Dear All Saints Families, 

Thank you to the eighth grade teachers and students for an amazingly faithful May Crowning last Thursday.  This beautiful event allowed our graduating class to display such reverence and honor to our Blessed Mother.  I was so impressed with their participation and loving behavior. They were wonderful role models for our lower grade students. They have raised the bar in expectations for sure. It was a great way to kick off the many numerous events for our graduating class.

Friday was a fun time for seventh and eighth graders who participated in the dance.  Thank you to our seventh grade room parents for organizing a fun filled Fiesta Dance following the theme of Cinco de Mayo.  Thank you parents for helping your children adhere to the dress code.  Our students want to grow up so quickly, but we try to hold on to their youth as long as we can. Our students often do not truly understand how their attire communicates to others in terms of their morals, ethics, and guidelines of behavior. Wearing modest and respectful clothing for both our boys and girls represents our school proudly.

This time of the year there is so much to celebrate, both our students and who we are as a school.  We began a week ago celebrating the arts in Aladdin Jr.  We celebrated our faith last week with the Crowning of Mary.  This week we celebrate our athletes with the Athletic Banquet to be held this coming Friday. Today is the absolute deadline to RSVP. The organizers need to have final numbers for food and seating. Thank you for Coach Quatrale for organizing this wonderful event.

This is our eighth graders last week. We pray for their success in their exams and wish them all the best.  Besides their exams many of our students are going to the county school board office to take their End of Course Exams (EOC's) in Algebra 1 and Geometry. Thank you Mrs. Ewing for organizing this with the county, as in the past we were forced to take these exams much later in the summer when math was not in our students' minds. The state EOC's are required for high school graduation from public schools, not private or Catholic schools.  We encourage all our students to take these exams because, although, one may begin in a Catholic or private school, we have known many changes to be made in high school and a student may transfer to a public one.  It then becomes very difficult to take an exam in a subject that may have been previously taken several years ago.  In general, our students are very successful in these exams as our teachers do prepare our students well.

I finally wish to let parents know Iowa scores are being mailed home today.  Iowas are taken in grades two to eight. This will allow you to review the scores before attending the school review of the scores on May 17, 2017.  Besides looking at the raw scores, it is also crucial to look at the longitudinal growth charts.  Even though a student may struggle, we hope growth is seen.  After meeting last week with the teachers in grades two through five and thoroughly review scores, questions, and students, some parents may be receiving a call to meet with the teacher regarding some concerns with scores. This is to ensure we are all working to best serve the child.  

Have a wonderful week!