Dear Saint Paul School Community,
It was so great to be back at school in a sea of orange and black today! Thank you, Mrs. Lloyd, for the balloon arch in the gym and to all the students that sent in their pumpkins for my pumpkin patch!
Thank you for your patience with the cancellation of school this past Wednesday and Thursday. The power outages and connectivity issues were definitely unexpected. That being said, I do my best to communicate to parents school closures.
A little background … I did not have power and attempted to use my phone to send two text messages and one email. I also contacted two other staff members to see if they had power so they could send the alert. Unfortunately, they did not. The cellular service was spotty so it took me longer than usual to access the Internet, FACTS website and time to hit send.
I cannot explain why some received the text messages on Wednesday or Thursday while others did not. The message was set-up “district wide” and the report shows all parents, faculty and staff and their correct phone numbers. I was one of the ones that did not receive the two text messages. I even sent a TEST text to myself and am still waiting for it.
I have been troubleshooting with FACTS for those that may not have received the texts the past two days and this is what they say / suggest:
As of today, none of you have the block messages turned on. So they should’ve been receiving them. Can you have them text the word ‘start’ to 22383. Sometimes it is turned off and we cannot see it in SIS. However, by the parent texting that number would activate it on the carrier’s end.
We will do a practice test early next week.
Moving forward, lesson learned, and we unfortunately cannot 100% guarantee a text or email message will be sent in the event of a school closure. In the event of a closure, Saint Paul School will follow Hingham Public Schools and this is also stated on page 10 of our Student Parent Handbook.
Most importantly, everyone is safe.
IMPORTANT LUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT; Due to the two days out of school this week and not being able to serve lunch we are going to move Wednesday's Monster Mac and Cheese to next Wednesday and Thursdays Mysterious Mozzarella Sticks (Surprise treat too)to Thursday. These items were pre-purchased and we do not want them to go to waste. Should you want a reimbursement please send an email to jknobloch@spshinghm.org. Thank you for your understanding.
On Wednesday K-1 and 2-3 students were scheduled for a presentation about bullying and cyberbullying from Dr. Megan McCoy at the MARC at Bridgewater State University. It was similar to the parent presentation but on an age-appropriate student level. I am working to reschedule.
Tonight’s Middle School Dance was also postponed until next Friday night. A decision had to be made yesterday morning as the tent, DJ and food had to be rearranged. There would have been a loss of $1,500 and thankfully all parties are able to reschedule without penalty.
Please join us for All Saints Day LITURGY on Monday, November 1 at 10:00a. Grade 4 has worked hard to prepare and present their study of the saints.
RESCHEDULED …. SAVE THE DATE … PRINCIPAL COFFEE Friday, November 5 at 8:30 am in the Kindergarten Lot.
Our PTO has many events upcoming: WREATH SALES start today (link to purchase is below) FOOD DRIVE November 1-15 (flier below) and FRUIT CENTER FUNDRAISER November 8-14 (voucher below). Let’s support our town and school!
TRAVELING … Domestic (out of state) and/or International … regardless of vaccination status please complete the following link. If your child is vaccinated, we must have proof on file in the Health Office.
Thank you for entrusting us with your most precious gift … your children!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Principal
Learning is an Adventure of a Lifetime!