September 13th Letter from Mr. Kelly

September 13, 2019

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Dear SJS Catholic School Community,

One of the best parts about SJS I think is that parents care so much about the school and making progress. We also take great pride as a staff in moving forward and advancing the students academically and spiritually. That is evidenced in our new Math textbooks and workbooks, our leveled library additions, our new math fact tool-Math Fact Pro, The Genius Hour, and the after school clubs and groups. But we can only get so far if students do not follow school rules. I had an interesting conversation with a principal colleague that centered on changing student behaviors. We concluded that the most powerful tool for changing student behavior is parental support. If home and school are working together significant progress can be made. If students sense that parents do not buy into school decisions there simply will be little progress. So thank you for your continued support.

Terra Nova testing begins the week of the 23rd. Please make sure your students are present, rested, and ready to test in grades 3-8. This is not anything we want the students to be worried about, but we do use the results for school planning. It’s simply a tool for us. So an accurate measure of the abilities of our students can only occur if students are present and ready to test. Thank you for your help.

As we reach the midpoint of the first quarter the following are some tips, based upon experience and best practice, to help students become successful in school:

Make clear to your child that disobedience is not an option. Not even the best teacher can discipline a child who comes from a home not already respectful of adult authority.
Assign your child a fair amount of day-to-day housework. The more responsible the child is within the family, the more responsibility the child will demonstrate at school.
Always be interested in what your child is doing at school.
If and when your child’s teacher reports a problem, give the teacher, not the child, the benefit of the doubt. As a general rule teachers are more committed to bettering the welfare of children than any other class of professionals.

I just find this to be good food for thought as we advance into the rest of the school year. And as you plan for next month, just a reminder that parent/teacher conferences are the 24th of October.

We have been reviewing as a school The 10 Commandments this first quarter. It is always great to get parental support for such topics. If you need a refresher feel free to visit- http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/command.htm

And we want to make liturgy an important part of the school week so parents are always welcome to join us for Mass on Wednesday for grades 1-4 and Thursday for 5-8. Thanks for all you do.

Peace,

William Kelly

Principal