PARENT BULLETIN
December 8, 2016
DAN'S BLOG
As you know, since August of 2015, our school faculty has been working on a self-study process as part of the accreditation process all Catholic schools undertake every six years. The goal is to receive a six-year-term of accreditation by the Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA), and also to assure our stakeholders (school parents and St. Louise parishioners) that our school undergoes evaluations and works at creating both short-range and long-range plans for improvement. Although the majority of the researching and writing of our self-study was accomplished by our dedicated teachers and staff, the just-completed 15 month self-study process included an assist from parents - as some parents served on subcommittees and all parents completing surveys last year. Additionally, parent leaders of school programs and committees attended a listening session held by the WCEA's visiting committee of educators last month.  
 
When this visiting committee finished their three-day evaluation of our school last month, they presented the faculty with a "Report of Findings." It is that same report they will present to the WCEA's board of commissioners, and by this spring we expect to hear back from the WCEA on whether they will grant St. Louise a full six-year-term of accreditation or an abbreviated term due to concerns.

Can I tell you with 101% assurance, St. Louise will receive the highest level of accreditation - a full six-year-term?!

How do I know?

I have served on various visiting committees for other school's accreditation processes, along with directing four of these self-studies for our school over my 27 years here. I have a good idea of what types of schools "deserve" a full six-year-term and which schools may have too many weaknesses and can't be granted this top honor. St. Louise deserves this top honor.

But don't take my word for it - - read the "Report of Findings" from the visiting committee yourself! You will find it on our school website in the "About Us" section of our school website. I've posted our entire self-study document - the work of all the subcommittees from the past 15 months - and the "Report of Findings" concludes the document.

In the "Report of Findings" section, you'll note how many glowing words of praise the visiting committee had for our school faculty, for specific actions we've taken in our instruction and in our school procedures, and for other aspects of our school, such as supportive parents and a close-knit, friendly atmosphere. Additionally, the committee made special mention of how "happy and joyful" our students are. The reported that it is so obvious that your children truly are walking with Christ.

It's important to point out that the visiting committee's investigative report was tasked with rating our school in each of the eight unique sections of our self-study involving the "Quality of the School Program." These eight sections represent the various subcommittees our teachers, staff, and some school parents served on last year and for which they helped write reports. When they rate how well a school meets the requirements of each section, the visiting committee can choose from these four rankings: 
  • HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
  • EFFECTIVE
  • SOMEWHAT EFFECTIVE
  • NOT EFFECTIVE
Here is how they ranked St. Louise in each section...
  • Assessment of the School's Catholic Identity = HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
  • Defining the School's Purposes = HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
  • Organization for Student Learning to Support High Achievement  = HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
  • Data Analysis and Action to Support High Achievement = EFFECTIVE
  • High Achievement by All Students Toward Clearly Defined SLEs and Curriculum Standards = EFFECTIVE
  • Instructional Methodology to Support High Achievement = EFFECTIVE
  • Support for Student Spiritual, Personal, and Academic Growth = HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
  • Resource Management and Development to Support High Achievement for = HIGHLY EFFECTIVE
You may have noticed....we scored no lower than an "Effective" in every category! As I said, I've been involved in a number of schools' Accreditation processes, and I don't recall ever seeing a school earn so many "Highly Effective" scores!  Thus, you now know why I have a 101% belief that St. Louise School will receive the highest awarding of a six-year-term of accreditation by the WCEA later this spring.

The rankings are not testament to our eight committees' work on writing thorough and impressive reports last year - although they did indeed write just that. Instead, the "Highly Effective" and "Effective" scores are testament to our school staff's hard work every day in helping create a Catholic-rooted, high-expectation-driven school environment and in reinforcing our school mission to teach to the whole child - the intellectual, social/emotional, physical, and spiritual development of our 400 kids. I am so proud of our teachers, instructional assistants, and support staff! I also want to thank you - St. Louise parents - for your financial support, your volunteering, and your positive attitudes which help create our warm environment that is a big part of our success! 

Again, please check out our entire self-study document on our website. If you're the
type who prefers a "hard copy" to hold and read, we have a few hard copies of the document we can load out through the school office. We would ask you to check them out through Lola or Mindy and then return them in two-weeks' time for the next parent.

