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November 19, 2015
Dear Parents,
Every so often it is good to review procedures and occurences that arise in school situations, especially when it comes to the end of the first trimester. Some of my observations may be more pertinent to one campus or another.
- Handbooks are almost "sacred" in the day to day operations of the school. Parents as well as teachers should review their handbooks individually as well as with the children. I ask that the page entitled A PARENT/STUDENT/ TEACHER CONTRACT be reviewed in detail.
- Power School should be checked at the very minimum once every two weeks. Checking weekly is more appropriate. At the same time teachers should make efforts to record grades on Power School weekly.
- Personal conferences and discussions between educator and parent should not wait until Parent/Teacher Conferences.
- E-mail can be an important tool. At the same time e-mail, texts, and other use of media should not replace personal conferences and telephone communications.
- Chain of Command is one of the most important communication tools in any school. I believe in it strongly, whether it is on the part of the parent or the teacher.
- As the adult, the teacher is the prime judge in providing rewards and consequences to students. At the same time a teacher should be able to provide some degree of factual information as to the rationale for decisions made pertaining to a student.
- I listen very seriously to any parent who expresses a concern about school matters. At the same time I will only entertain concerns with the parent and their child. I cannot entertain comments about situations that the parent or child are not directly involved in.
- Any conference or discussion between teacher and parent should be devoid of emotion. The goal of any communication or conference should be for the good of your child. The biggest part of this is the concept of active listening.
- My decisions are made for the good of the child. At the same time there are issues where I must weigh the good of the school versus the good of the child.
- I empower my teaching staff in the case of conferences or discussions with parents. At the same time I do use my discretion as to my involvement in a conference between a child and teacher.
- I do not believe that expected behavior should be rewarded.
- Fair is not always equal.
- I believe that it is important to seek parents in school life. At the same time the final call with parent input rests ultimately with the principal.
As principal of Notre Dame School, one of my biggest responsibilities is to observe, listen, process and come to a conclusion that allows the students, the teachers to teach, and the parents to advocate on behalf of both their child and that of the school. I try to work with procedures that are steeped in Best Educational Processes, my past experiences, common sense, fairness, and a deep sense as to how Jesus would handle concerns pertaining to school life.
I do realize that procedures and processes can seem as "minutia" to many people. At the same time it is this "minutia" that make a school run effectively and successfully.
I have been working with other members of the GRACE Administrative Team in areas of school security, the 2016-2017 calendar, a new process of teacher evaluation, and writing conferences that will occur in early December. Mrs. Desotell, the GRACE President and Mr. Shaw, the President of Notre Dame Academy, spoke to the students after Communion yesterday. All of us are parts of communities other than Notre Dame. In addition to GRACE and NDA, our school also plays a large role on the Pastoral Team of both St. Francis Xavier and St. Mary Parishes.
Friday is the last day to bring in canned goods and non perishable food items to school as part of the Student Council Food Drive. The Catholic Church not only stresses the importance of knowing church doctrine, but a sense of service to others, particularly those who are less fortunate. Please be generous!!
We have made a video for Notre Dame School in cooperation with Datasphere. The objective of the video is to promote our fine school and to start our school marketing process in conjunction with both SAC and GRACE. This video can be seen on You Tube (type in Notre Dame of De Pere) as well as the WLUK Channel 11 iPad APP. If you would like to see the video please click here. I am anticipating that there will be more places this ad will be on other sites. Believe it or not, we begin our processing for enrollment and new students at this time each year. Even though there are many ways to market our fine school, the best way always to market is by word of mouth to others.
Any students at the middle school who are participating in extracurricular activities and do not meet the minimum grade expectations will be ineligible to play, for a minimum of two weeks beginning tomorrow. One thing I am proud to say is that we have very few students who do not participate due to grades.
Visits were made to classrooms of both schools providing information for you to consider nominating teachers for the Golden Apple Award. For a nomination form please click here. It is great that so many of our teachers get this type of affirmation for all of the work they do. If you ever wish to talk to me, I can tell you "Gospel and Verse" the contributions all of our teachers make as spiritual, academic, and emotional advocates of your children.
