Final Edition of Liz's Monday Morning Memo - Friday edition

The Board of Trustees had its last meeting of the year on Tuesday, June 17 and welcomed new trustees, thanked retiring trustees, and appointed the Executive Board.  Those new to the board are:

            Courtney Goddard – Associate Vice President and General Counsel for Park University

            LaToya Goree-Hamilton – Director and Adjunct Faculty for the Center for Economic Education at UMKC

            Mark Litzler – Executive Director of the St. Luke’s Foundation

            Chris Long – President and Co-Portfolio Manager at Palmer Square Capital Management

            Brett Posten – Chief Brand Officer of Dimensional Innovations

            Julie McCann – Parents’ Guild President

We thanked our retiring trustees:

            Kirstin Salzman and John Sherman for each devoting six years to service on our board.

Our new Executive Board will be:

            Dave Hall – President

            Amy Holewinski – Vice President

            Craig Hakkio – Treasurer

            Laurie Robinson – Secretary

Amy has also been elected by the board as President Elect and will begin her service as our next President of the Board in June, 2015.

Andrew and Landis Myler are in town and have been unpacking boxes and getting to know KC.

Andrew and I have spent time together in transition and he knows that I will be available for any questions, once he’s been able to set up his office and cruise through the files, beginning the week of July 7.  He’s anxious to begin his work as your new Head of School.

We have hired all of our new faculty, except the part-time preschool teacher who will be leading the new section of preschool.  Two strong candidates are moving to Kansas City this month and we wanted to consider them in our search for this position, so Mrs. Abio and Mr. Myler will make that decision, with the help of the preschool team, during the second week of July.  We feel that we have five strong candidates for that position!

            Our other new faculty will be:

            Jan Russell, part-time early childhood physical education teacher

            Jennifer Fisher, full-time preschool lead teacher

            Jenny Wyllie will move from first grade associate to second grade lead teacher

            Mindy Stephenson will be a fourth grade lead teacher.

We are excited about the skills these teachers will bring to our school!

It has been a real pleasure to serve as your Head of School for the past ten years.  Even though I’m packing up my office and loading up my car, it is still not possible for me to realize that today is my last day here.  Things have been so busy this last month that I’m running up to that deadline without realizing that it is the end.  But it’s also a new beginning – for the school and for me – and I know that we will all grow because of the opportunities ahead.  Please give your children a hug for me and tell them that I am so sorry I was not able to do that before they left.  Enjoy your summer and I look forward to running into you at the Roasterie, Cosentino’s, Bijin, the library, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts or another venue!  Thanks for the memories!

Monday Morning Memo

Congratulations to Coach Sarah Gouttierre and the 7th/8th grade girls “A” team for winning the “A” division soccer title last week over Pembroke Hill, 4-1.

This is the second championship in a row for this group and I’m already calling for a “three-peat”.

Way to go, Sarah!  This was no easy task.  Over the course of the season there are so many ups and downs, injuries, conflicts, etc.  It’s really an amazing accomplishment!

Field Days today and tomorrow - Our field day activities will take place as follows:

• preschool through pre-kindergarten students - Monday 9:00-10:30 - assisted by 7th grade students
• kindergarten through second grade - Monday 1:00-2:30 - assisted by 8th grade students
• third through fifth grades - Tuesday from 9:00-10:30
• sixth through eighth grades - Tuesday from 1:00-2:30

The eighth graders challenge the faculty in our annual softball game at 2:30on the upper fields. Seating is limited because of all the students who attend but parents are welcome to join us - as long as they cheer for the faculty, of course.

Wednesday evening at 7:00 is our Baccalaureate Service for eighth graders, parents and guests. All families in the school are welcome to join us in the church for this special Eucharist that honors our soon-to-be-graduates. The service will be followed by a reception in the Parish Hall, hosted by our seventh grade students and their parents.

Thursday is the last day of classes for all students, except eighth graders, who will finish shortly after noon on Wednesday. Classes will dismiss at the regular time on Thursday.

Service hours for this year are due on the last day of school.

Graduation will be on Friday, May 23rd from 1:00-3:00 in the north wing MPR. The building will not open until noon on that day as teachers and staff are not expected to arrive until 12:30. Once again the community is welcome to join us in honoring our graduates. Child care will not be available on this day.

Extended Day will be available on Tuesday through Friday of Memorial Day week by prior arrangement with Mrs. McDonald at kmcdonald@speds.org. Summer program classes will begin on Monday, June 2.

If you wish to sign your child(ren) up for Lunch Bunch or Extended Day next year: the sign-up forms for both are now online.

Extended Day: http://www.speds.org/Page/Programs/Extended-Day

Lunch Bunch: http://www.speds.org/Page/Student-Forms/Lunch-Bunch-Registration

Should you find that you need to make a change to your child’s enrollment in either program after you’ve registered, please DO NOT fill out another form. Instead send the changes for Extended Day to Karen McDonald (kmcdonald@speds.org), and send the changes for Lunch Bunch to Linda van Thullenar (Lvan@speds.org).


This will probably be my last edition of the Monday Morning Memo so I want to take the opportunity to say a few thanks and good-bye. I cannot tell you how devastated I was when, early last Friday morning, I had to acknowledge that I would not be able to attend the Retirement Reception planned for me. I had so much I wanted to say, if I could keep my emotions in check long enough to say them. So I'll summarize here.

