March 2009

Principal’s Corner

In distress you called, and I rescued you; Unseen, I spoke to you in thunder. Psalm 81:8
Our virtues for the month of March are Faith and Trust; how appropriate this is for our journey through lent and for the beginning of our last quarter for the year. This quarter ends the 12th of March, and then it is downhill from there. Remember there will be no school on March 13th as this is a teacher in-service day.

The week of the 16th we will administer the COGAT tests. Only grades 3,5, and 7 will be taking them. COGAT stands for cognitive abilities test, and it is part of our IOWA Basics testing. The achievement testing will begin on the 30th of March.

The 5th and 8th grades are also scheduled to take the NCEA ACRE test on the 19th and 20th. But, because of the ordination of our Bishop, we are changing the date to March 23rd. This test is published by the National Catholic Education Association and will give us information on how we are doing in our Catholic teaching compared to other schools nationally.

For the Bishop-elect’s ordination, we have two buses with 73 middle school students and 6 adults going. There will be a live webstream of this event, and I will send out the information as I receive it.

Our third annual Sugar ‘n Spice Ladies Brunch is March 28. Dr. Ruth Queen Smith will be the guest speaker. I can attest personally that she is wonderful. I brought her in a year ago to do my teachers’ retreat after hearing her at the principal’s retreat earlier. Every teacher walked away impressed with her. If you have never been to one of the brunches, you have missed a special treat; it is a great time for all. In addition, our religion department will benefit from it.

I addressed the Home and School meeting the other night about the changes that are coming. Many of you weren’t there; so, I would like to repeat some of what I said. Part of what I reported also addressed concerns brought up through the input sessions. I went over a list of changes the last three years including the environment, programs, addressing special needs of students, improving communication, professional development for teachers, etc. At present we are proud of the incorporation of more critical thinking skills, use of technology, student involvement/responsibility, transition programs, more field studies, more parent involvement, more accountability, etc.

Some of the data I shared was:
• Formative assessment in reading (grades 1-8) shows an average grade equivalency growth from August to January of 1.7 yrs and in math 1 grade level.
• 31% of the A Honor Roll for the second quarter at Notre Dame High School is former OLPH students.
• 32% of the B Honor Roll for the second quarter at Notre Dame High School is former OLPH students.
• Of the 32 eighth graders who took the Notre Dame entrance exam, 13 (41%) scored in the 90 percentile (nationally) or above composite score. The average composite score was in the 73 percentile (nationally). Our highest scores were in English followed by science, math, and reading.
• 28 of the junior candidates for Notre Dame’s National Honor Society are from OLPH.

Our future plans include converting to a new communications system which will be more user-friendly, cost effective, and comprehensive than what we are using now. St. Jude, Notre Dame, and OLPH will be on the same system. In addition, we will be acquiring the Parent Alert System with this.

We are also building an outside classroom in conjunction with the Arbor Day Foundation under the guidance and supervision of Mr. Stovall and Mrs. Melton. You will be hearing much more about this exciting project.

Unfortunately, our future plans also include changes to our personnel. In order to keep tuition to a minimal increase (2%) next year’s staffing will be:
• There will be 2 homeroom teachers for every grade.
• One office position eliminated. Admissions and tuition will be under the direction of Mrs. Hennen.
• Elimination of our interventionist. Mrs. Hetzler will be helping out in this area.• Elimination of one religion teacher. Qualified and certified classroom teachers will pick up this.
• Elimination of the Spanish program as we know it. Thanks to our Hispanic parents, we are working on offering Spanish in some sort of form; we just are not sure yet how.
• There will be no raises for the staff.

Of course, if there is an opportunity to keep something we are eliminating, we will happily do so; if there is a need to make more changes, we will. Teachers will continue to raise the bar of high expectations and deliver quality education academically, spiritually, physically, and morally.

Have a great month,
Jeri McInturff