Please remember to read this whole email for all upcoming events and information. |
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First full day of school is Tuesday September 5th! |
Back to School NightThursday, September 7th at 7pm, Holy Cross Hall |
Looking to be apart of the SFX School Community??
Welcome back SFX Families! It was so great to see everyone on the First Day Of School!
The SFX PTO Board is in need of your help! We currently have two awesome Executive Board positions open. We are in need of a Treasurer who will over see the PTO finances and 2nd Vice President who will oversee all PTO Fundraisers. This would be an awesome way to earn your 40 hours for the year while making a big difference in our school. Come be apart of helping make our school community a great place to be for the kids as well as the parents.
If you are interested, please contact 2017-2018 SFX PTO President, Christina Sanchez at cvsanchez13@gmail.com.
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Welcome to a New School Year!
As we hold our arms open wide to welcome all of you “Back to School,” we especially welcome the following new students and their parents to our St. Francis Xavier School Family: Amanda Alatorre, 6th Grade, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carlos Alatorre; Madison Buhen, K, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Buhen; Isla Diaz, TK, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Diaz; Amelia Dunn, K, and her parents Mr. and Mrs. James Dunn; Connor Everitt, TK, and his parents, Mr. Eric Everitt and Ms. Maria Vestal: Bella Ferguson, 1st Grade, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Steven Ferguson: Xavier Hemani, TK, and his parents, Mr. Karim Hemani and Ms. Mindy Fortune; Olivia Hollis, TK, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Hollis; Leila Huezo, TK, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Brian Huezo; Spencer Insalaco, TK, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jason Insalaco; Charlotte Kleintank, TK, and her Mom, Ms. Michelle Sare; Austin Lansangan, TK, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Lansangan; Lena Link, TK, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ross Link; Noah Lozano, TK, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Benedicto Lozano; Max Magallon, TK, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ricardo Magallon; Fiona Piccioni, TK, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Christopher Piccioni; Jackson Raviol, TK, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Raviol; Ava Reagan, TK, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Reagan; Illeana Renteria, K, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Renteria; Micaela Sevilla, TK, and her parents Mr. and Mrs. Sevilla; Kerri Tucker, TK, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Tucker; Lian Vasquez, TK, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Luis Vasquez; Audrey Witczak, K, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Witczak.
And, a very special WELCOME to the following students who have a sibling or siblings presently attending St. Francis Xavier School!
Greyson Almtanios, Ella Barnard Westley Bronk, Ava Clegg Aria Conroy, Phoenix Cruz Mason Homayounian, Oliver Ligon Anita Nazarian, Emilie Ricardo Jackson Riera, Grayson Shilling Judith Shin, Luke Smith Isabella Torres, Heaven Woodmore We are thrilled that St. Francis Xavier School is their school of choice. May this year be filled with abundant hospitality, nurturing growth, and God’s good graces for these new students, their families, and all returning students and families! |
Virtus Training.
On September 10th, at SFX, there will be a
Protecting God’s Children Virtus Training Class from 6pm-9pm. All parents are required to take this class in order to participate in on campus school activities and to go on field trips. Please go to the following link to sign up: SFX Religious Ed Website |
Attention Parents and Guardians:
We are always happy to see you on campus, however, safety is a priority for us. Please check in with the Parish and School offices at all times. If you need to pick up your child early for doctor, dental, or other appointments, please come to the school office first. You will sign your child out of school. We will then call for your child from their homeroom classroom. It is most helpful and organized if the teacher knows beforehand that the student is leaving early. Teachers will have your child packed up and ready to leave. Thank you so much for your attention to this policy.
In addition, if you have arranged for others to pick up your child(ren), please make sure to add those people to the Student Information Sheet. To make those changes, please visit or inform the school office. |
Family Envelope
The Family Envelope helps us keep you informed about the events and goings on here at St. Francis Xavier School. The Family Envelope is sent home every Thursday with your Oldest/Only Child. Please sign the outside of the envelope and return with your child the next day. If the envelope is not received back then you will not receive information the following week. Thank you for your help! |
My Dear Families and Friends of St. Francis Xavier School,
Welcome to the 2017-18 school year! We are so happy to have the children return to school and begin a new journey of learning. At St. Francis Xavier we learn about the life of Jesus and his holy Church. We study a broad curriculum that helps prepare students for the rigorous educational challenges of future grade levels. We celebrate our school community in myriad ways with the help of Student Council and other leadership opportunities. St. Francis Xavier School is a wonderful place to learn. A special mention of two families in need of daily prayers. Please remember Mr. Patrick Flynn, husband to Michele and father of Connor, Gr. 8 and Madeleine, Gr. 7, who suffered a heart attack at the beginning of the month. Also, please remember in your prayers Mr. Michael Castro, husband to Dawn and father of Christian, Gr. 6 and Joshua in Gr. 2, who is fighting cancer. We also ask prayers and intercessions for those who may be suffering illness, especially current and former students. We ask God to send the healing power of the Holy Spirit to make whole again the lives of those who are ill and to provide strength to loved ones. Of course our hearts and minds are with loved ones and the general public of Houston, TX and now, western Louisiana, as Harvey slowly makes its way across the region. I will discuss with both Ms. Sanchez and Ms. Durghalli, our new Student