Thanks for reading,
Mr. Fitz

p.s.
As you try your hardest to keep your kids (and yourself) from focusing on the gifts that will soon be placed under the Christmas tree, there still is half of the Advent season remaining and a need to keep focused on preparing our hearts for Jesus's coming. The parish has some upcoming events that your family can attend that will assist you in keeping a more spiritual focus on Advent instead of a secular focus on Santa (until December 25 when all heck is permitted to break loose in your home). Go HERE to find a calendar of Advent events, such as a Las Posadas concert, an Advent Taize prayer service, a Filipino Simbang Gabi novena, and an evening concert with our distinguished school alumna, Maureen Still.

School Calendar
        Please subscribe to the school calendar. You may also subscribe to receiving updates from a teacher's individual webpage by choosing your teacher here, and then clicking on the +Subscribe link.
  

TODAY, TOMORROW, THIS WEEKEND
  
Thursday, December 8
  • Feast of the Immaculate Conception SCHOOL MASS at 9:00AM; parents invited to join their children outside the classrooms at 8:45 and walk over to church with them
Friday, December 9
  • Collection drive day for "Christmas Stockings for Homeless Children" (see article below)
  • Flavorful Friday Treats for sale (to raise funds for the 5th graders' overnight field trip to Pioneer Farm this May)
  • Used Uniform Sale in the central wing hallway from 2-4PM
Saturday, December 10
  • Speech Team participates in the Blanchet HS Tournament
Sunday, December 11
  • St. Louise community invited to run/walk in today's Jingle Bell Run; ask Mary Herridge for more details
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK...  
 
Monday, December 12 
  • Auction Free Dress Week - only for those who purchased this privilege at the Auction
Tuesday, December 13
  • Auction Wrap-Up Meeting with committee chairs; other interested parents are invited to attend - 6:30PM in the faculty room
Wednesday, December 14
  • Christmas Concert performed by grades 1-2; 6:30PM in the church; all invited!
Friday, December 16
  • NOON DISMISSAL DAY
  • AFTER-SCHOOL KIDS' CLUB IS CLOSED
  • School closed for Christmas vacation through January 2

SAVE THE DATE...

Tuesday, January 3
  • School Resumes

Time for St. Louise Parishioners to Renew Their Stewardship Commitment

The vast majority of our school parents are also St. Louise Parish parishioners, and as parishioners you have a major benefit and a major expectation. The benefit is you have reduced tuition costs compared to non-Catholic families ($3,744 less for our one-child tuition rate). The expectation is you help financially support the parish as one requirement for being granted this reduced tuition.

Our parish office needs to verify annually that a school family paying the reduced, in-parish tuition rate is indeed a "contributing" parishioner, and the annual Stewardship of Treasure Commitment Renewal - which is currently ongoing during this November/December timeframe - is one part of this verification. (Of course, the other part is to make sure you are following through with your commitment by indeed donating to the parish.)
  
You will find our parish's 2015-16 Annual Stewardship Report online here: www.stlouise.org/stewardshipreport. Additionally, a letter from Father Gary was mailed out recently to all St. Louise parishioners, reminding all to take part in the Stewardship of Treasure Commitment Renewal. Here is a portion of Father's letter:
 
 
November 17, 2016                       
   
Autumn blessings as we come to the close of the Year of Mercy! Thank you for your participation in the Stewardship Life of St. Louise Parish. The sacrifices you are making to support our parish help all of us together to be instruments of Christ's mercy.
 
I have a big idea and I need your help to make it happen. Actually, the idea came from you.
  
In the parish survey that many of you completed two years ago we heard that we need to add more people to our parish staff. We listened and defined one of the eight pillars of our strategic plan to ensure that we have the right number of staff resources in place to address all the needs of our parish community and its vision for the future. With this in mind, we hope to add a Junior High Youth Minister and a new position for Parishioner Engagement (Volunteer Coordination, Welcoming & Hospitality and Outreach). We hope to add the new position for Parishioner Engagement in early 2017 and the Junior High Youth Minister position by July 2017.
 
In order to add and sustain these new positions for the coming years, we would need to increase the total amount pledged to the parish by $140,000 starting in 2017. This year the total amount pledged to our Parish is $1,573,711. Our total pledge goal for 2017, January - December, is $1,715,000.
 