On a personal note, I wish to congratulate Mrs. Westhoven for delivering birth to her fourth child. Gretta Rose came in at 6 pounds 7 ounces. I would also like to congratulate Mr. Katona on his upcoming wedding. The staff was very considerate with both of these fine educators in affirming their most sacred events.
Just a reminder to those of you that have ordered Seroogy's Chocolate and/or Coffee. Please pick up your order today, November 19th at the elementary school gym from 2:30-4:30. If you can not make the pick up please make arrangements for someone else to pick your order up.
We are in need of volunteers to help with escorting the middle school students to the elementary school for lunch. We also have openings for elementary lunch supervising. Both are easy things to do, you can pick your dates, it doesn't take up much of your time and it is a great way to meet your service hour requirements. Click here if you are interested in learning more.
It is time for my monthly trivia question. The theme of this question is that it truly is a small world. Here is the question:
What does Jim Caldwell, the coach of the Detroit Lions and I have in common?
(clues- it is not coaching in the NFL or being a school principal, but it is related to Wisconsin Geography.) The $3 winner needs to be specific in terms of the final answer. Incidentally, Mrs. Hintz, the Human Resource Director for GRACE gave me the correct answer. Since she is not a Notre Dame parent, she doesn't get the prize.
All in all, we have a great deal to be thankful for. I will touch on that more next week.
Have a great rest of the week!
God Bless,
James A.( Jim) Clark, Principal
"I CAN DO EVERYTHING THROUGH HIM WHO GIVES ME STRENGTH."
Philippians 4:13
Parent Education
Mr. Clark has set up a Education Post at the top of our webpage. This week he added the topic of When People Say "Just Try Harder" to people with ADHD. This site is updated constantly. There are many valuable tools in which parents can educate themselves in different aspects of their children's education. Very helpful information. Check it out here.
Notre Dame Food Drive
Ends tomorrow - Get your food items in soon
Our School is collecting non perishable food items to give to the hungry in our community. Please be generous!! We are going to have a little friendly classroom competition. For more detail please click here.
Calling all Singers
Join us for an awesome Green Bay community choral event! A Christmas choral flash mob! We will be preparing quality choral selections including The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. Once we have our music ready, we will go out and share it with our community in a fun and exciting way. For more information click here
Marcus Theatre Fundraiser
Marcus Theatres Fundraiser order forms and payments are due on Monday November 23, 2013. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact either Lisa Sharapata at (920) 492-1769 or Stephanie McManus at (920) 737-5049. For a copy of the order form please click here
Thanksgiving Cookie and Pie Sale
Orders Due Tomorrow (Friday, November 20th)
Too busy to bake? Want someone else to do the baking for you this Thanksgiving? We have just the idea. Order your Thanksgiving treats now and get them in time for your big event. Click here for more details.
St. Mary Christmas Pageant
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas with all the many activities that are part of the season. Let's hope that through the hurry and scurry we don't lose the Spirit of Peace and Joy that Jesus came to give. Your children, Preschool through Grade 8, are invited to spread this Peace and Joy in the Christmas Liturgy on December 24th at 4:30 PM. As part of the celebration, the children will participate in a Christmas pageant. For more information click here.
Festival of Lights
Looking for something fun to do with the family? Festival Foods is sponsoring a Saturday, December 5, 2015 From 5-7 pm at the Lambeau field Atrium. For more detail please click here
Fundraising/Volunteering Opportunities
As the school year begins so do the opportunities to get involved at the school! We have many wonderful activities throughout the year. Some are fund-raisers, some are fun-raisers, some are in support of our Athletics Department, teachers and staff, Home and School, and some to meet our Third Source Funding goal. ALL are to support Notre Dame of De Pere! We would not be such a fantastic school without the volunteer support of our school families! For more information and to sign up please click here
SCRIP office IS IN NEED of some additional SELLERS
We are especially looking for volunteers who could work
Wednesday's and Thursday's from 2:30 - 3:15 at the Elementary School. Feel free to work once, twice or as often as your schedule allows!
If you are able to help...please click
Also, NEW THIS YEAR we will have SCRIP SELLING shifts available at the weekend masses for both St. Mary and St. Francis. It is as easy as selling SCRIP (before & after) 1 Mass - 1 weekend a month! This is another GREAT way to earn your fundraising service hours...Please contact Carla Gemignani at 920-864-2785
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