Greetings,
This a reminder of our Mardi Gras Parade, “The Krewe of Saints” tomorrow, Tuesday, March 21st, starting at 1:30 pm. The parade starts in the 2nd-grade classroom and travels down the first-floor hallway into the gym. The parade will then move around the perimeter of the gym before heading back to the 2nd-grade classroom. The parade will feature our grand marshal, Father Pat, our king, and queen, and then our parade revelers (1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders). The revelers will be throwing the crowd lots of beads and trinkets. Mardi Gras music will be playing over our intercom, and many of our students will be dressed in Mardi colors and costumes. Students will be able to wear a costume or dress down for the school day. Please be sure that costumes are appropriate for this event. Mardi Gras colors are green, gold, and purple.
Parents, grandparents, and friends are invited to attend the parade. After the parade, parents who attend the parade may check out their children and take them home. We are looking to forward to seeing many of you as we celebrate Mardi Gras at SMSM.
New Disciplinary Program. We have instituted afterschool detention for those students who are disrespectful to students or teachers. Teachers will now have the option to send students (3rd grade to 8th grade) who are disrespectful to afternoon detention which will run from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm each school day. If your child has been assigned detention, the teacher will notify you directly. You and the teacher will decide the day that is best for you and your child. I really do not believe we will be using this very much, but it will help stop any disrespect.
Also, remember Winter Break starts next Monday, February 27 with students and staff returning on Wednesday, March 8.
Have a great week, and we hope to see many of you tomorrow at our parade.
Mike Alford
Principal
Mid-Week Announcement
First of all, today is the 100th day of school. This a specific milestone, especially for our lower grades, as they make this day of celebration. 100th day of school also means we have completed more than half of the school year. This year seems to be flying by.
Father/Daughter Dance is this Friday, February 8. Dads, tickets are still available at our office or online if you consider attending with your daughter.
Early registration continues through this Friday, February 10, with open registration for all new and existing students starting Monday morning, February 13.
Our monthly parent/grandparent lunch is next Tuesday, February 14, from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
Parents, grandparents, and special friends are invited to come to school and have lunch with their child or grandchild. Please remember to bring your lunch.
The lunch schedule is as follows:
6th grade to 8th grade – 11:12 am to 11:37 am
3rd grade to 5th grade – 11:37 am to 12:02 pm
Kindergarten to 2nd grade – 12:02 pm to 12:27 pm
When you arrive at school, you can wait in the lobby and meet your child when they enter the cafeteria for lunch.
Attached is a copy of our revised school policy concerning students’ use of cell phones. Recently, we have had an increase in students using their cell phones during the school day. While we allow students to bring phones to school for emergencies, we expect students to keep them in their school bags and turn them off while on campus. Students are only allowed to use them on campus when their teacher is doing a lesson in which their phones can be utilized and have permitted access. Please take a minute to review the attached policy and discuss it with your child.
The Saints Shuffle Fun Run/Walk is coming. Please mark your calendar for our annual event scheduled for Wednesday, May 31. We are currently seeking sponsors for this event. Please see the attached sponsorship application if you are interested or know someone who may be interested.
I appreciate your support of St. Monica-St. Michael Catholic School.
May God bless your family,
Mike Alford
Principal
Greetings,
First, I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas and a great beginning to the New Year.
A few things to review:
Next Monday, January 16, there will be no school as we celebrate Martin Luther King Day.
Next Wednesday, January 18, starts our Annual Winter activities. We Are looking forward to this event as our students have so much fun during these special times.
January 30 through February 3 is Catholic Schools Week. We have several activities planned for our students each day of this week as we celebrate our Catholic School. Starting on Monday of Catholic School Week we will have a special wall of letters focusing on why our students, parents, and staff choose or like their Catholic school. With this in mind, I would like for you to consider writing a letter about why you and your family have chosen to send your child to St. Monica-St. Michael School. If you can write a letter, it would surely be appreciated by me. If you do decide to write a letter, then please send it to me via email, with your child, or you can drop it off.
Bishop’s Mass – On Wednesday, February 1, we will be taking our 6th through 8th-grade students to St. Joseph Cathedral in Burlington for the annual Bishop’s Mass. This special trip is part of Catholic Schools Week. I know we have sent a memo and permission slip home already, but I wanted to be sure you were aware of it. We will be leaving at 9:30 am in the morning and we will arrive back by 2:30 pm We will stop for lunch on the way back at Zachary’s. Students are to wear their school uniforms.
Our first Father/Daughter Dance is fast approaching. We will have it on Friday evening, February 10th from 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm with the dance being held either in the cafeteria or gym depending on the number of people attending. Snacks and refreshments will be included along with great music. Please note the dance is open to all SMSM girls- even the youngest students. There will be a small fee to help defer the cost of the refreshments and decorations ($5.00 a person). We will also have a photographer taking Father/Daughter Photographs, but please note there will be an affordable cost for these pictures as the photographer is our regular school photographer – Life touch. Lastly, there will be a presentation from several of our students on what makes their dads so special.
