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Memo
To: All ASCS Parents
From: Steve Virgadamo
Date: October 14, 2022
Re: Week 6 - Head of School Journal Entry - Week 6 – October 10-14, 2022
“A perfect All Saints Catholic School is an imperfect administration, an imperfect staff and imperfect parents who refuse to give up on each other and any student.”
As I was thinking about this week’s journal entry, I thought it might be a good idea to go beyond a vision of a perfect All Saints Catholic School and review the 4 Core Values of All Saints. Core values are the root beliefs that All Saints operates from. These core values or our core beliefs permeate everything we say and do as a school and parent community.
Core Belief #1 – Parents are the primary educators of their children and we partner with each parent in not just education, but human formation.
Human formation is the capacity to relate in a mature and warm way. Human formation at All Saints Catholic School is focused on forming each young scholar intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and apostolically.
St John Paul II reflected on intellectual formation in his 1992 exhortation Pastores Dabo Vabis. He said: “Intellectual formation has its own characteristics, but is deeply connected with and can be seen as a necessary expression of both human and spiritual formation: It is a fundamental demand of human intelligence by which we seek to acquire truth, knowledge and wisdom.
Spiritual Formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus for the glory of God and for the sake of others. Corinthians 3:17-18 says the focus of spiritual formation is the Holy Spirit, who guides the ongoing journey towards union with God.
The objective of Apostolic formation at All Saints is for students to foster a solidarity with the material, human and spiritual needs of others and to develop a responsible Christian leadership that puts the gifts and talents each scholar has received at the service of others.
Core Belief #2 - Children learn differently and that each child can learn.
The heart and soul of a school culture is what people believe, the assumptions they make about how the school works. This means to achieve a mission of peak levels of learning for all students, our teachers commit to the critical assumption that all children can learn but in fact they may learn differently. Personalized learning, individualized instruction, and the words personal learning environment at All Saints all refer to our efforts to tailor education to meet the different learning styles of all students.
Core Belief #3 - In a Trinitarian relationship scholars learn best when each young scholar, teacher and parent are actively engaged in the teaching and learning process.
The trinity is a model for our relationships at All Saints. Just as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are joined, so are we as a family of scholars, parents and teachers. Each member of the family has a different role to play and unique talents to share, but we are all unified in a holy relationship. The All Saints community reflects the divine community with mutuality, fairness, equality and reciprocity among its members. We recognize that each of us (parent, teacher, scholar and the institution which is All Saints) is perfectly imperfect, but are committed to never giving up on each other.
All formation doesn’t happen in the classroom. It happens in the dining hall, theater, playground and yes, the gym. We are blessed to have parents partner with us as cross country volunteers, dining hall monitors, room parents, etc. We need some more help. It’s time for the basketball season. We still need coaches for the 5th/6th grade girls’ team, the 5/6 grade boys’ team, and the 8th-grade boys’ team. If interested in coaching and transforming lives email our Athletic director Karen Cella at ms.cella@ascs.net
All Saints is a Trinitarian Community and working together we can work miracles transforming lives.
Core Belief #4 -The deeper we drink of the beauty, goodness and joy of the Gospel message, the more capable we are of creating a community that respects human dignity and our hearts to life giving transcendent truths.
Scripture says: “We’re better together than alone (Romans 12:4-5) God loves people and he knows that as people we need people. He created us to live in community, giving and receiving support, which leads to generosity and gratitude. It is God’s desire for us to be in community. Community is also a sign of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of other more important than our own.
Candy - Halloween Festivities – Trunk or Treat
Given the Fentanyl crisis, the staff requested that we adopt a policy that candy may not be distributed on campus by anyone. If you are including candy in your child’s lunch or afterschool snack, we ask that you not do so until further notice. Thank you for your understanding. This move is preemptive cautionary step as we want to protect the students at all times.
We will modify the policy for our Halloween festivities. Mrs. Dunn and I will purchase all the candy for trunk or treat and be sure the chain of custody of candy follows secure protocols. The HSA Officers will work with us so that candy will be available and distributed appropriately for our trunk or treat volunteers to distribute.
The staff is planning to be in costumes for Halloween day on campus. Get your cameras ready, put your costume on and plan on joining in the merry making
School Culture
How do we know we are building a healthy school culture? Let me share what I have seen and heard this week:
After the first month of school parent of a new student asked her child if he was happy at All Saints and whether he wanted to consider another school. The child’s response: “I love my teachers Mom. They really care about me and that I’m learning. But more importantly if I left I’d be leaving my friend alone and he needs me.”
New England Association of Colleges and Schools Accreditation
As reported at the State of the School presentation, this year All Saints is preparing for the “big test” of accreditation. The preparation requires all staff to be working and preparing for accreditation on our early dismissal days. I know early dismissal days present a challenge for parents, especially as we can’t offer extended day care because all the staff need to be working on the accreditation process. Please bear with us. We begin the Accreditation preparation on Friday, October 21, 2022. This will be an early dismissal day so that the All Saints staff can meet with representatives of the New England Association of Colleges and Schools.
You Tell Two People and You Tell Two People
In the 1980’s there was as a shampoo television commercial. The commercial opened with just Farah Fawcett’s face on the screen. She would say: “You tell 2 people” and the screen would split into three actor’s faces. The 3 would then say in harmony – “and you tell two people and suddenly the screen split again and there were 9 smiling faces who would then say and so on and so on. So, why am I dating myself and telling this shampoo commercial story? Fall Open House is at All Saints on Sunday, November 6 from 12 pm to 2 pm. With that in mind I ask that we do like the commercial, that is you tell 2 people and you tell 2 people and so on and so on. Looking forward to having many new potential families joining us at the open house to discover YOUR All Saints – “A neighborhood school.”
Saintly Whisper and a Weekend Prayer
We can be better parents if we focus on our own spiritual growth first. So, I share this “SAINTLY WHISPER”
“Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you have tried and failed in, but what is still possible.” – Pope John XXIII
God bless your family. Have a blessed weekend and make memories.”
In Christ:
Steven Virgadamo
Head of School
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