Dear Students, Alumni, Parents, & Friends of St. Francis,
Welcome back to St. Francis High School and welcome back to the spring semester. For freshmen, it is a chance to restart and reboot your academic Avatar (Playable Character) now that you know the schedule, teacher expectations, and balancing the demands of your arts and sports schedules. For seniors, it is a chance to wear your college sweatshirts and revel in the joy that this is your last semester of high school. For all four grade-levels, after a lengthy and relaxing break, it is a chance to improve you in all areas – spiritually, emotionally, physically, artistically, and intellectually. Be the best you you can be!
As Catholics, we put a great deal of emphasis on the rituals surrounding the events of our Lord Jesus' life - from birth to death to resurrection. The start of our spring semester kicked off with a celebration of the Baptism of Jesus. The Feast of the Baptism of our Lord, as it is formally called, is one of the high feasts of the Catholic Church, and it marks a solemn occasion in the life of Christ as our Lord and savior. Practicing Catholics took January 7th, 2018 as an opportunity to remember our own baptisms, and reaffirm what we see as our baptismal calling - to announce the goodness of our Lord. As St. Francis families, I pray that you take this celebration as a fresh start and make the most of it.
Also in the spirit of Christmas and celebration, I want to thank the students who have been accepting my monthly invitations to participate in Lunch with the Principal. This event brings in 2 students from each grade level to share their glows and grows for the school; it gives them a voice in the school and gives me a climate check on important teenage ideas and issues for them. This month we will have this lunch opportunity on Wednesday, January 17th. Invitations were sent out on the 12th for this event.
On January 22nd we will host our next Coffee with the Principal. This second time event will bring student representatives to speak about their experiences in conjunction with school leadership. I am soliciting the SFPA Board for specific topics that we can address in this collaborative dialogue about St. Francis between community leaders, parents, alumni, students, and staff. All of these are very exciting, and we hope you join us. Please RSVP to Ms. Lina Silva if you can attend so we can plan for light food and drinks.
As a result of our first Coffee with the Principal, we participated in a professional development for the staff on suicide prevention and intervention. We have not directly experienced any incident, but parents and community leaders at our last event identified that this topic, these feelings, are present for all of our teenagers and we want to support their growth as best we can. This PD occurred on Tuesday, January 9th. The staff also participated in a wonderful professional development on English Language Learner strategies for empowerment and success. This latter topic originated through our Teacher Task Force led by Ms. Alexis Meschi and Ms. Heidi Alonzo. This PD brought highly qualified and experienced leadership from Alianza to lead it. A special thanks goes out to Ms. Elsi Hernandez for leading this PD.
Bookending these two powerful professional development opportunities the SFHS staff conducted our all student review. This annual activity allows us to sit down as a community and discuss every student on campus – from friendships, to broken relationships, ill family members, good grades, or poor grades, participation in sports or the arts, or no participation at all…and what strategies we can employ to ensure all students are happy and successful.
January starts with a bang and continues to get busier with each passing day. Winter sports are in full effect, report cards come out in a week, the 4.0 Luncheon happens on January 25th, and all are invited to attend the January 31st Feast of St. John Bosco.
Here we are committed to offer the best Catholic college-prep education in the smallest classroom sizes with the best teachers who genuinely care about each and every student.
We mailed the Annual Appeal at Thanksgiving, but on January 31st we will have our first online Day of Giving – we will attach it to the Feast of St. John Bosco. It will be a part of the Annual Appeal. Please find it in your heart to donate. All of your donations are tax deductible and directly impact this year’s student programs and services. If your child is in leadership, campus ministry, sports, the arts, and/or clubs, then we need your help to bridge the cost of what we charge for tuition versus the actual cost to educate each student. The difference is almost $2000 per student. Every donation counts – from $20 to $20,000 all makes a huge difference. $20 is just about $0.05 cents a day annually. We can all do at least this much for the great teachers and coaches we have supporting your sons and daughters. Even if you are on tuition assistance, our goal is 100% participation from our families. This year we will use our SFPA Grade Level Representatives to facilitate each grade level’s participation in the online and/or direct mail Annual Appeal. The class with the highest % of families participating will get a free lunch and free dress day on Holy Thursday before Easter.
Finally, I want to reiterate the value of Friday Night Bingo and why we need all freshmen families and all families on merit-based or need-based tuition assistance to work their assigned days. Bingo is the only significant fundraiser held outside of school, where you are not expected to donate to. It involves our entire community – including the parish and local towns – and it takes all of us working it to make it successful. Friday Night Bingo also helps keep tuition costs down for all students, allows us to keep the school new and clean, and in the end assists with need-based or merit-based assistance. If you are not there on your assigned shift, then another parent has to do his/her work and your work; if you’re not there, we will not have enough people to service the bingo patrons, sell, and clean up – then, another parent has to do his/her work and yours. This work is not punishment; rather, it is a chance to build the SF community and help in the three above-mentioned areas that are critical for this school to thrive. Embrace our community; embrace the Friday Night Bingo experience; and, don’t leave your fellow parents covering for you. It takes all of us working together to make this enterprise a successful part of the SF High School experience.
Yours in Christ,
Mr. Patrick Lee