Lancer 1-10-18

Please remember to read this whole email for all upcoming events and important information. Dear Families and Friends of St. Francis Xavier School, Happy New Year! It is good to return to school. The children are boundless in their energy and enthusiasm for St. Francis Xavier, having fun learning and socializing with one another. They do enjoy their routines at school! With the wet weather, we have been a cooped-up in the rooms, but all is going well as we dive into the early weeks of 2018! And what better way to welcome back the sun with another family day on Wednesday 1/10?! Parent/Teacher Conferences are on the horizon. From what I have heard from a few people the idea to utilize Sign-Up Genius was appreciated! I am glad to know the program provided parents some flexibility to schedule their conferences. Remember we will have Noon dismissals Wednesday-Thursday, January 17-19 and making use of the afternoon times beginning at 1:00 PM for the conferences. This morning we practiced another lock-down drill. We take time monthly to practice emergency preparedness. The children do a fine job cooperating during these necessary excursions for the unknown. God-willing we will never endure a true emergency requiring us to hunker-down at school! As always, please use this news as a reminder to check your personal emergency supplies at home in the event of an emergency! Thank you for your awareness on the parking lot these rainy days, and in general. Morning and afternoon procedures appear to be going well. Thank you again to the various parents who informed us about the Choice Lunch driver who was speeding through the lot. The call to inform the company has paid dividends. We seem to have a calmer drop off and pick up experience with the company. Please keep eyes alert and inform us as you need to regarding all safety matters. Wednesday 1/10 marks the half-way point of the second trimester of school! Please take a moment to review your child’s progress on Gradelink. The teachers should be up to date with grades by the week’s end. If you remain concerned about progress in advance of the Parent/Teacher Conference week, please notify your child’s teacher for guidance. We gather for Mass this Thursday 1/11 to celebrate the virtues of peace and justice. What a great theme for Mass this is because it coincides with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial weekend. Joining us for the next two weeks is Fr. Joe Maclean. If you recall Fr. Joe filled in for Fr. Benny last year at this time. Fr. Benny is away for a family reunion and Fr. Joe will be our spiritual leader for the duration. Joining Fr. Joe at this week’s Mass is Deacon Jim Roope. Please join us for 2:00 PM if your schedule permits. The faculty and I are editing and updating the school’s self-study for the WCEA/WASC accreditation. It won’t be long before the Visiting Committee arrives to the school for a three-day visit in March. The dates for the visit are Tuesday through Thursday March 6-8, 2018. Typically, the team will schedule an evening meeting with the parent community on the first date of the visit. The team is charged with writing an accreditation report that requires viewpoints from all stakeholders of the school community. To ascertain some perceptions of the school experience from parents, the Tuesday night meeting requires your participation. I will remind you again through these letters leading up to the visit about attending the meeting. On a separate note, after attending the most recent PTO Board meeting I was informed that morale at St. Francis Xavier among parents is in need of a boost. Symptomatic of the issue is the low attendance at the second and third PTO General meetings of the school year. Additionally, it was said that some parents have questions about a variety of topics for which they seek additional information. While I don’t have all the answers, what I can do is commit to discussing with you my dear families your concerns at the second and third PTO General meetings each year. I will begin in earnest this March 1 by discussing the organizational model in use at St. Francis Xavier School. I’d like to start at the macro level and narrow the conversation from there. At future meetings I anticipate receiving some topical discussion points in advance so as to facilitate presentations without taking innumerable questions, as that is not what I want for these sessions. But a broadened approach to discussing parent concerns and perceptions at the second and third PTO General meetings might be an immediate help to hear from families. Hopefully this idea will also make a positive impact on the morale of the parent community. Finally, my friends, three fifth grade girls, Ava Taylor, Taryn Castillo and Bailey Barrows, who call themselves “Lancer Creative,” are committed to selling a variety of wares to the school children on Wednesday 1/31 in support of cancer research. The girls have been busy building the inventory they plan to sell. Not long after discussing this project with our fifth graders did I receive a call to meet with two alumni Lancers from Burbank High School to discuss with them their goal to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Nikki Howell and Lauren Ryan, members of the Class of 2014, are spearheading a campaign to raise much needed research dollars for the society. Nikki’s father has been diagnosed with a cancer and Lauren lost her father to lymphoma. Needless to say, one can ascertain their interest in helping fund cancer research. The idea now is to have our fifth grade girls and student body support our alumni girls in their goals to help the society