The idea is a bold one and I think that we can do it. The final answer will come from you. I ask that you take the time to prayerfully review your annual financial support to St. Louise and Take a Step in your pledging to help reach our goal.  Kindly complete and return to the parish - in the Mass collection basket or drop off at the parish office - the Stewardship of Treasure commitment card. You can also complete a commitment card online at www.stlouise.org/stewardshipoftreasure.
 
Together with the parish staff, I thank you for completing and returning your commitment card. In thanksgiving for all God's blessings to us, and for your generosity in response,
 
Father Gary Zender
Pastor
 
 


 
Thank you for fulfilling your annual commitment to renewing your Parish Stewardship by completing your commitment card by no later than the end of December. Starting in January, the parish office will be contacting any school families who are paying in-parish tuition but aren't fulfilling these parishioner requirements of renewing the card and continuing with stewardship contributions. If you have any questions, please contact our parish business administrator, Jonathan Taasan.

Words of Wisdom from Sister Polly Policy...
 
I write each week to shine the spotlight on a specific school policy and its guidelines, as found in the school's Policy Handbook . You  should want to read this section each week simply for the good of your soul. However, if you need more incentive than that to read it, the 5th school family who emails Mr. Fitz with the correct answer to the question below will win a $5 Charger Card.  So sit up straight, pay attention, and listen to Sister talk about one of the St. Louise School policies...



VOLUNTEERING POLICY
 
"St.. Louise Parish School requires all families to commit to a minimum of 40 volunteer hours between July 1 and June 30, by volunteering for school activities or St. Louise Parish activities. Those unable to meet this requirement may be excused by paying an hourly fee in lieu of the hours or be excused by making arrangements with the principal.
 
Every family must log their volunteer hours online via the school website by the final day of each trimester, documenting their volunteer time...Any family who has not paid their fee, has not volunteered 40 hours, or has not made arrangements with the principal by the end of the school year will not be accepted for registration for the upcoming school year. Student transcripts will be withheld until all hours are completed or fees paid....

Other stipulations include:
A. Hours may not be transferred from one family to another.
B. Hours may not be carried over to the following school year with the exception being auction volunteer hours earned in the winter and spring for the following year's auction.
C. Volunteer hours that qualify are hours that are spent directly benefiting St. Louise School or St. Louise Parish activities.(Neighboring parish volunteering does not qualify.)
D. Activities related to worship or liturgy (such as attending Mass) do not qualify as volunteer hours.
E. The cost of an item donated to the school cannot be translated into volunteer hours. Only actual time spent on activities that directly benefit our school or parish may be documented as volunteer hours.
F. The principal will make decisions on any other activities not listed below. Some qualifying activities include: Charger Card team; playground supervisors; traffic directing; school office help; hospitality; used uniform and Charger Gear sales; room parents; library assistance; attendance at School Commission or Parents' Club meetings; serving on the School Commission (and its committees); serving on the Parents' Club (and its committees); serving on the Athletic Board; grounds clean-up or facility repairs; St. Louise Parish faith formation teaching/assisting for youth activities; CYO athletic coaching; St. Louise Parish scout troop leadership. Some non-qualifying activities include: ___________."
 
The above is the majority of the "Volunteering Policy" section as found on the school policy document. To see all of the section, please go to page 27 of the Policy Handbook found on our school website. And once there, you'll be able to answer the following for a chance to win a Charger Card:

Subsection "F" above leaves out examples of which activities do NOT qualify for school volunteer hours. Can you name ONE of these non-qualifying volunteer activities which do not count toward a school family's 40 hour minimum commitment?

Email Mr. Fitz, and if you're the 5th family with the correct answer, you win a $10 Charger Card.

Talk to you next week about another school policy
....and until then...say three Our Father's, two Hail Mary's, and a Glory Be!

 
Give the Entire St. Louise Community a Wonderful Christmas Gift!
We are looking for one, two, or three parents to step forward and offer to co-chair the 2017 auction. Whether you know of a fellow parent or two who will chair with you, or you need our help in finding you a partner or two, let us know you're interested.
We'd love to share stories of how chairing the Auction creates excitement and memories, and we will be able to assure you that many committee heads are returning, with our outgoing chairs here to guide you. Contact those outgoing chairs - Esther Magnotti and/or Julianne Read - for more information on what co-chairing the Auction entails. You are also invited to attend the "Auction Wrap-Up" meeting this Tuesday at 6:30PM in the faculty room. All the various committees' leaders will be there to give evaluation reports, and any and all interested parents are invited to sit in to listen, ask questions, and give feedback.


