this team is a club
team and not financially sponsored by our
athletic department.
Previous Messages:
September 4, 2008
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