raise funds. Moreover, Nikki and Lauren have crafted a letter that invites the school and parish communities to donate as you see fit to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s fundraising goals. The letter will be published in the Lancer next week. These experiences are at the heart of St. Francis Xavier School and Parish, and moreover, Catholic education. We don’t fully realize the extent the influence the St. Francis Xavier School and Parish experience has on our youngest members. They connect to a faith-filled life experience because their parish and school host a strong, vibrant Catholic identity. God bless you as we move into Parent/Teacher Conferences and into the later weeks of January. My prayer for us is to come together for the benefit of our children and families to make active the church in Burbank and the greater Los Angeles communities. Take care! Sincerely, Paul Sullivan, Ed.D. St. Francis Xavier School, Principal Dear Parents and Friends, A happy and blessed New Year to all of you and fond wishes that your Christmas was peaceful and joy-filled! The Christmas Show opened the week before Christmas with wondrous little voices singing carols warming our hearts. What a treasure and inspiration our students are to us! We also extend our many thanks to all of the Parents who delivered baskets of goodies to the Faculty Room. We all enjoyed mini-feasts of new tastes and scents. Each basket was delicious and appreciated to the end. Thank you for your gracious hospitality to all of us. We are now looking forward to the New Year and all of the marvelous opportunities and wonderful possibilities to be revealed to us! This new beginning is the perfect occasion to thank you for the treasured gift of your children and for the great love you so abundantly share with us every day. May 2018 be a grace-filled year for our St. Francis Xavier School families; may it continue to bring us together as one family; and may it foster in each of us ways to enable our children to grow and mature in their potential as children of God. With joyous anticipation for a New Year filled with wonderful possibilities, The Faculty and Staff of St. Francis Xavier School Parent Teacher Conferences Dear Parents and Guardians, The month of January marks the midway point of the second trimester of school, which means it’s time for Parent/Teacher Conferences. The following three days – January 17th, 18th, and 19th – have been reserved for mandatory TK-8 Parent-Teacher conferences. At the conferences you will be able to discuss your child’s educational development and STAR Benchmark results from the first two testing sessions. We ask that you not only take the time to discuss grades and STAR results with your child, but to also prepare some questions you would like to have answered (and some statements to share) in preparation of your scheduled conference with the homeroom teacher. You may want to ask the teacher: • Does my child participate in classroom activities? • Does my child show self-control in school? • Does my child get along with others? • Can my child handle the learning materials of his/her grade? • Is my child’s comprehension suitable to that of the grade level? • Is his/her ability equal to daily classroom performance? • How does my child read orally? • Does he/she know the basic math facts appropriate to his/her grade level? • Can my child express thoughts and ideas clearly? • How is his/her written communication? You may want to tell the teacher: • School activities your child talks about at home. • Responsibilities your child handles at home. • Recent happenings at home that might affect your child’s performance. • Some of your child’s favorite activities and accomplishments outside of school. • How you discipline your child at home. • Your child’s strengths and weaknesses. In scheduling your conference, hopefully you have attempted to schedule “family” conferences so that you will not have to return over a period of days to conference with various teachers. Each conference is scheduled for 15 MINUTES. We ask that you be punctual and aware of time constraints. Your child’s homeroom teacher is also on a tight schedule to meet with the parents of all students in his/her class. If you need more than the scheduled 15 minutes, please do not hesitate to arrange another conference date and time with the teacher to continue your discussion. If you wish to meet with a Special Subject Teacher, Mr. Fagan, Mr. Magallon, Mrs. Porras, or Mrs. Raymundo, please call the school office to make an appointment. All teachers will be meeting with parents in their homerooms. Thank you for your co-operation. Sincerely, Dr. Paul Sullivan, Principal Student Council Sponsors Winter Clothing Drive The St. Francis Xavier School Student Council is sponsoring a Winter Clothing Drive starting January 8, 2018 through January 19, 2018. We will collect any of your outgrown reasonably worn, warm winter clothing during this time. All of the collected clothing will be given to the St. Charles Service Center to subsidize their efforts in taking care of the needy people who call upon them for help. Please send in your donations to your classroom. We will deliver the collection to the St. Charles Service Center.Many thanks for your help with this important drive. This email is sent from an account we use for sending messages only. So if you want to contact us, don’t reply to this email – we won’t get your response. Instead please email Nancy.willard@sfxburbank.com for school related items or rectory@sfxburbank.com for Church related items. ©2018 St. Francis Xavier Church & School | 3601 Scott Rd. Burbank, CA 91504