We are happy to announce that we have hired a permanent substitute as our PE teacher to replace our previous teacher. His name is Chris Meyer, a parent of two SMSM students, and will fill this position quite well.
Early registration for next year will open to existing students beginning Wednesday, February 1st, and run through February 15. Those students who are registered during this time frame will receive a discounted rate of $190.00 registration fee (saving $60.00 per child). Registration for new students will begin Thursday, February 16. We will be sending more details about registration early next week.
Lastly, the postponed Holiday concert will take place on Thursday, January 19 at 6:00 pm. We are looking forward to a fantastic performance by our students!
Thank you and have a blessed rest of the week.
Mike Alford
Principal
St. Monica-St. Michael Catholic School
Christmas Message
12/12/22
Good evening,
Truffles have shipped and should arrive mid-week so we should be distributed the candy to students to take home by Friday
First, our Christmas Gala and Raffle was a huge success. I want to take a minute to thank several parent and staff volunteers who helped make it a success. This includes Jason and Laurie Brazelton, Natalie Pingle, Mike O’Hara, Lori Larose, Sandy Riddle, and Jeff Cheung. A special thanks also to several staff members who helped with the success of the event: Kae Zaino, Patty Rizzo, Sandra Poczobut, and Johnnie Alford. The winners of the raffle will be posted on both our Facebook and Website.
Monday, December 19th is the Annual Christmas Craft Fair for the children of St. Monica-St. Michael School to do some shopping for their loved ones. All items will be $1.00 each. There will be a limit of 5 items per student (except for those students who have larger families) to assure enough for everyone. Please have students bring the following:
- a list of names of the loved ones they will be shopping for at the craft fair
- a reusable shopping bag to bring their gifts home in
All proceeds will be donated equally to the St. Monica Food Shelf and St. Augustine Soup Kitchen. Any student who is not in school on Monday will have the opportunity to shop on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Parent Alert – This Thursday we will be doing a test of our family alert system. You should a voice alert on Thursday from the school. If you do not receive this alert, then please contact the school.
I will be leaving for a trip home to Louisiana on Wednesday, December 14, for three weeks. While I am gone Mr. Jon Sines, our 8th-grade teacher will be the acting principal.
Last, I want to close today by wishing your family a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
God bless,
Mike Alford
Greetings
I hope your week is going well.
This week we celebrated a special St. Nicholas Day. On Tuesday morning each student was asked to place one shoe outside their classroom. Afterward, the St. Nicholas’ team of Father Pat, Kae Zaino, Sandra Pozabut, and I passed by each classroom and place small treats in each student’s shoe. After every shoe was filled a special jingle bell was sounded and students could retrieve their shoe and their treat. The students loved it, especially our younger ones. St Nicholas’ helpers had lots of fun also.
Our Grand Raffle is still going on. Parents can still purchase raffle tickets each morning before school and after school in the school lobby. Raffle tickets are $10.00 for 10 chances or $25.00 for 25 chances. The winning ticket will be pulled this weekend at the Christmas Gala. We also have a 50 – 50 raffle at $5.00 a chance. Also, we still have a few Gala tickets available if parents are interested in attending. Gala tickets can be purchased at the school office. All proceeds from the raffle to help with Tuition Assistance and to replace a back door in our cafeteria.
Our Christmas Craft Fair for Students is fast approaching and scheduled for December 19th
Lastly, Below is a link concerning our upcoming Winter Activities. This link is to a survey that will help us appropriate the various activities scheduled for the winter activities.
Mike
Thank you and God bless,
Greetings,
It was nice to see all our students returning to school this week. Again, I hope your family had a very nice Thanksgiving.
Our Christmas Gala is fast approaching with only 10 days left to this nice event. This promises to be a very nice event for our parents, grandparents, and special guests so I hope you can join us. I have attached the flyer to review all the details of the review. You can purchase tickets online line https://www.givesignup.org/TicketEvent/SMSMChristmasGala or at our office. Also, we will be providing a gluten-free option for the dinner. Please us know in advance if you need this option for your meal.
We will also be offering at the Gala a Kid’s Night Out at $10.00 per child up to a maximum of $25 for parents with three or more children. We will also be ordering pizza for any child who would like a snack with the cost of this at $5.00 per child. All proceeds from the Gala including the raffle will go to our tuition assistance program.
St Nicholas Day – Next Tuesday each child will receive a small bag of treats to celebrate St. Nicholas. Children will place one of their shoes outside their classroom. Their shoe will then be filled with a bag of treats as a gift from St. Nicholas.
