Enter to Learn. Go Forth to Serve.
Thursday, June 18, 2020
Dear O'Hara Families,

What an unexpected year this ended up being! We began in September with busy classrooms, students learning and all was normal! We had a wonderful Advent season with a fabulous Christmas program. We returned to start 2020 well rested from a fun Christmas break. Little did we know, the next few months would bring us to unprecedented times and find us all in a new world of distance learning. We have now added new words and phrases to our vocabulary like Zoom Meetings, DLD pages, Social Distancing, and more. It is during difficult times that I find myself so very grateful that I am a part of this O’Hara community. Because of our amazing educators, we were able to transition to distance learning in a matter of days, and for 14 weeks, we sustained learning, faith formation and new, fun activities remotely. Although I think we can all agree that distance learning is not our first choice, we did it. You did it! And together we survived a brand new, unique time. As always, thank you for trusting us and partnering with us in your child’s education. 

As we look forward to what next year will look like, and we examine regulations that are handed down to schools, we are committed to continuing to provide the very best, faith-filled, education possible for each and every one of our students. It is my primary goal to return to our school building in the fall and have all of our students learning in-person, in classrooms. As I have already shared with you, we have been, and will continue to work through the summer to formulate plans that meet health and safety requirements from the authorities. A return to the building will include social distancing regulations, different mask/face covering suggestions for different ages, and many other new norms. 

As we work through these plans, I also recognize that returning to the building may not be the goal for every family and that some of our families want to be able to stay a part of our community while having the option to continue distance learning. As you consider what is best for your family, if you believe that you may want your child to continue distance learning until there is a vaccine or other suitable treatment for COVID-19, I would request that you fill out THIS quick form. I need to know how many students may be distance learning next year. This is not a commitment one way or another, but rather an opportunity for me to gauge what our parents are considering. There are regulations on the number of students we can have in certain areas and this will help me prepare our building for the safest possible return. 

We are a community of planners, organizers and leaders, which makes these times all that much more difficult since so many things are out of our control. As the Archdiocese Department of Catholic Schools and the Oregon Department of Education create, modify and share their expectations and regulations for schools, we too will modify and plan for the 2020-21 school year. As you read this email, I am working with our internal task force to create the best plan we possibly can for our O’Hara students. As we finalize plans, we will share them out with the community via email. If regulations change and are modified by the state, we will do the same on our end and continue to keep you all informed. 

Again, my goal is to create the very best option for O’Hara that provides a strong learning environment, while protecting our staff and our students. 

Sincerely,
Mrs. Conway
Principal
NEW UPDATES & INFORMATION FOR OUR FAMILIES
BUSINESS MANAGER

We are excited to welcome Alicia Mullerleile to our administrative team, as our new Business Manager! Alicia has been a part of the O’Hara community for the last 7 years as a parent. Alicia comes to O’Hara after 13 years as a CFO for a privately-owned real estate investment company. We are confident that her vast experience in accounting, as a Certified Public Accountant, and fiscal awareness will serve O’Hara well. As we say goodbye to our wonderful business manager of 17 years, Mrs. Rebecca Plant, please join me in warmly welcoming Mrs. Alicia Mullerleile .

Mrs. Plant’s last official day will be June 30, but she will be available via email until mid-July. Mrs. Mullerleile’s official start date is August 17, but she will also be in the office training throughout the summer. If you should need assistance during the interim, please email Mrs. Conway.
END OF THE YEAR SURVEY

As we reflect on the last 14 weeks of distance learning, we know that there were areas that worked and areas where we could improve. We recognize that some ideas we implemented were helpful for families and some were not. In the event that the Governor mandates a return to distance learning at some point next year, we want to do better. Please help us by filling out this survey and share your thoughts, concerns and ideas. Thank you!
O'HARA'S SUMMER OFFICE HOURS

Beginning on Tuesday, June 23, our summer office hours will be Tuesday - Thursday, 8am - 11am, weekly. We will be checking email and voicemail throughout the summer.
GOSPEL T-SHIRTS FOR 2020-21

Online ordering for O'Hara's 2020-21 Gospel T-Shirts is now open! Please click here to order shirts for your student/family . All orders placed before August 3 will be ready by the first week of school. (There will be a second round of orders for those that miss the August date.)

Congratulations to O'Hara parent Ali Edwards for submitting this year's winning t-shirt design!
REPORT CARDS

Report cards will be emailed to parents on Monday, June 22. They will look a bit different this semester because of the transition to digital learning:

For students in Preschool and Pre-K , expect a written narrative that sums up your student’s academic progress this year and includes summer goals that are geared toward being prepared for school next fall.

For students in Kindergarten through 2nd grade , expect that some grades will be marked “N/A” due to missing data points and changes that were made to our instructional timelines. The typical “Work/Study Skills” and “Personal Management” sections will not be included on this report card.

For students in 3rd through 8th grade , there will be no citizenship grades on the report card. Teachers will address behavioral strengths or areas for growth in comments as needed.

Specialist grades will only be given in grades 6-8.
MAY CHARACTER AWARDS

Congratulations to all of our Determination award winners!  Click here to view the photo album of students who sent in a photo with their award .  (If your student won a Determination Award, but you forgot to send in a photo, please send it to  pictures@oharaschool.org  and we will add it to the album!)
YEARBOOK PICTURE -LAST CHANCE!

