I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend. It was a great time to regroup and have some fun time with family and friends. Just a reminder that the "Mixed Bag" fundraiser deadline has been extended until this Wednesday for catalog orders, but online orders will continue to raise money for the school. Thank you to all our families who contributed to this fundraiser.

Last week we had an early dismissal due to a power outage. Florida Power and Light cut a major phase line leading into the school on a construction site not far from campus. Although our air conditioners trip off during a drop of a phase, our transformers do not. Our major transformer had to be shut off for safety and as a result we lost all power at our school. The front gates went up during this time and our intercom system stopped working. Hence, our school was in the dark, warm, and open. As we did not have information about the time of repair, we thought it would be best to head over to St. Peter Parish Hall and start an early dismissal.

T he school received several emails that the notification system did not reach everyone in all forms (text, email, and phone message) or not at all. In an analysis of the system the next day, it was discovered the messages were being sent exactly at the same time the school's servers were going down. Signals became very mixed. The later email that I sent to notify families that all was well and school would resume the next day, was received by all. We are working with the software developers for the company to make sure this does not happen again. I thank everyone for their understanding. I also wish to thank our faculty for a smooth and successful move to St. Peter. Although not ideal, it was a wonderful opportunity to practice an evacuation during a non-emergency situation. Our students were wonderful, respectful of our directions, and very calm while moving to St. Peter and waiting for pick-up.

We continue to complete our MAP's (Measure of Academic Progress) testing throughout the school. This is a short test given three times a year to measure annual growth in reading and math for all students. We ask that students arrive promptly at school in the morning so as not to miss testing. However, if your child is sick, please keep him/her home. As school resumes and children come together, we all begin to see illnesses. We have sent several children home with fevers or gastrointestinal issues in the last week or so. Routines, sleep, and good nutrition are the key to keeping our children healthy.

Last week we had our first Pastoral Board meeting for the school year. At that time, Father Don Finney of St. Peter Church assumed the role of Pastor Moderator of All Saints Catholic School. As we are an inter-Parochial school and supported by six parishes, it is difficult to have all six Pastors in the everyday running of the school. Hence, one Pastor assumes the role of the moderator to be involved in school matters on a daily basis. Although this role is usually accepted for two years, our former moderator, Father Aidan Hynes of St. Christopher served in the position for the past five years. We wish to thank Father Hynes for his immeasurable support in so many ways. He was and is vital to the success of the school over the past few years. We welcome Father Don to this position.

Have a wonderful week.

Yours in Christ,

Jill Broz