Week of March 1-March 6, 2010
Monday: 3/1/10

• 3:15-4pm Living Stations Practice, 8th grade
• 6:30pm First Eucharist Class

Tuesday: 3/2/10

• 8:30am Smokey the Bear visits 1st grade
• 3:15-4pm Living Stations Practice, 8th grade

Wednesday: 3/3/10 No activities today
Thursday: 3/4/10

• 1:00pm Sister Marietta and Sister Regina visit today
• 3:15-4:00pm Living Stations Practice, 8th graders

Friday: 3/5/10 No School – Staff Spiritual Retreat
Saturday: 3/6/10 Happy Birthday to Sarah Woodley!
————————————-
March Menu
————————————-
March Calendar
————————————-
Benefit Breakfast
Sunday, February 28th 8 am – noon
St Mary School Cafeteria, Stayton

• Ham, Eggs Hashbrowns
• Cinnamon Rolls Applesauce
• Orange Juice Coffee
• $6.00 12-Adult
• $3.00 ages 5-11
• $24.00 Family

Benefiting the Santiam Vicariate Youth Group
Franciscan Youth Conference Steubenville, OH
————————————-
Family Lenten Info 1

————————————-
Family Lenten Info 2
————————————-
Scrip Order Form
————————————-
SCRIP Notes
We have a few SCRIP items left from Christmas inventory that we would like to sell as soon as possible. If you shop at these locations please help us out by stopping by the school office or sending in a note with your payment to purchase.

• Fred Meyer – overstocked on both $20 and $50 cards
• Great Harvest Bread – 1 $10 Card available
• McGrath's Fish House – 3 $10 Cards available
• Oil Can Henry's – 2 $35 Certificates available
• Pier 1 – 1 $25 Card available
• See's Candy – 4 $13 One Pound Certificates available ($16.10 value)
• Shopko – 1 $25 Card available
• Subway – $15 Cards available (will be changing to $10 cards soon)
• TJ Maxx – 2 $25 Cards available
• Walmart – overstocked on $100 cards

————————————-
Stations of the Cross this Friday
FYI, there will be Stations of the Cross this Friday, February 26 at approx. 2:00 p.m.
————————————-
Lost and Found! 
We have two tables of lost and found items (mostly clothing) outside the school office. They will be there until March 9th. So if you’ve been missing anything, you may want to check the tables for your item.
After that date, the items will be removed and donated.
Thank you.
————————————-
Santiam Marketplace
————————————-
Parent Club Meeting Minutes
Thursday, February 18, 2010
In attendance: Debi, O'Bryant, Dana Peters, Mona McMullen, Sheri Nees, Maria Schmidlekofer, Rick Schindler, Stephanie Jorgensen, Patty Fery, Tina Quigley, Janell Dickey, Kristi Frith, Jennifer Schumacher, Monique Ierardi, Cadie Fery, Ross & Mary Scrocca, Dean Christiansen, Amanda Banning, Anne Ferguson, Kari Childers, Janna Adams, Clare Bentz, Tonya Dolby, Diane Wavra, Elaine Blish, Jane Lulay, Kevin & Annette Joyce, Kelly Rush, Jennifer Ditter, Melanie Brown, Joni Lorenz, Anthony & Kristan Hoke, Ken Adams, Nikki Voltin

Welcome and Opening Prayer – Debi O'Bryant

Photo Wall Display:

Back in September Rick made the announcement that he would like to have some volunteers start creating a photo wall. This wall would be at the entrance of the school, and the wall would display bright, colorful pictures of the St. Mary students.
Tina Quigley and Sheri Nees volunteered and took a trip down to O'Hara School in Eugene to see their photo wall. It was very warm, inviting and it gave the school a sense of community.
Tina and Sheri brought some of the prints to show the parents what the photos will look like when they are mounted on the foam board.
The photos will be put up in the entry way this summer, so when the students return to school in September a new entry way will be created to welcome them back to school. Tina and Sheri would also like to take the all school photo and blow it up so that it is a focal point on the photo wall.
At the end of the school year (June 2011) all of the photos will be taken down and put up on the walls of the cafeteria. The photos will go above the wood paneling and will be grouped by the school year.
If parents have good quality photos of students please send them to Tina Quigley at e-mail address to come.
Q. Can these photos be of alumni students?

A. We would like to have current students displayed on the wall. In the case of the 8th graders who will be leaving the school at the end of this year, photos of them will be okay to display.
Q. Should these photos be of school activities?

