Dear All Saints Families,
As we are hearing on the weather reports that Hurricane Irma is a powerful storm out in the Atlantic Ocean that appears to be a threat to us.
Following the latest news from the Palm Beach County School District, All Saints Catholic School will close Thursday, September 7 and Friday, September 8 to allow families to prepare for Hurricane Irma. All after school activities and meetings are cancelled beginning on Wednesday, September 6. This includes Extended Day Care. Further, unlike many public schools, All Saints is not a shelter and will reopen as soon as possible. Re-opening is school specific and you will be notified through text, email, and telephone. We pray that this storm will miss Florida and all other areas where life may be threatened.
We are half way through testing with MAP's. By the end of the week we hope to be finished in the classrooms. However, we will be attempting to test absent students over the next two weeks. The administrative team has been working hard partnering with homeroom teachers to proctor this test, thereby reducing student stress and increasing continuity. As it was the first time testing in such a formal way for the little ones, we know that there may be some questions with the data. Nevertheless, we know this data will be valuable and students will become as familiar with the procedures as we progress with winter and spring testing times.
We wish to proudly announce that all of our students who took the state Algebra 1 and/or Geometry "End of Course" (EOC) exams last spring passed. This is a strong statement of the caliber of our teachers and students. The test has significantly changed in its format and content over the past two years and many students at other locations, public and private, have not passed. If you are not aware of these tests, the state requires students who attend public school to pass EOC exams in certain high school leveled classes in order to graduate high school. We highly recommend all students who take these high school math classes at All Saints to take the tests, regardless of their plans for high school. Too often a student may begin high school at a private school and then transfer to a public high school, only to have to take these EOC's years after taking the class. The administration and faculty at our school work very hard to educate our students with depth and rigor with an elevated curriculum.
As I end this letter, I wish to remind families of some general items. Please ensure that emergency forms are handed in to the school office by the end of the week. It is critical for the safety and well-being of your family that this information be supplied to the office. In the case of shared child custody, both parents must hand in a form to clearly let the office know who to contact in case of emergency. Also, we request that in the case of a divorced family situation, custody papers should be shared with the office so we can meet the court mandates of custody. We cannot take one parent's word for the court ordered document. Parents, please check your child's uniform. In the past week we have some improper uniform issues. Also, we need parents to be very sensitive to girls' short lengths for PE class. Remember, your child is moving about and bending over. Short lengths are becoming a real concern for modesty during athletic classes. Finally, please be courteous of all individuals in the carline. This includes our amazing staff that are out in searing summer heat, rain, thunder/lightning, and wind. We need to follow the directions of these hard working faculty members. We are all one community under God and need to treat each other with respect.