October 4, 2020

Dear St. Dorothy Families,

As I sat and listened to the second reading today I decided to change my previous opening paragraph. “Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all
understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.
– Philippians 4:6-7

On this Feast of St. Francis there is no better time to SPREAD that PEACE of God, BE that PEACE for others, and LIVE PEACE in your daily interactions. May Peace be with all of you! I am proud to say that we have made it through 5 weeks of in person classes and going strong! Someone made a comment that I have not shared any statistics. Please know if we had any cases, then I would be sharing with the necessary families of the positive case. And like our handbook says, we would follow the guidance of CCHD for quarantine procedures. I have no news like this at this time, therefore no statistics to give. I am grateful to you, the families, for giving us reason to trust you and for your trust in us. Together we are making this work; I am proud of our community!

I would like to take a moment to thank Fr. Murphy for his continued support of our school program. Opening safely was no easy task. The government said there would be money for us, but due to the president not mandating this money be shared equally to all of your children it only went to Title I and therefore the very little we were to get has still not been released to us. I have asked many times. So, we have not received a penny of federal funding. We are open because of our supportive pastor and community. We have rented a pod to store all the teacher materials that had to be removed from their classes. Thank you to the team of eighth grade boys who offered their afternoons in helping to load this pod. The cleaning materials needed are compounded and used 5-7 times/day. This process is keeping our students and teachers healthy. I am grateful to our supportive staff and faculty for pulling of the many challenges that met us in late August. Together we are making this work.

Students in grades 3-8 will be able to receive the sacrament of Reconciliation on Monday, October 19th. Fr. Murphy has planned for extra help this afternoon to support our student body.

Students will move into their full winter uniform on Monday, October 19th. Please see the website if you need clarification for the proper uniform pieces. https://www.saintdorothy.org/dress-code-1

The month of October is also the month we celebrate the rosary. As you know from our First Friday Mass your children have all been given a new rosary to use in school while we pray the rosary this month. We are grateful for these rosaries that were donated in memory of a student’s grandmother. Father Murphy blessed them before they were distributed. Our faculty is working on planning a virtual Living Rosary this year to replace our usual in church Living Rosary. We will share this date with you when the filming has been planned.
 
Our Development Committee is working hard to keep the financial support going for our school. Together with Home and School they raise funds to support the entire student body and faculty. Although we were not able to hold our annual Oktoberfest this year, Development has planned a
“Drive in Movie Weekend” for your children and families. We still have a great need like every other
year. We are grateful for the support of the so many families and businesses supporting in whatever mode possible. Home and School also have planned their fundraisers for the year and will share those with you in their weekly communication. Thank you for your continued support. The entire student body and our faculty are directly affected by this support.

We are moving along in our Middle States Process. The chair of the team visiting our school has
confirmed a pre visit on Thursday, October 22nd. She is getting Covid-19 tested prior to her visit. We are proud of our program and are looking forward to showcasing our school. Due to Covid-19 the planned team visit is now virtual. There is a team of 4 who will observe classrooms and interview teachers and parents. All of this will be virtual.

Progress reports will happen at the end of the month. You will notice our yearly calendar may be off from other schools in the Archdiocese, this is because we started a week earlier and will be ending school a week earlier in June. Many of us in this area choose this option. I will upload those dates this week for your viewing. The programmed dates in OptionC are not according to our changed calendar dates.

Teachers will offer parent teacher conferences the week of October 26th. Evening conferences are
scheduled for October 29th and the afternoon of October 30th. October 30th is a half-day for students with conferences in the afternoon. The consideration for a Halloween celebration in PreK-grade 2 is being considered. More information will follow when a decision has been made.

Tuesday, November 3, Election Day, is a Professional Development day for teachers. The students are off from school on this day. Make your vote count.

Karen Tomasetti
Principal

Live Each Day Giving Witness to Christ