A. Yes, all photos should be of school activities. So, good quality pictures from a sporting event, classroom activities, the carnival, Halloween, All Saints Day Mass, Outdoor School, etc.
Q. When should these photos be turned in by?

A. All of the photos should be received by the last day of school. It does take some time to get the pictures mounted on the foam board and it will take some time to get them all hung up properly.
SAC Update:

The Regis Board of Directors attended the last meeting. The discussion was around the St. Mary and Regis merger. Questions were answered and a lot of good discussions took place. Rick did not go into the details of the meeting.

Treasurer's Report:

As of the end of January we have $35,000 in our account.
The profits from the Carnival are $6,590 to date.
Total profit from SCRIP is $7,300.
Total SCRIP inventory is $33,000.

Carnival Update:

Looking at when to hold the Carnival next year.
Looking at possibly holding it in June, which would take the place of the field day.
There will be things they do not do for the next Carnival:
No door prizes
No cash prize
Won't print as many raffle tickets. This was an unexpected expense and Becky and Cadie have reached out the Shangrila group to get the tickets printed up for next year.

Q. How do parents feel about holding the Carnival in June?

Comment: Felt the Carnival was geared more toward smaller children. Possibly get more things for the children in the 8 – 12 age group.

Comment: There is a lot going on during that time frame. There are a lot of graduations being held, sporting events, etc. By that time of the school year many parents are done and looking for a break.

Comment: What about the end of September, or the beginning of October? It could be a welcome back to school for the students and parents.

A. There is the Harvest Fest in early September and then the Oktoberfest in the middle of September. It would be difficult for Becky (co-chair) to add another event during this time.

Q. What about adding a silent auction? The carnival used to have one.

A. The co-chairs would like to bring back the silent auction, add bingo, and quite possibly have laser tag in the gym.
The co-chairs are also looking to send a survey home in the Thursday Folder to get more ideas and feedback on the Carnival.

Bellies, Babies and Beyond Update:

The next sale will be held on Saturday, March 13th.
There are only 2 commercial vendor spots available, all other spots have been sold.
If you are interested in volunteering your time, they could use your help on Friday night with the set-up and Saturday with sales. If you would like to help contact Brenda Chamberland or Janna Adams.
Any donations you might have can go in the room across from the cafeteria.

Auction:

Items are coming in and procurement letters were sent out.
The caterer contract has been signed.
A teacher donated 3 digital frames, 2 will be used for the Kindergarten classes and 1 will be used for the 8th grade class. Sheri Nees will be asking the parents of all 8th graders and Kindergarten students to submit quality photos to her so that she can put the photo frames together. All 3 of these frames will be put in the silent auction.
Reece Carr will be creating a digital yearbook for the auction backdrop. This will be available for purchase.
Need responsible 7th grade students to help serve the meals.
Need more items for the Man Table.
Q. Are guns an acceptable item for the auction?

A. Yes, of course they would not be loaded and would be kept secure.

The following items were discussed as possible Parent's pick:
Build a covering that would extend part way down the sidewalk (by the cafeteria entrance). No quote for this yet.
Finish the staff lounge – chairs, table, cabinets, etc. About $10,000.
Two rooms left to finish with new windows and ceiling. $10,000 per room
Purchase Smart Boards.
Have the main hallway painted by a professional painter. The quote was not yet received on this item.
Reader board in front of the school. Approximately $10,000.

Q. Past classes have given money to the school for a reader board. Where is that money?

A. The money was put back into the school, but was not specifically saved for a reader board.

We could do a combination of things like, finishing the staff lounge and having the hallway painted.
With the loss of 2 staff members this year, finishing the staff lounge would be a great way to let the staff of St. Mary know we appreciate them.

Q. How many Smart Boards do we currently have?

A. We currently have 4 smart boards in the lower grades because they work better for them. The upper grades use interactive slates. Rick would recommend not having the Smart Boards as one of the options to select from.

More discussion and the decision will take place on the Parent's Pick at the March meeting.
Rick's Update:

Change in pick-up time for Friday, February 19th due to a funeral taking place.
PK – 2nd and siblings of these students will be released at 11:45 a.m.
3rd – 8th will be released at 12:00.