Please submit all of your photos by June 22 for our 2019-2020 yearbook! Please continue to send us pics of your students ( pictures@oharaschool.org ) or upload them to Vidigami . If you need help accessing your Vidigami account, please email Mrs. Ferrari .

REMINDERS
SCHOOL SUPPLY LISTS NEXT YEAR

Currently, our teachers and staff are working to prepare school supply lists for next year; these will be sent out to families when they are finalized. We are anticipating a few more changes to our lists this year in light of restrictions, so the lists will be released a bit later than normal, likely early July. There are a few items we anticipate will be in universally high demand that we’re recommending you purchase as soon as possible for each of your students:

Supply/Art Box - There will not be shared classroom supplies next year, so we are requesting that students have a supply box to hold their school supplies. The box should be large enough to fit a 12" ruler inside.

Masks - In the event that student masks will be required, we recommend that you plan ahead and purchase multiple masks for each of your students. Lands’ End, one of our uniform suppliers is currently offering face masks, as are many other retailers.

There will not be specific color requirements for masks. However, masks should not have words or phrases as part of the design, and may not have any graphic or design that is scary or otherwise inappropriate for an elementary school setting.
We do encourage families to prepare for a way to label their masks with student or family names. Please click here for one option we found .

A note about cleaning supplies:
We traditionally ask families to bring both Clorox wipes and hand sanitizer as part of their school supplies. While we would love to have anyone who has extra plan to bring them to school, and we are hoping that these items become easier to find as summer progresses, we want you to know that we are planning ahead and stocking up on these items through our commercial vendors. If you are unable to find these items at a reasonable price when school supply shopping, please don’t stress about it - we’ll have you covered!
SUMMER RESOURCES FOR OUR FAMILIES

Please click here to browse our Summer Resources folder that includes our Summer Reading Incentive, Tutoring, and resources by level.
ENROLLMENT OPENINGS NEXT YEAR

O’Hara currently has a handful of spots available in the following grades for next year: Preschool, PreK, Kindergargten, 1st grade & 3rd grade. If you have a friend or neighbor that is interested in O’Hara for next year, please have them email us at admissions@oharaschool.org .
SUMMER PROJECTS AT O'HARA

One positive aspect of the school being closed, is that we have been able to get an early jump on summer projects! Our largest project for this summer is the replacement and repair of the roof over the primary wing. This is a huge undertaking, the roof is greatly in need of repair! In addition, we are giving the 1st grade rooms a much-needed face-lift. We are grateful to all of our donors and those who have participated in our Capital Campaign - A Proud Legacy…A Vision for the Future . With the funds we have received thus far for our Tier 1 projects, we are able to accomplish these summer projects. Your support has helped us get this far; thank you.
2020-21 SCHOOL CALENDAR

As we work on our calendar for next year, we have these dates to share with our families. Please note, this is a draft, and dates are subject to change, especially in light of the uncertainty created by Covid-19.

Tuesday, September 8 - Passport Day
Wednesday, September 9 - First day of classes
Friday, October 9 - No school for students, teacher in-service day
Wednesday, October 21 - 1/2 day of school, teacher in-service in the afternoon
Wednesday, October 28 - 1/2 day of school
Thursday, October 29 - No school for students. Parent/Teacher conferences
Friday, October 30 - No school for students. Parent/Teacher conferences
Thursday & Friday, November 26 & 27 - No school - Thanksgiving break
December 21 - January 1 - No school - Christmas break 
Monday, January 18 - No school - MLK, Jr. Day
Friday, January 22 - 1/2 day of school, teacher in-service in the afternoon
Friday, February 5 - No school for students - Archdiocesan in-service day
Monday, February 15 - No school - President's Day
Tuesday, February 16 - No school for students, curriculum in-service day
Saturday, February 20 - O'Hara's Annual Auction
Wednesday, February 24 - 1/2 day of school, teacher in-service in the afternoon
March 22 -26 - No school- Spring Break
Monday, April 5 - No school - Easter Monday
Wednesday, April 14 - 1/2 day of school, teacher in-service in the afternoon
Friday, April 16 - 1/2 day of school, Parent/Teacher conferences in the afternoon
Monday, May 31 - No school - Memorial Day
Friday, June 18 - Last Day of School

Please note: the Wednesday half-days designated for in-service are mandated to O'Hara by the Archdiocese.
AMAZON SMILE - NOW ON THE AMAZON APP!

Good news! AmazonSmile customers can now support Open Door Foundation in the Amazon shopping app on iOS and Android mobile phones!

Simply follow these instructions to turn on AmazonSmile and start generating donations:
  1. Open the Amazon Shopping app on your device
  2. Go into the main menu of the Amazon Shopping app and tap into 'Settings'
  3. Tap 'AmazonSmile' and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process

If you do not have the latest version of the Amazon Shopping app, you'll want to update your app.

Or, from your browser, go to smile.amazon.com and choose Open Door Foundation as your beneficiary before you shop. O'Hara receives 0.5% of your purchase price as a donation. What an easy way to support our school!
COMMUNITY & RESOURCES

Follow us on Social Media!
Please follow our Instagram and Facebook page for prayers, live feeds, and activities your students can participate in!

Send us pictures or tag us on social media!
We want our students to remember they are an important part of our O’Hara community and we want to see their pictures! We encourage you to tag us in your posts, or send us pictures to share via email: pictures@oharaschool.org . 

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

- Joshua 24:15
O'Hara Catholic School
715 West 18th Avenue
Eugene, Oregon 97402
541.485.5291