Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Principal's Memo



                            Building Confident Catholic Leaders Through Faith, Community
and Education
           
Feb. 19, 2013



No School
Friday, February 22
Religious Education Congress



Transitional Kinder and Kinder Night
We invite parents who have their child/ren in Mrs. Serafin’s preschool class to join us for an informational night regarding TK (transitional kindergarten), Wed., Feb. 27 at 6:00 p.m.  Mrs. Velasco’s preschool class we invite to join us in the Kinder room.
For TK children, this is the first year of a two year program so that students will be six years of age by 1st Grade.

We also invite our school families in Kinder to 8th grade who will have children entering TK or Kinder next year to join us for this informational night.

Preschool
St. Dominic now has a wait list for next year’s preschool. Both classes in the preschool area will be for three year olds only. Children will be taken on a first come-first served basis.

Please call Ms. Angela at 323-255-5803 in the school office or leave a message with Mrs. Serafin at 323-255-2979 if you are interested in placing your child on the preschool list.    

School Choir
This schedule is to allow learning of harmony parts: Tue., Feb. 19, morning, all girls only. Thu., Feb. 21, morning, all boys only; after school, all girls only. The following week, Tue., Feb. 26, morning, girls only. On Thu., Feb. 29, morning, boys only; after school, boys only.

The March schedule is back to normal. On Tuesdays the entire morning choir will practice. On Thursdays the entire morning choir and the after school choir will practice.
Thank you, Mr. Acosta

Choicelunch
It is nearly March and time for parents with children in 2nd grade  to volunteer for lunch service. If you are interested in earning lunch credit please call the school office ASAP.

Parents need to have been fingerprinted and attended a 3-hour Virtus session on Child Safety.

Volleyball & Softball
Miss Mancia, coach/Athletic Director, is connecting with Pedro, paid coach for boys volleyball. We have a student from Occidental College interested in coaching softball and possibly track. Mr. Lanza inquired about starting a 5th grade boys volleyball team. Miss Mancia will keep you informed by sending flyers and having Student Council make morning announcements. Please have your child listen to morning announcements for additional information.

Surveys
Parents, students, teachers, and the pastor completed a survey on school improvement last year. The template used for this survey is one that is used by all Catholic schools as part of the self-study for WCEA/WASC. We conducted the survey on SurveyMonkey.com to show shareholders that the survey is not analyzed by the office staff.  The survey results were generated by SurveyMonkey for a cost of $300. Written responses from stakeholders were unchanged and unedited and were copied for evidence. The survey is available in the school office for any parent to read.  The report was made available as evidence for the WCEA/WASC committee.

WCEA/WASC Visit
The six member committee who visited St. Dominic during the week of Feb. 5, 6, and 7 presented the faculty, staff and pastor with a report of findings. The findings are based on the review of the self-study book, observations, and interview with teachers, students, parents, Fr. Peter and Ms. Lujan. The report of findings is in the school and is available for parents to read. The pastor, Fr. Peter, also has a copy.

This process is an important part of school improvement. We not only look for our strengths and areas for growth but we also make goals for improving faith, community, and curriculum. We have four goals: 1) to fully implement the Step Up to Writing Program, 2) to implement methods to differentiate instruction, 3) to implement mandatory service hours for all grades, and 4) to hire a part-time development director to work on marketing, grant writing and financial planning. 

The report of findings along with the self-study book is sent to WCEA/WASC for reading. They will determine the term of accreditation. We should get a certificate of accreditation sometime in June or early July. We thank the parents that participated in the parent survey last year via SurveyMonkey. We also thank the parents that were part of the interview process with the visiting team.

Casino Night News
Our Casino Night committee has been diligently working to put on a fabulous event for all or our parents to enjoy on April 6. We currently have 68 families that took advantage of the free gaming money and we have 107 yet to RSVP and pay their mandatory $75. We are asking that you please turn in your RSVP cards as soon as possible so we can have an accurate food count by March 1st.  There will be no ticket sales at the door and attendees must be 21 years of age. All Casino Night forms are on the counter in the school office.

If you need service hours we need the following items donated (simple attach your receipts to the family donation form and drop it off with your items in the office): Tecate canned beer, Tecate light canned beer, Captain Morgan Rum, Skyy Vodka, 2 liter bottles of Coca Cola and Diet Coke, gift cards in the $5-$25 range, gaming prizes like theme park tickets, movie tickets, and sports event tickets.

We only have a few spots left for Texas Hold-em, so hurry to sign up for the 7:30 p.m. session. We have planned a full night of entertainment such as classroom projects, silent auction items, gaming prizes, roulette, craps, black jack, spinning wheel, dancing, food, drinks, free raffle prizes, 50’50, a Texas Hold’em tournament and a photo booth with dress up props.

                                                      School wide Learning Expectations
These are the Schoolwide Learning Expectations students will review this week.

A student of St. Dominic Parish School will be...

an active and involved student who:
·         is a self-motivated learner who demonstrates the skills and technological knowledge to succeed
·         builds a solid foundation in the academic subjects and an appreciation of the arts.
·         communicates effectively, thinks critically, and is a creative problem solver.