Spent the day with the 6th graders at a Vocations Rally in Portland. 8 other schools were in attendance.
Allison Ierardi won the essay contest
Makayla Traeger won the poster contest

Discussion about fundraising and whether the parents want to continue with all of our current fundraisers, or possibly raise tuition and eliminate some of the fundraisers. Rick gets a lot of feedback from parents who are burned out from fundraising and volunteering.

Comment: Raising tuition shouldn't be an option. Eliminate smaller fundraisers and really look at the big ones and how we can improve them.
Comment: Can't afford tuition to go up. It would have to go up by $500 per student in order to break even. Sally Foster is probably the easiest fundraiser we have because it only takes 1 person.
Comment: Too many fundraisers grouped together. Not every child needs a packet sent home with them. We should really look at sending 1 packet home per family. This would eliminate each child feeling the need to have their parents purchase from them.
Comment: We are a community within our parish and town. By doing away with fundraising we are doing away with the community connection.

Comment: Fundraising need to be ruled by common sense. We need to focus on a few things and do them well as opposed to adding more.
Comment: Jane Lulay and Elaine Blish will be co-chairing the green sale.
Comment: From November to January parents get bombarded with fundraising. We need to space out our fundraisers better.

Comment: It's hard when you're not part of the community. More apt to give money when they know where the money is going. Like the auction; they know the money goes back into the school.

Comment: Why are parents not volunteering? Are there other issues?

The fundraiser chair people need to look at asking more parents. For the Auction, Kristi has gotten a good response from those individuals she has asked. She focused on individuals talents and what they are strong at doing and what they enjoy doing.

Comment: Where are we with Share Hours?

The Share Hour statistics were given:
137 total families.
9 total families that have only Pre-school children so no share hours for them.
42 families are done with their share hours.
35 families have hours documented, but have not completed all of their hours.
51 families have no recorded hours.

Comment: Have some kind of sign-ups for the teachers who decide to do in class fundraising. This would eliminate 2 or 3 teachers holding fundraisers during the same time.

Comment: We need to have a shadow system in place for the chair people. This way we are constantly bringing up a new person to replace the outgoing chair.

Comment: There should be a folder kept of how the event went with contact information, etc. This would be nice to give the new person coming in as the chair person.

Comment: An idea was brought up about having the grades grouped so that each grade would learn about a portion of an event. Example: For the Carnival have Kindergarten and 1st grade be in charge of food. The 1st grade parents would teach the Kindergarten parents what to do, so there was always one grade teaching the other grade learning. This would maybe help the fundraising chair people.
Comment: Look at the families that haven't logged share hours and tap into that group for the upcoming fundraisers.

Sheri will be sending the list to Kristi Frith and Janna Adams.

Comment: Raising the tuition to get money from those families who aren't volunteering. More than likely parents are spending more money on the fundraisers than a tuition increase.

Comment: We have to find ways to drive more families into these events.
The consensus from the parents is to continue holding our big fundraising events. We need to focus on what makes them successful and do them well. The event chairs need to make direct contact with parents to get them more involved. Keep tuition where it is and not have an increase.

The SCRIP program will be changing in the next couple of months and more communications on the changes will be coming out. Knowing that it will be changing, what do parents think of having a buy out option? Example – if your family does not participate in the SCRIP program then you would pay $100 to the school.

Comment: Unless the school starts having some kind of accountability, having a buy out option will not work.

Comment: What are the reasons why we can bill parents who do not volunteer? In the past the parents were told it was because of our Archdiocese, but that is not the truth. Rick will need to look into what we can do, and if we can bill parents then we should.

Rick will call the Archdiocese and see if we can legally bill parents.

Comment: We need to educate our parents and let them know that volunteering at our fundraising events is a way to keep tuition low. Without volunteering and getting involved the tuition may increase.

Comment: Clarification was needed on why we focused on SCRIP as a buy out option?

With the upcoming changes to the program it was used as an example. There would be different levels of a buy out option.

Consensus from the parents was to not move forward with the piecemeal buy out options.

The next meeting will be held Thursday, March 18th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the cafeteria.