 
Match Your Dollars from the Auction
Please be aware of an important fact regarding matching gifts and the Auction. The amount you spent over the market value of each item you purchased is considered "charitable giving." Therefore, you may be able to match this amount through your employer's matching gift program.  For example, if you bid $200 on an item valued at $75, you may be able to have the $125 that is considered charitable giving matched by your employer. That would give the school an extra $125! This is especially important when considering what you donated for the Father Phil Tuition Assistance Endowment Fund. Gifts to the Endowment could be matched by your employer at 100%! If you are unsure whether or not your company has a matching gift program, matching gift brochures are available in the Development Office.  These brochures list all the companies nationwide who participate in matching gift programs. If you need additional information, please email Cindy Wagner in our development office. Thanks for helping double your donation!

A Toast to Ste. Michelle Wine Estates
          St. Louise School would like to recognize Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for donating computers to the school for the last nine years!  These computers are used at the front of the classroom as "presentation machines" by teachers as well as by students in "laptop carts" that are wheeled from room to room.  Ste. Michelle Wine Estates has been a donor to our Auctions as well.   We appreciate their generosity and have been very grateful to have them as a community partner in education. Their most recent donation last week will allow us to provide additional laptop carts in the classrooms starting this winter. We also want to thank Michael and Ning Grisaffi for helping to bring St. Louise School's needs to Ste. Michelle's attention and being the intermediary in bringing their donations to us.
Congratulations to our Honor Roll Students
          Grade 7-8 students are eligible to be on the "Honor Roll" at the completion of each
trimester. The criteria to be listed on the Honor Roll is for a seventh or eighth grader who has an
end-of-trimester grade of 90% or above in each of the five subjects of religion, language arts,
math, science, social studies. In addition, the student must earn no mark lower than a "3" in the
elective class, must earn no mark lower than a "3" in all subcategories of each of the specialist
subjects, and must earn no mark lower than a "3" in any subject's report card subcategory of
" Demonstrates responsible behavior, positive participation, and completion of assignments."
          Last week we named the junior high students who earned placement on the Honor Roll for the just-completed first Trimester, but we accidentally left off one name: Jack Richards.
Thank You, St. Nick Helpers
          Last Saturday morning found the parish hall full of the magic and joy that the Advent and Christmas Seasons seem to always envoke, as dozens of volunteers, scores of crafters, and hundreds of people attended the St. Nicholas Breakfast and Bazaar and had a wonderful time. Much of the success of the day is due to Karen and Ryan Reed, the chairpersons who worked tirelessly to plan and run the event. They were assisted in a big way in the kitchen by the Knights of Columbus, and specifically Jim Cameron, in cooking up a delicious breakfast. Jim is an alumni-parent, not having had his own kids enrolled at St. Louise School for over a decade, and yet he was ever so willing to help. Another alumni-parent who had no "need to earn volunteer hours" but helped out in a big way Saturday was Paul Davie. 

Saint Nicholas listens intently as Gavin goes through his long list of hoped-for-gifts for this Christmas.

 


 

           Karen and Ryan would like to thank the following school parents who helped them with set up, serving, cleanup, and other tasks. Apologies if your name was accidentally left off this list of

volunteers: Alison Peters, Allison Weber, Amy Wilken, Annabelle Gegus, Antony Jayakaran, Elizabeth Armenta, Erin Aitken, Gail Cunneely, Johanna Posada, Kathleen Lund, Kathy Brennan, Lara Kammereck, Leanne Arsenian, Luis Martinez Castillo, Maria Juarez, Maria Kelly-Doggett, Maria Rotar, Martha Hoyos, Martha Stewart, Maureen Schoen, Molly Akers, Nancy Tribolet, Natalie Remedios, Rebecca Nightingale, Reine Kehdy, Renee Craddock, Ruth Kerschbaumer, Sonia Del Toro, Suzie Sollars, Verene Woelfl, Victor Phan.
           Finally, we appreciate the hard work of our middle school students who served breakfast, of some of our high school alumni who chipped in to help, and of our Parish maintenance staff.