Volunteer Opportunity– AM Parking Lot Monitor! We have an opening Monday and Thursday morning from 7:40 am- 8:00 am for a volunteer to monitor drop-offs in the carport lot. You may opt for one shift or both! Volunteers will need to complete the background check process. Please contact Kae at kzaino@stmonica-stmichael.org.
Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, December 15, at 6:00 pm for our annual Christmas Concert presented by our Performing Arts Department. This is always a very nice concert and an opportunity to really get into the Christmas Spirit.
I hope you have a nice rest of the week and may continue to bless your family
Mike Alford
Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving,
This Thanksgiving, I find myself being very thankful to our good Lord for bringing me to St. Monica- St. Michael School. In the short five and half months, I have been here, I have been blessed by the many people who have crossed my path and whom I have met. SMSM has really good, well-behaved students, highly effective teachers, involved and positive parents, a very supportive advisory board, and of course, Father Pat, our leader, and Father Robert, a spiritual role model for all of us.
I love this school and I am highly motivated to guide the school from a very good school to an even greater school. My personal goal, while I am at SMSM, is to create lifelong learners, and to instill in our students the inspiration and drive to always be eager to learn throughout their lives.
Our Truffle Sale has ended and was highly successful. Your support helped to sell over $12,000 in Truffle candy sales. The exciting news is we will receive half of the sales as profit so we will make around $6,000. This is so awesome and again thank you so much for making this fundraiser a success. We ordered the Truffles today and we are expecting them to be in by the end of the first week of December. I wish to thank two of our staff, Kae Zaino and Haley McNally for ensuring the fundraiser was very organized and successful.
The Red Bucket Food Drive was also a huge success as we collected over twenty-five hundred lbs. of food. We have already taken the majority of the donations we have received to St. Monica Church’s Food shelf.
Lastly, we have started selling tickets to our upcoming Christmas Gala on December 10th. We created this fundraiser specifically for the SMSM parents and grandparents of our students. It will be a fun time for all starting with a delicious meal, music, dancing, games, raffles, and so much more. We will also offer a Kid’s Night Out for parents to bring their children during the gala. We can accept 3-year-olds to 12-year-olds at a very affordable price of $10.00 per child. There will be an option with an additional $5.00 for
your child to have pizza and a drink. All proceeds from our Christmas Gala fundraiser go to our tuition assistance program.
You can purchase tickets directly online at the following link: givesignup.org/TicketEvent/SMSMChristmasGala or you can purchase them at our school office. Tickets are $45.00 for a couple or 25.00 for a single ticket.
Lastly, and most importantly, I want to take this opportunity to wish your family a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Blessing,
Mike Alford
Greetings Parents,
I hope your week is going well for your family and there is no sickness in your household.
Here are some mid-week announcements and reminders:
Our Truffle Candy Fund Raiser has started off well, already seeing lots of truffle sales. The fundraiser will continue through Monday, November 14. On Monday 14th, please begin to send your candy order form and funds to us that day. I again thank you for your support of this fundraiser.
Next week, Monday, November 14, we will begin our one-week food drive to support St. Monica’s Food Shelf. We call it “A Red Bucket of Food” drive. This Friday, we will be sending home to each family a small red bucket. We are asking our families to donate non-perishable food items or items. Send only what your household can afford, as this is not a contest on who brings the most but rather the student’s way to show compassion and support for the needy. You can start sending the buckets back Tuesday, November 15. The drive will end on Friday, November 18th.
Report Cards for the first quarter will be coming home this Thursday, November 10. First-grade through 8th students will have included in their report card envelop a copy of the most recent results from the Renaissance 360 assessment. This assessment will give you a snapshot of where your child is performing in both ELA and Math. It will show you your child’s grade level in both ELA and Math. Please get in touch with your child’s homeroom teacher if you would like to have a conference to discuss your child’s grades. You can contact teachers via email from the faculty page of our webpage.
Christmas Gala. Our school will be presenting the first annual St. Monica-St., Michael Christmas Gala on Saturday, December 10th, from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The Gala is an adult event for our parents and their extended family members, such as grandparents. The Gala will include a delicious meal, beverages, music, a performance by our School choir, a raffle for an assortment of prizes, a 50/50 raffle, games, dancing, and many, many other fun things to do. We will also include child care at a very affordable, minimal price. The ticket price for this event is $45.00 for a couple or $25.00 for a single. The funds from this event will be used to support our tuition assistance program. Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday, November 15. You will purchase tickets directly from the school office or can buy your tickets online.
Our Performing Arts Department is sponsoring a Dinner and Play (Spaghetti dinner and Hamlet) event this Saturday evening, November 12, in the school cafeteria. Tickets are still available through this Wednesday, November 9. If you are interested in going, then please get in touch with the office to reserve your tickets.
Lastly and most importantly, thanks for your support of our school. Please know you can always come to me with any concerns or suggestions. My door is always open.
Sincerely and God bless,
Mike Alford, Principal