Week of Feb. 22-Feb. 26, 2010
Monday: 2/22/10

• 8:30am Dr. Nelson visits preschool
• 3:15-4pm Living Stations Practice, 8th grade
• 6:30pm First Eucharist Class

Tuesday: 2/23/10 No activities today
Wednesday: 2/24/10

• 3:15-4:00pm Living Stations Practice, 8th graders

Thursday: 2/25/10

• 3:15-4:00pm Living Stations Practice, 8th graders

Friday: 2/26/10

• 8:15am Mass, 5th grade

Saturday: 2/27/10 Regis Speech Tournament, 7th & 8th graders, 8am
Sunday: 2/28/10 Santiam Vicariate Youth Group Breakfast, 8am-12pm, cafeteria
———————————————
Important Information
Please read closely
Due to a scheduling circumstance beyond our control (IC parish is having a funeral beginning at 11:30 a.m.), we are altering student pick up on Friday, February 19, which is a half-day. Much of the parking will be taken by funeral attendees.
Preschool-2nd grade students (and any other older siblings of PK-2 students) will be dismissed at 11:45 a.m. and will be stationed outside near the cafeteria area.

The remaining 3rd-8th grade students will be dismissed at 12:00 p.m. as usual.

We will have the east side of 6th Street (the normal morning drop off zone) open for parents picking up children. We ask that when your children are safely stowed, you exit your parking spot ASAP. You are also encouraged to park in any other available spot, as you normally might, and walk to meet your children in front of the school.
We hope this will alleviate some of the expected congestion. Thank you for your help and understanding.
———————————————
Master Calendar Correction
Friday, March 19 is a half-day, noon dismissal for the end of the quarter and report cards. There will be no after school care available that day. Thank you for your understanding.
———————————————
Auction Action Letter
———————————————
Falcon Flyer for February
———————————————-
PC Meeting Agenda

• Welcome/Prayer
• Photo Display – Sheri & Tina
• SAC Report
• Treasurers Report
• Carnival Report
• Bellies, Babies and Beyond
• Auction Update
• Principal's/Parent's Pick
• Principal's Report and Fundraising Discussion

———————————————
Parent Club Meeting Minutes
Thursday, January 21, 2010 
In attendance: Debi, O'Bryant, Dana Peters, Mona McMullen, Sheri Nees, Maria Schmidlekofer, Rick Schindler, Kevin & Annette Joyce, Cadie Fery, Becky Silbernagel, Kristi Frith, Tina Quigley, Anne Ferguson, Karen Lejeune, Stephanie Jorgensen, Doug Ierardi, Amanda & Ryan Banning, Gina Keudell, Mary & Ross Scrocca, Karen Lulay, Susan Wells, Dean Christiansen, Jennifer Ditter, Ed Chamberland, Ken & Janna Adams 
Welcome and Opening Prayer – Debi O'Bryant 
Principal's Report:

• Currently working on the budget forecast. Enrollment looks good and it looks like there will be a typical increase.
• Tuition assistance applications will be available in one week.
• The St. Mary and Regis Open Houses will be Sunday, January 31st from 1-3. All teachers will be available.
• Catholic Schools Week will take place February 1 – 5. There are a lot of fun activities planned for the students that week.
• 42 schools will be coming together on February 5th for the Faith Formation in-service day.
• Kathy Kirsch, Custodian, will be retiring. A lot of applications have been received and 7 applicants have been interviewed so far.
• There is a need to start discussions about the number of fundraisers the school currently participates in and is this something the school wants to continue doing?  These costs could be off set by a $100 increase in tuition.  This will be one of the main focuses at our next Parent Club Meeting on February 18th

Q. Will we have a second 1st grade class?
A. It will depend on the numbers, but we may have two Kindergarten classes again next year and then hire another 1st grade teacher. We will definitely have two 1st grade classes next year unless the numbers drop off.
Q. Can we put together the numbers over the past 5 years for the dollar amounts the fundraisers have brought in?
A. Mona will put something together and give it to Rick to send out to all parents.
Q. What is our Return on Investment (ROI) in share hours for these fundraisers?
A. While share hours are tracked it is difficult to get the true number to accurately say what our ROI is.
SAC Update: 

• Nothing to report

Treasurer's Report:

• Two installments ($20,000) were made to the school. Bringing the total amount given to the school $30,000, which means we still owe $70,000. There is $35,000 in the account after the installment payments.
• SCRIP profit is at $6,000.
• Green Sale profit to date is at $8,000.
• If you have questions regarding any of the information handed out by Mona please contact her.