Lydia and Riley helped serve a delicious pancake breakfast.


          There will be an evaluation of the St. Nick Breakfast at the January 12th Parents' Club meeting (6:30PM), so please attend if you have some feedback that will help make the 2017 event even better.


Volunteer Opportunities
          The St. Louise Parish Council is looking for a secretary to take notes at their monthly meeting, which takes place the 3rd Wednesday of the month from 6:30-9pm.  This position would involve attending the meeting, taking notes, typing them up, and distributing them.  It would take approximately 5 hours a month, and is the case with most parish programs, your help counts toward your school volunteer hours!  If you have any questions or if you would like to volunteer, please contact Ingrid Flaat at 425 443-9151.
 

Have You Been Logging in Your Volunteer Hours?
          As St. Louise School parents, you have committed to volunteer at least 40 hours for school needs or St. Louise Parish programs from July through June. We appreciate the thousands of hours total this gives our school in volunteer support! We could not run our school (or at least could not run it affordably) without your help!
          Please make sure you document your volunteer hours as soon as you complete them by logging into our volunteer database and noting the event/program and hours you gave. Here are the steps for logging in hours: 
 
1. Find the "Volunteering" section under the "Resources" tab on the school website's main page HERE. 
2. Then click on the "Submit Hours" link at the right-side of the volunteering page.
3. You will be asked for a password. Enter the email address you have registered at school as your primary email address, then click the button "send password to email entered above"
4. Once you receive the password, you are ready to start entering hours.
  
          There are many opportunities prior to the end of the school year for parents to fulfill their minimum 40 hour commitment.   This Bulletin regularly lists volunteer needs, or you will find ongoing needs on our  volunteering page.  In addition, you may contact the Parents' Club's Volunteer Coordinator - Marinell Zevenbergen - to discuss other opportunities. Alternatively, if you are unable to volunteer 40 hours total, you may pay a $18.00 per hour fee for the remaining hours needed. If you need to do this, please submit payment to Dan Fitzpatrick's attention. Finally, if there is a hardship affecting either your ability to complete the volunteer hours requirement or pay the fee, please contact Dan.
 
Time to Purchase Gift Cards for Christmas
Can you make this a Charger Card Christmas? How much of your Christmas shopping can you run through Charger Cards and support St. Louise? 
For a limited time there are several stores offering bonus rebates to St. Louise, which means your purchases help you reach your required fund raising minimum that much faster:
  • Starbucks - 9% rebate
  • LeVue Nails, L.L.Bean, Menchies, Purple, Tutta Bella, Regis Salon, Hair Masters, Red Robin - 20% rebate
  • Daniel's Broiler - 35% rebate
 
St. Louise Family Charger Card Tis
Did you know....Credit card gift cards are available through our C.C. program? Visa and American Express and Discover Cards are available. These cards are good for a variety of uses:  
  • Gifts - if you are not sure what to give...a universal Visa card can be used anywhere.
  • Travel - if your kids travel to any location that does not accept cash (on an airplane!), a credit card gift card can be sent with them.
  • Prevent fraud - use instead of your personal credit card.
Visa and Discover have a bonus program to earn up to 5% back with purchases using this card.
All cards are available for ordering online through our shopwithscrip.com online scrip website.
Office Hours
+ Charger Card office hours are from 8:15-8:45 on every Friday school morning.
          + Available for online purchases 24/7 at www.shopwithscrip.com.
                    +For questions or more information on Charger Cards, please email      
                      chargercards@stlouiseschool.org or visit the school website.

Teacher Wish List
Many school families choose to purchase Charger Cards to give as Christmas gifts to their children's teachers and some school staff members. Enclosed in today's red Family Envelope is a "WISH LIST" of the school faculty's favorite gift cards. Thanks in advance to families who generously gift the faculty and purchase Charger Cards to do so!

 

A handful of students pose with their favorite vice-principal.

If you have a photo of your kids in a school or community event and/or at a CYO game, send it to Dan Fitzpatrick for possible publishing in an upcoming Parent Bulletin and/or to Catherine Saffel for possible inclusion in the end-of-year School Yearbook.
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