Memo

To: All ASCS Parents

From: Steve Virgadamo

Date: October 7, 2022

Re: Week 5 - Head of School Journal Entry - Week 5 – October 3-7, 2022

We have made it is now officially the Fall Season and Columbus Day.

I confess this one of my favorite times of the year. The air is crisp, Mother Nature is sharing a palette of colors and the young scholars have fallen into the routines and rituals.

 It’s time to celebrate Columbus Day. It means we made to the first school holiday. Columbus reminds me of my Italian heritage. I have memories of marching in the NYC Columbus Day parade. I’m so glad that the All Saints Community we celebrate the cultural diversity of our families. There is a great richness in that. 

This week someone asked me to describe my vision of a  a perfect All Saints Catholic School. I said: “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.”

Father Perrella, our Spiritual Director, has set goals and for his ministry at All Saints. We are blessed to have him with us. He is with us every Tuesday and Thursday.  His goals include:

·      To build a relationship of trust with students/parents/faculty/staff by being present and accessible.

·      To deepen the spiritual life of the students

·      To deepen the spiritual life of the parents

·      To provide spiritual direction for faculty.

Father continues to develop objectives and strategies to achieve the goals.

• He celebrates a class Mass at 8 am on both days. Parents are welcome to attend Mass with us. Soon he will be offering adoration for parents following the Mass.  
• He established a parent walk and talk and this week he had as many as 6 participants. It’s an opportunity for parents to focus on a healthy habit for their bodies and souls. He is looking forward to the number of walkers and talkers participating to grow in the weeks ahead. Come walk, talk and pray with Father Perrella next Thursday at 12:45 pm.
• Father is also focused on helping dad’s grow in their vocation of Fatherhood, so he is organizing a books and beers night for ASCS Dad’s. Some moms stopped me this week to remind me that some moms like beer too. Father’s focus on Dad’s is not to be exclusionary, but rather an opportunity for dads to help dads be better fathers. Stay tuned, given his passion for ministry, he might come forward with an opportunity for moms as well.
• Lead an evening of recollection
• Conduct Middle school retreats

I’m sure there is more to come. Reach out to Father if you have ideas to help us grow on our spiritual journey.

We are considering bringing back the Spring Gala as an opportunity to honor community and Church leaders who manifest the “saintly” qualities we expect in every ASCS graduate. The event is an opportunity for parents to gather as community and recognize the heroes among us. The event also can serve as a fundraiser that can secure community support. Hence expanding our outreach and philanthropic support of ASCS beyond the parent community. 

A benchmark of a healthy school community is the level of involvement of parents in the education process. We need the TIME, TALENT AND TREASURE support from the parent community. Every family in the school receives a financial aid grant of nearly $1200 per student. If you find yourself in a position that you don’t need that financial assistance, we ask that you prayerfully consider making a gift to the school of any part or all of the $1200 per child financial aid offered to your family. A donor has challenged us. The donor will match dollar for dollar (up to $6,000) the philanthropic contributions made by parents. So, if you can give now, you double the impact of your gift. Contact Eileen to work out the details of your gift.

Perhaps you’d like to restrict your gift a specific purpose. That is great. That gift can still be matched. Please contact Eileen to see the gift catalog she is assembling. There is something in the catalog for everyone.

Safety and Security

We do have Narcan on campus and it is readily available should an incident where it is needed occur. Given the Fentanyl crisis, the staff have 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. More to come on this.

As I wrote last week, the police presence on campus will be changing and we will not have a cruiser there at pick up and drop off on a regular basis, but will have them monitoring our campus carefully. Please be sure to continue to have your yellow placard prominently displayed whenever you on campus. It’s a sign that you are a parent/guardian etc. The police, our security any vehicle on campus to have the placard displayed or have received an appropriate visitor pass.  NOTE: If you placard is displayed so that Officer John can see it he finds it easier to direct the middle school parents to the appropriate drop off line where the car line splits.

School Culture

How do we know we are building a healthy school culture? Let me share what I have seen and heard this week:

Mrs. Lombardi’s October “Pink Out.” First, we raised money for a great cause. Secondly, we did so as a community and lastly Mrs. Lombardi’s initiative modeled acts of service for our young scholars. Thank you, Mrs. Lombardi. We are all blessed to have you as a formatter and role model for our students. There are nearly 55 staff members and Mrs. Lombardi is Just one of the 55 reasons why children are so well formed at ASCS.

Fr. Perrella was playing a game of pick up basketball with the middle school boys at recess. One of the girls came by and watched for awhile before she proclaimed: “Wow, I have never seen a priest having fun before.”

Teacher Professional Development

On Friday, we had a professional development day for our faculty and staff. I know these half days can be difficult for parents and we try to minimize the number of these days, yet we still want to seize opportunities for teachers to grow in their teaching practice. One of the items discussed was building a positive Catholic school culture. Culture will eat strategy every day for lunch. The scholars watch everything we say and do. So that means while it is important to have strategies to form our scholars, we must have a healthy school culture or the strategies will fall short of the formation goals that we have for our scholars.

Other agenda items included:

·      Dunn Dollars initiative – stay tuned this will be fun and educational for our scholars. Thank you to Eileen and Michele for developing this initiative.

·      Profile – Characteristics of an All Saints graduate at Graduation. We go beyond the state norms. Our diploma is more than meeting state standards. It means the young scholar demonstrates the characteristics of an All Saints graduate.

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”

“The greatest of saints, those richest in Grace and virtue will be the most assiduous in praying to the Blessed Mother, looking up to her as the prefect model to be imitated and a powerful helper to assist them.” – St. Louis Marie de Montfort

I invite you this weekend to join me in praying the Rosary

God bless your family. Have a blessed weekend and make memories.”

In Christ:

Steven Virgadamo

Head of School