Green Sale Update: 

• The St. Ignatius sales were low, but there was good feedback from attendees on seeing this type of item at the Green Sale.
• This type of item would have been great to get out to the parents of 2nd graders much earlier because as they prepare for All Saints Day Mass some of this information could have been helpful to parents and students. Is there any way to have an earlier catalog order for those 2nd grade parents?
• Debi will look into this for next year.
• Community feedback was not very positive about having greens that were manufactured by a company. If we continue to do this fundraiser we will need to go back to making the wreathes, etc. 
• Additional feedback was that some people attending felt some of the baskets were over priced.
• A higher quality of basket was used this year, which did slightly impact the prices, however, basket prices were not lowered this year.
• Tony Hoke will not be chairing the Green Sale next year.
• A new chairperson is needed for this fundraiser. This person will need to have a passion for this fundraiser and be able to speak and work with individuals from the community.

Guest Speaker 

• A gentleman came to speak to the group about having coupon books available at the Carnival. These coupon books are for many local businesses and will sell for $15 each. For each book sold St. Mary will receive $5.00.

Carnival Update: 

• Raffle coupon books are available at the Front Office.
• The 7th and 8th grade dance will also be included in the admission cost.
• There will be a clarification on the admission cost for the church bulletin.
• For a family with 1 child it will cost $10.00 and they will receive 50 tickets
• For a family with 2 children it will cost $20.00 and they will receive 100 tickets
• Families wishing to come and eat at the spaghetti dinner there will not be an admission cost, only if they want to play the games and go in the bounce area.

Auction: 

• Print, graphics and tickets are done.
• There will be Corporate Sponsorship available this year, so if there are questions about it please contact the Tim and Kristi Frith.
• There are some great prizes this year, with the grand prize being a Caribbean cruise and if you don’t win that there is also a Traeger grill.

Bellies, Babies and Beyond Update: 

• Fliers are available for the next Bellies, Babies, and Beyond. If you would like some please see Janna Adams or Brenda Chamberland.

The next meeting will be held Thursday, February 18th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the cafeteria.
———————————————
Santiam Vicariate Youth Breakfast
———————————————
Santiam Vicariate Youth Can and Bottle Drive
Hello friends and family, the Santiam Vicariate Youth are fund raising. This weekend we will be collecting cans and bottles at Regis High School. If you can help by donating yours, please bring them to Regis Saturday the 20th between 10-2. If you would like us to pick them up, just e-mail Kelly Alley at luvbinmom@gmail.com, or call 769-1188, and we will come to get them! Thank you for your support.

Week of Feb 15-19
Monday: 2/15/10 No School – President's Day
Tuesday: 2/16/10

• 12:00-2:45pm 5th – 8th grade field trip, Lightening Thief
• 3:30pm 8th Boys Basketball @ Blanchet, depart 2:45pm
• 4:00pm 7th Boys Basketball @ Albany Christian, depart 3:00pm

Wednesday: 2/17/10 Ash Wednesday

• Exclusion Day for Students missing immunizations
• Happy Birthday to Kathy Kirsch!
• 8:15am Mass w/Regis – 7th grade
• 3:15-4:00pm Living Stations Practice, 8th graders
• 5:30pm SAC Meeting

Thursday: 2/18/10

• 7:15am 6th grade field trip to Portland
• 3:30pm Boys Basketball vs Sublimity
• 7:00pm Parent Club Meeting, cafeteria

Friday: 2/19/10 Noon Dismissal – Progress Reports/ No Afternoon Bus Service

• No After School Care
• 12:00pm Dismissal
• 1:00pm 8th grade placement exam at Regis

—————————————
Fundraising-Tuition Letter from the Principal
—————————————
Revised Lunch Menu for February
(changes on Feb 17 and 26)
—————————————
Scrip Order Form

—————————————
Carnival Wrap-Up
Raffle Update:
The raffle was a huge success thanks to everyone that came and enjoyed it, and all the parents that helped with setup, teardown and worked during the carnival, and our sponsors! If you see someone from Power Chevrolet, Power Yamaha, Harold's Jewelers, Jensen Kreitzer Family Clothing, Adam Franklin Farms, Sublimity Fire Department, Stayton Fire Department, The Inflatable Experience or A&W, please take the time to tell them thank you for being a part of making our carnival a big success! 
Raffle Winners:

• Yamaha motorcycle: Congratulations to John Wagner
• $500 Cash: Congratulations to Marivel Gomez
• $200 Harold Jewlers Gift Certificate: Congratulations to DeAnne Stuckart
• $100 Jensen Kreitzer Gift Certificate: Congratulations to Cory Callsen
• $100 Roth's Gift Certificate: Congratulations to Diane French

