Principal’s Post – 3/1/18

March 6, 2018
News, Principal's Blog

Mass

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Mass Tuesday.  Thank you to Mrs. Weaver’s class and their leadership this week.  Deacon O’Neill shared with us that we should be persistent in our goals and sacrifices in order to resist temptation..

If you would like to read Deacon O’Neill’s homily, click here.

Rich History

I am continually reminded of the rich history of St. Joseph’s Catholic School.  Last night I was privileged to meet Sister Genevra. She is now the retired superintendent of Catholic Schools in Utah, but earlier in her career, she was the principal at St. Joseph’s Catholic School.  Five of our current staff were students at St. Joseph’s while she was the principal: Kevan Grant, Angie Howard, Julie Robinson, Tina Skinner, and Julianne Russell. Sister Genevra still follows St. Joseph’s from afar and compliments our school, staff, students, church, and community.  We are blessed. We have a wonderful history, and I look forward to continued tradition like the hiring of Mrs. Patrick this year (she is a St. Joseph’s graduate, and her mother is also a St. Joseph’s graduate). Here’s to many more generational stories yet to come…

Campus Safety

Unfortunately, school violence has become all too common place.  We are blessed in this community to have staff, parents, and outside resources offer their expertise.  Safety is always at the forefront of what we do: be it more coverage from the nurse to snow and ice removal to campus safety.  We all want our students to be in the safest environment possible. The best way we can do this is to make changes and alterations without the students noticing so they can carry on with school and play as naturally as possible.

To highlight some of the changes this year:

  • We have added security cameras.
  • We are keeping all external doors of the school locked at all times.
  • We are having all students, staff, and parents come and go from the main entrance to reduce the chance of people entering elsewhere.  
  • We have added an electronic key pad to the front door for After Care and sports practice pick up from school.
  • We are locking the cafeteria door at all times.
  • We are having teachers take a radio with them and their class when going to the Cathedral and lock the doors behind them when taking their classes to the church (outside of Mass).
  • We continue to have conversations as a staff to address concerns and new measures.

` Changes added in previous years:

  • We added more staffing for supervision outside.
  • We added a second staff member to the After Care program.
  • We provided aides and staff members with radios for quick communication.
  • We implemented Emergency Procedures.
  • We started having teachers lock their classroom doors and provided a magnet for quick locking.

The threat of intruders or active shooters is bone chilling and frightening.  In conjunction with the Boise Police Department and best practices from around the country, we will follow and instruct our students to Move, Hide, Fight.  I pray none of our students will ever need to employ this, but should the time ever come, we want them to be prepared to save their own lives and the lives of those around them.  With this said, what we talk about, and what can be done, varies dramatically from kindergarten to eighth grade.

Ultimately, Move, Hide, Fight can be summarized by moving away from danger, hiding out of direct sight (away from windows and the line of sight entering a room), and fighting (barricading a doorway, identifying what can be used to defend oneself, who can defend the space, where to stand or position oneself).

Link to Mr. Quilici’s Emergency Letter from September

Prayer for the Protection and Safety of Family

Lord, I pray Your emotional, physical, and spiritual protection over my kids (grandkids). Keep evil far from them, and help them to trust You as their refuge and strength. I pray You will guard their minds from harmful instruction, and grant them discernment to recognize truth. I pray You will make them strong and courageous in the presence of danger, recognizing that You have overcome and will set right all injustice and wrong one day. Help them to find rest in Your shadow, as they live in the spiritual shelter You provide for them. Let them know that the only safe place is in Jesus, and that their home on earth is only temporary.  – Ryan Duncan, Culture Editor at Crosswalk.com

Key Dates for the 2018-2019 School Year (subject to change)

Working  Draft of Calendar for Next Year (Key changes include ending Quarter 2 before Christmas and Spring Break will be a week earlier. Spring Break will align with Bishop Kelly and the Boise School District.):

  • First Day for Staff: 8/15
  • First Day of School for 1-8: 8/20
  • First Day of Kindergarten: 8/22
    • Labor Day (No School) 9/2
  • Teacher In-Service (No School); 10/5
  • End Quarter 1: 10/19
  • Parent Teacher Conferences: 10/24 and 10/25
    • No School: 10/26
    • Thanksgiving (No School): 11/21-23
  • End Quarter 2: 12/21
    • Christmas Break (No School): 12/22-1/7
  • Teacher In-Service (No School): 1/7
  • First Day of Quarter 3: 1/8
    • MLK Jr. (No School): 1/15
  • Teacher In-Service (No School): 2/15
    • Presidents’ Day (No School): 2/18
  • End Quarter 3: 3/15
    • Spring Break (No School): 3/16-3/24
  • First Day of Quarter 4: 3/25
    • Good Friday (No School): 4/19
    • Easter Monday (No School): 4/22
    • Memorial Day (No School): 5/27
  • End Quarter 4: 5/30
  • Staff last Day: 5/31

Our upcoming weekend school Masses at St. John’s Cathedral are:

  • Sunday, March 11 10 a.m.. ( School Choir )  Weaver/Howard
  • Saturday, April 28 5 p.m. 1st Communion   ( School Choir ) Cammann/Seidler
  • Sunday, May 20 1 p.m. (Spanish Mass) Olivares

Bravely act like a saint today!