Council moderators, ideas for service to help offset the catastrophic chain of events. We will share the ideas through the Lancer and principal letters. We are very grateful to the various people who helped accommodate the changes and improvements to the lower school building. Many hours of summer work were performed by the teachers and aides of TK and kindergarten, RE staff and volunteers, parent volunteers, parish office staff and of course the contractors! What took a lot of people power resulted in a beautifully renewed lower building. I’d like to acknowledge three special people vital to the lower building improvements. I would first like to acknowledge Mr. Xavier Ortiz, father of young Xavier in fourth grade, who so generously donated significant funds to offset the cost of the renovations in kindergarten. Mr. Ortiz is a true hero of St. Francis Xavier School! And to Mr. Jimmy Clegg, contractor extraordinaire, father of Emma in grade seven and Ava in TK, for his abilities to renovate the kindergarten classrooms for the donated sum provided by Mr. Ortiz. We are so grateful to Mr. Clegg in his support of the school. He is truly a hero of St. Francis Xavier School! And to Mr. Alberto Linares, our custodian of many years, we thank him for his efforts to clean and prepare the floors and carpets, among other duties, to ensure a smooth opening of the school year. In the wake of Mrs. Echavarri’s TK move, we are using the former TK classroom as a STEM Lab. The teachers will provide a STEM activity once per week to engage the students in creative approaches to solving problems in science, technology, engineering and math. Thank you dear parents and parishioners for your generous donations to help stock the STEM lab with the various items needed for hands-on learning! In addition to welcoming back our veteran staff members, we welcome in a very special way the new teachers and aides to St. Francis Xavier School. Mrs. Sarah Terry is the new TK aide. Ms. Potina Yi is the new first grade teacher. Ms. Mary Beth Valenteros is the new second grade teacher. Mr. Mike Magallon is the new PE teacher, Athletic Director and first grade aide. Mr. Magallon will also help coordinate morning Safety Patrol and coach varsity flag football and basketball. Mr. Chauncey Fagan is the new junior high social studies teacher, and will direct his program from the bungalow classroom on the lower lot. A special acknowledgement to Mrs. Jessup, Ms. Sanchez and Ms. Durghalli for their willingness to staff new grade levels for the current school year. All of the new hires and those who have changed their previous assignments we say thank you and welcome! Our first all-school liturgy takes place on Friday September 8. We will welcome home Fr. Benny who has traveled to India to celebrate a wedding Mass for a sibling! Deacon Jim Roope will join us and provide the homily. Please join us for 11:45 A.M. in the church for this inaugural celebration. Remember that the parking lot drop-off and pick-up procedures require maximum attention. Please be patient with one another as you drive onto campus. Please eschew cell phones, park appropriately and in the designated areas. Remember to avoid backing up! Also, please know there is no morning drop-off on the upper lot. The upper lot is only in play in the afternoons, and for those students who might be injured. Special accommodations for upper level morning drop-off can be made through the office by email to Mrs. Konzen or me. Remember, at St. Francis Xavier School it’s SAFETY FIRST! Lastly, we were made aware of a mountain lion siting and pet attack in the weeks leading to the start of school. We were also recently made aware of the numbers of coyotes prowling around campus. Please ensure that you are aware of the environment as you drop off in the early morning. You may encounter wild life and we want everyone to be safe. By virtue of the community populating the grounds for the new school year we are apt to see less wildlife from the mountains. But we must remain vigilant and share information accordingly. I’ll follow up with more news if the weeks ahead about how things are progressing in this early school year. I know I speak for the entire faculty when I say thank you for being at St. Francis Xavier School. We look forward to a delightful, rewarding school year.
Most sincerely,
Paul Sullivan, Ed.D.
St. Francis Xavier School Principal |
After School Care is in need of Kleenex and Lysol wipes. If your children attend ASC, please bring one of each. Thank you.
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"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination."
Tommy Lasorda Determination and vision were the driving forces behind Mrs. Rita Recker’s impossible summer dream. From the last day of school to the Opening Day of the 2017-2018 school year, Mrs. Recker was up and running working endlessly to move classrooms, rearrange rooms, and coordinate construction workers, painters, electricians, locksmiths, and more. The lower school building has been transformed involving moving several classrooms, the library, and RE Offices, re-vamping the Computer Lab, and creating a STEM Lab. Come by and see the amazing results!
All would not have been possible with the support of an extraordinary team of workers behind the scenes including the hard-working Mrs. Willard. Mrs. Willard has spent countless hours on campus over the summer weekends and evenings making sure our technology is up-to-date, and setting up the many new computers at school and in the Computer Lab.
Dr. Sullivan was quite busy hosting tours and interviewing prospective students ensuring that we started our year with a healthy enrollment.
Our school community is very thankful for the incredible Parent Teacher Organization as their fundraising efforts have blessed us with many cutting-edge teaching and learning tools for the classroom. Thank you, PTO Board Members, for your never ending encouragement and support in making our school the best! Bravo, Alberto! A heartfelt thanks to Alberto Linares for being flexible over the summer months to accommodate the various summer school programs and the many projects while still maintaining a high caliber cleaning routine. You make everything shine! Alberto, you are remarkable! And a special thank you to Father Benny for his spiritual guidance as we begin the school year. That little glow of light and sparkle you see at night on the hillside is not a fancy home or the Brace Park baseball fields. It is the little school on the hill, St. Francis Xavier School! Thank you to our many gems whose reflections make us shine! |