Silent Auction: The Sublimity Fire Department free birthday auction winner is Kelly Rush! Congratulations and thank you Kelly! 
Thanks to all of you that bought raffle tickets, bought admissions, dinner, game tickets, mini raffle tickets, etc. THANK YOU! We had a very successful carnival and made some money for OUR school! The exact amount is yet to be determined, but I know we made quite a bit! 
We appreciate positive and negative feedback, so let us know how you thought your carnival turned out! bsilbernagel098@hotmail.com We hope you had a great time! 
Thanks again, 
Cadie and Becky
—————————————
Santiam Vicariate Youth Breakfast
The Santiam Vicariate youth can use your help. They are looking for donations of eggs and orange juice for their upcoming breakfast on February 28. They need approx 40 dozen eggs and 24 16oz cans of OJ. If anyone happens to have some of this to share, they would appriciate it.
Please bring your donations to the front office. Thank you so much!
—————————————
No After School Care on February 19
There will be no after school care on February 19. Please plan accordingly. Thank you.
—————————————
Family Book Club
Hope to see you tomorrow night, Friday, February 12 at 6:30 p.m. for our next Family Book Club meeting. We are currently reading Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson. It's not too late to join us. Adult books are available in the school office for $10. We promise great value for your small investment. Youth fourth grade and under will meet for activities with Mrs. Garsjo and Mrs. Saturn. Don't miss this great opportunity for family fun!
—————————————
Valentine Gift Ideas
We currently have 12 See's Candy 1-lb certificates available through our SCRIP program for just $13 each. With 19% savings for you (See's candy now sells for $16.10 per pound) and a 10% contribution to St. Mary's you can give a Valentine's gift that gives again and again! Stop by the school office on Friday or send your payment in an envelope marked with your name and "See's Candy Certificate Order" to have it sent home with your child.
Other scrip options for Valentine's Day include iTunes, McDonalds, Starbucks, Claire's, Bath & Body Works, Borders, Baskin & Robbins, Hollywood Video, Regal and Star Cinemas. The scrip come in handy gift cards.
Purchasing giftcards at St. Mary allows us to receive a percentage of each giftcard sold. Thank you for supporting your school!
—————————————
Bellies, Babies, Beyond – March 13th
Have you started your spring clean-out yet? As you do, please remember St. Mary’s Fundraiser, Bellies, Babies, & Beyond. St. Mary sponsors this children’s and maternity resale event twice per year, once in the spring and again in the fall.
We are looking for donations of like new or gently used maternity, baby, child, and teen items to re-sell in St. Mary's booth. If you have items please drop them off at St. Mary, preferably by Tuesday, March 8th. St. Mary will keep all the proceeds from your donations.
We are also in need of volunteers. This is a fun and easy way to earn your share hours. If you are interested in helping with Friday night set-up or Saturday during the sale, please call Brenda Chamberland at 503-769-1555 as soon as possible. 
Thank you!

Week of Feb. 8-12 – SPIRIT WEEK
Monday: 2/8/10

• 3:30pm Boys Basketball @ Willamette Christian, 7th Boys depart @ 2:40
• 6:30pm First Eucharist class

Tuesday: 2/9/10 No activities today
Wednesday: 2/10/10 No activities today
Thursday: 2/11/10

• 3:30pm 7th Boys Basketball vs Immanuel Lutheran
• 4:30pm 8th Boys Basketball vs Mari-Linn

Friday: 2/12/10

• 8:15am Mass – 4th Grade
• 5:00/6:30pm 8th Girls & Boys Basketball @ St. Paul Tournament, Eugene
• 6:30pm Book Club

Saturday: 2/13/10

• 7th Boys @ Western Mennonite Tournament
• 8th Basketball @ St. Paul Tournament

Monday: 2/15/10 No School – President's Day
—————————————————-
Letter from the Advisory Council
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Dear St. Mary Families,
We are writing to make you aware of a dangerous practice becoming more prevalent during morning drop off and afternoon pick up of our children. A number of drivers are regularly whipping U-turns in the middle of 6th Street for their convenience of dropping off and/or picking up their children. Not only is this practice disrespectful of those obeying the rules, it is illegal and unsafe.
We are asking for your help in maintaining a safe environment for our children and other drivers in front of our school. Please do not do U-turns or pull into the angled parking spaces from the wrong side of the road.
Your cooperation and understanding is greatly appreciated.
Your St. Mary Advisory Council,

