St. Mary's School                                                                                        February 2012 

Dear Friends:

This past summer, I began a school letter to you with "Dear Friends".  As I start this one, I cannot tell you the depth of love and affection I have for my "Friends" in the St. Mary's School community.  You have welcomed me into your community, families and lives.  Thank you seems like hollow words for all you have done to enrich my life and the lives of all the children during this school year.

We truly are a school community that has been given abundant blessings.  I am sure you were as pleased as I with the Bishop's decision to keep St. Mary's School open. On the other hand, I take no pleasure in the closing of any Catholic school, especially Catholic schools who are neighbors to us.  Let us keep the families that are impacted by the school closures in our prayers.  During morning prayer each day, the faculty and students are praying for each of the school communities.  This is truly a difficult time for Catholic education.

I'm sure many of you are wondering how the school closures will impact St. Mary's School in regard to enrollment and class size.  St. Mary's School will remain a single graded school with future class sizes under 30. The ideal maximum class size will be 27 or 28 students with some exceptions of 29 students in a class.  If any present class is 30 or above, no new students will be admitted to that grade nor will students be replaced if they should not re-register.

th is 93%. This phenomenal retention rate is truly an indicator of the satisfaction of parents for the high quality of instruction given by the faculty. Your children are exposed to a rigorous curriculum imbued with Catholic values, beliefs and traditions. 

The word is out!  St. Mary's School offers an excellent education.  Since the announcement of the school closings, we have had 120 new inquiries for the 2012-2013 school year.  Of those we have accepted 54 registrations with 32 other students placed on a wait list.  There are also 38 families who have inquired that are in a pending status.  Students were chosen based on the following criteria:  1. Present students and siblings 2.  Parishioners  3.  Catholic  Non-parishioners  4. Non Catholic.  

Each of the families of the 54 accepted students was sent a letter of invitation and will be required to meet with me for a conference.  A formal acceptance letter will be sent to each student following the conference.  

One of the issues facing Catholic education is the cost of operating our schools.  St. Mary's School budget is over a million dollars.  The actual cost of educating each child is $5,665.00.  Since tuition and fees for the first or only child is $4,650.00, that means all families in the school receive assistance of $1,015.00.  That assistance increases with each additional child in the family.  To make up the difference between what parents pay in tuition and fees and the actual cost of educating a student, the school must rely on the parish contribution and fundraising.  

This year the PTA's goal for their contribution to the school is $60,000.  This is certainly an attainable goal, but all families will need to help out to the degree of their financial ability to reach this goal. Because we do not have mandatory fundraising at St. Mary's School, the school relies on each family's generosity and stewardship to help the PTA reach their contribution goal.  Please consider seriously the need to support the fundraisers of our school.  Presently we are asking you to sale or purchase five tickets for the Calendar Raffle.  To encourage greater participation, the PTA lowered the cost of the ticket this year from $50 to $20. Our next event is the Wine, Chocolate and Tapas Social to be held on March 10.  This is one of our major fundraisers of the school year and your participation in this event would be greatly appreciated.  Aside from the money raised for the school, which benefits all your children, it is an evening that builds community among our families.  Even though this event may not have the food you like, the venue you would prefer, or the music you enjoy dancing to, isn't your presence really all about supporting the financial sustainability of your children's school in order to secure a firm future?

In closing, when I knew I was coming to St. Mary's School as principal, I thought I was joining a school.  What happened was I became a member of the St. Mary's School family.  A song in "Wicked" has a line I find rich in meaning.  The line is "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good".  Those words encompass my St. Mary's experience this school year.

With love and affection,