Memo

To: All ASCS Parents

From: Steve Virgadamo

Date: January 13, 2022

Re: Week 19–Head of School Journal Entry – January 9, 2023 – January 13, 2023

“Without the rain, we would never feel grateful for the warmth of the sun.”

On this rainy week, I’m cheered by the sunshine that is our ASCS community. There is so much to be happy about. Just last week I wrote about how easy it is to be optimistic about all that is happening at All Saints.  At the mid-year evaluation parents told us:

• They are pleased with what is described as a high level of transparent communication and with our overall commitment to student formation, not just academic education. 
• They commended Fr. Perrella and his Campus ministry team for the incredible celebration of the Eucharist for the student body as well as being pleased with his weekly schedule of celebrating class Masses.
•  Some wrote to commend the staff on establishing a profile of the graduate at graduation and even offered thoughts about additional attributes to be added when the profile is updated.
• They are grateful for the gift catalog as it provides them with an opportunity to direct their philanthropic support to an area of school life that most interests them.
• They were grateful for the parenting series seminars being conducted and asked that we do more. A few dads were grateful for Father P’s Books and Beers program as it provides dad’s an opportunity to gather in community grow in faith and collaborate on skills to be better dads.
•  Many told us they were speaking with their friends, relatives and neighbors encouraging them to seek out an ASCS education for their children. (This must be working as the number of new application requests we get continues to get better each day.)

On the recommendation side, some asked that we:

• Provide more structured activities for the extended day program. We agree and are going to begin formulating a plan.
• Provide additional focus on the social and emotional learning of students.
• Consider an early drop-off program which could even include an optional breakfast. We will be speaking with parents and studying the feasibility of such a morning program.
• Asked us to be moderate in tuition increases and also expand opportunities for tuition assistance. We are committed to doing both. In fact, if you are a current family receiving tuition assistance, we will be in contact soon to help you apply for the 2023-2024 school year. If you are a family who is not yet receiving assistance but would like to apply for the 2023-2024 school year, please contact me. The initial deadline for applications to be received is March 1.  

And now for a Mea Culpa. There were a few clouds this week. As you know we are transitioning to a new online application/registration procedure. We opened the new Admissions portal and emailed you about it, but neglected to include the authentication code in the email which is needed for parents to open the portal. I accept responsibility for this hiccup. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We will have everything operational and emailed to you by next week.

Vision for 2023-2024 School Year

By now, you know that my definition of a perfect school is an imperfect administration, imperfect staff, imperfect parents and imperfect students who never give up on each other. We all want to be better tomorrow than we were today.

You also know that we consider all parents shareholders in the integral formation of the young scholars. In late January and early February, we will be hosting morning coffees just post drop off so that we can share an updated state of the school message, and insights into our vision for the 2023-2024 school year and provide parents with an opportunity to share their thoughts and insights regarding a vision and expectations from ASCS for the 2023-2024 school year. 

A Saintly Whisper 

“If you learn everything except Christ, you learn nothing. If you learn nothing except Christ, you learn everything.”

-         St. Bonaventure

In Christ:

Steven Virgadamo

Head of School