• Anthony Hoke, President
• Patti Sampson, Vice President
• Dean Christiansen, Secretary
• Eric Fery, Pastoral Council Liaison
• Dana Peters, Parent Club Liaison
• Ken Adams, Member
• Tina Quigley, Member
• Steve Ripp, Member

—————————————————-

Family Book Club
Our family book club met for the first time Friday January 8.  We are currently reading Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson.  Thanks to all who joined us!  If you missed our January meeting, it's not too late to prepare and join us in February.  Adult books are available in the school office for $10.  We promise value for your small investment. Our next meeting will be February 12 at 6:30 p.m.  Hope to see you there!
—————————————————-
Spirit Week Dress Days*
February 8-12
Monday: Pajama/Comfy/Crazy Hair**

• Students are encouraged to wear either comfortable clothes (e.g. pajamas, t-shirts, etc.) and are encouraged to make or wear “crazy” hair. Jeans are OK.

Tuesday: Sports**

• Students are encouraged to wear their favorite sports outfits. No jeans.

Wednesday: Famous Character/Person**

• Students are encouraged to dress up as their favorite character or person. No jeans. 

Thursday: Blue and Gold Day**

• Students are encouraged to wear blue and gold clothes for the day. Blue jeans OK (or gold if you have them).

Friday: Dress Up Day**

• Students are encouraged to wear “nice” clothes (slacks, ties, dresses, etc.). No jeans. No spaghetti strap or strapless dresses.

NOTE: Spirit Week days are not "free dress" days. Each day, students are encouraged to wear clothes according to the theme (and that are still appropriate to our setting). Students are to adhere to the normal dress code if they choose not to participate. The idea is to promote school spirit. Please encourage your children to take part!
*Students will need regular shoes for recess each day.
**The Principal reserves the right to determine if an outfit is not appropriate for school.

—————————————————-
Evening at the Auction
—————————————————–
Share Hours
Parent involvement is the responsibility of all St. Mary K-8 families. The St. Mary School operating budget relies on a $100,000 annual contribution, or $750 per family, from the efforts of our Parent Club each year. Pre-school students are exempt since pre-school tuition covers all pre-school expenses.
Our Share Program reporting is monitored by the Parent Club and exists to encourage the contribution and “share” of giving by each school family. Families may choose to give time, when lower out of pocket expense is helpful OR give an up-front donation when expenses are secondary to available time. Two parent families should share 30 hours per year with the school and single parent families should share 15 hours per year. A donation of $750, or $25 per hour, covers our budget requirement and allows a family to become exempt from K-8 share hour responsibility.
Non-exempt K-8 families are asked to record volunteer hours either in the binder in the school office or online through the St. Mary website Centre program. Families who have not reported their required share hours in one of those formats will be receiving reminder letters in the mail soon. Parent Club is only able to financially support St. Mary School through our wonderful family of volunteers, thank you!
If your family has not yet fulfilled your required hours, our Carnival chairs will gratefully provide you with opportunities this week. To help, contact Becky Silbernagel at 503-931-2766.
—————————————————-
Sports Fans
Dear St. Mary Sports Fans,
We appreciate your attendance and support of our teams. Your sportsmanship and encouragement are greatly appreciated.
If you have attended any basketball or volleyball games, you may have noticed one of our long-standing rules about no food and drinks being allowed in the gym bleachers. What probably has never been communicated well is the reasoning behind the rule. Unlike the Regis HS gym bleachers, directly beneath our bleachers is the ceiling to the locker rooms. When spills occur, the garbage and liquid pours down through the bleacher cracks and onto the drywall ceilings. It is extremely difficult to clean, if at all. It is not as easy as mopping something off of a gym floor. Additionally food often gets thrown down onto the court from the bleachers.
The staff who monitor the games have been finding it increasingly difficult to monitor and enforce the rules, which are in place for the aforementioned reasons, and which prompted this explanatory letter. Our hope is that with this understanding, we will have your full support and cooperation of the no food and drink rule.
Thank you so much for your help!
St. Mary Staff
—————————————————-

Valentine O Grams
It's that time of year when we sell Valentine O Grams. Do you want to tell someone that you care, or tell your teacher that they are nice? You can buy them a Valentine O Gram.

• Card and a Box of Conversational Hearts $1.00
• Card, Hearts, and a Song $2.00

So please tell people that you care. Sales go from February 8-12. Selling will be during lunch in the Cafeteria and all the time in the Office. Delivery date is February 12.
~Leadership Team