First, I have loved working with your children! They have made me smile every day of this job and I have sustained myself on their honesty, energy, hard work, sense of humor, creativity, intelligence, and athletic and artistic abilities. Yes, there have been disappointments, but we'd rather have our children make their mistakes in environments like ours and learn from them so they won't make them in places that aren't as safe and forgiving.

Second, it has been a pleasure to work with the professionals with whom I interact each day. Our teachers and administrators are committed to your children, work well with each other, and seek to continue growing as professionals.

Third, we tell all of our new teachers that the biggest advantage we have as a school - other than the children - is their parents, because you partner with us in the education of your children. Yes, you'll challenge us if you don't understand something or don't agree with us, but the vast majority of you do so in respectful ways that allow each of us to grow and learn through the process of honest communication.

Fourth, our board members are very dedicated to their roles and commit more time in the execution of their duties than most of the other school's trustees do. Their work through committee meetings, board meetings, the search process, fundraising, attendance at special events, and addressing parent questions to them has always represented the epitome of what independent school trustees should do and be.

And last, but by no means least, is the support of the church in the form of our rector, chaplain, senior warden and vestry. From advice and counsel to sharing facilities and from governance issues to participation in our events, the church has been a partner that supports the activities of the school in every way.

It has been my privilege to lead this wonderful school for ten years and to be part of a community that shares values on how people should be treated and works daily to teach these to our children. My wish for us as we move into the future is that we keep those goals at the forefront of our dealings with each other and our teaching of our children. Our world in so many ways contradicts these values but we must maintain our commitment to be counter-cultural in this way.

The doctors have advised me that I should not return to school because of the risk of further damage and a much longer recovery. I have not, as yet, been able to accept this. I cannot imagine missing my last week with our students. An MRI and another doctor visit may change this diagnosis but the program team will meet with me today at my home to plan for all contingencies.

My heart is breaking and I am trying to do everything I can to return for at least part of all the special activities of this week. This is NOT how I wanted to end my career.

Thank you for the special reception for which I am soon to see the video, your very sweet messages, the food offerings , and the special care and concern being expressed. I do not want to fade quietly out of sight but would prefer to play on the softball team, and share my love and support of all of our students as they end a successful year and move up - and, in the case of our eighth graders - move on. If there is any way, I will do so - except the softball game, of course!

Thank you for the memories, the growth I have experienced, and especially for entrusting your precious children to us.

Monday Morning Memo -- Afternoon Version!

We hope that all of our families enjoyed a very special Mother’s Day yesterday.  We, too, sincerely appreciate our moms – and dads!

Middle school students will be taking finals during this week – from Monday through Thursday.  We support them as they work to show what they have learned!

Third through fifth graders have a Writing Fair in progress this week.  Parents are encouraged to come before chapel or after school to view the writing the students have done and want to share with you.

We have hired three lead teachers for the coming year:

            Jennifer Fisher, who has a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a Master’s degree in teaching plus ten years of teaching experience at this level, will lead one of our preschool classes.

            Jenny Wyllie, who has a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education and six years of first and second grade teaching experience, including a year as an associate in our first grade, will lead a second grade class.

            Mindy Stephenson, who has a Bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a Master’s degree in curriculum and instruction plus nine years of teaching and administrative experience, will lead a fourth grade class.

            We are very pleased with these new hires and are excited about the experience they will bring to their positions.  We are now working on filling the first grade associate position that Mrs. Wyllie holds and adding a part-time associate to kindergarten, due to the increased enrollment for next year in that class.

Recognition of Ms. Farkas, Ms. Stark, and Mrs. Cowan will be at the final chapel service on May 22^nd.  We hope their decisions to follow new opportunities will be wonderful experiences for them, but we hope they’ll return to St. Paul’s in the future!

Friday, May 16 is our last Spirit Day and Feed-the-Need Friday – and Spirit Day.  The pantry is still in need of canned meals and meats.  We can also add peanut butter and jelly to the list.  The contributions of our families to the pantry are extremely helpful and will be missed during the summer.

Remember the Blood Drive we are sponsoring this Friday from noon to 4:00 p.m.  Come help save lives by offering the gift of your healthy blood to someone who needs that help!  Here’s the link so you can make an appointment:  https://www.esavealifenow.org/index.cfm?group=op&hlc=stpauls&hostlookupcode=stpauls

If you wish to have a different carpool number in the fall, or if your carpool arrangements will be different, please email Maria Meli at mmeli@speds.org. Requests will be honored in the order they are received and depending on availability. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Meli.

If you wish to sign your child(ren) up for Lunch Bunch or Extended Day next year: the sign-up forms for both are now online.

Extended Day: http://www.speds.org/Page/Programs/Extended-Day

Lunch Bunch: http://www.speds.org/Page/Student-Forms

Should you find that you need to make a change to your child’s enrollment in either program after you’ve registered, please DO NOT fill out another form. Instead send the changes for Extended Day to Karen McDonald (kmcdonald@speds.org), and send the changes for Lunch Bunch to Linda van Thullenar (Lvan@speds.org).

Many thanks to all of our families who will be supporting or have supported one of the student fundraisers for Haiti.  One of our students asked that the following announcement be shared in this week’s MMM:  On Wednesday May 14, 2014 the sixth grade will be running around Mill Creek Park to raise money for Haiti. The money will be donated to the school-wide effort to buy water filters for our sister school, Holy Cross. For the past week the sixth graders have been getting sponsors for this run. 

Middle School students attend the annual Barstow Track Meet and represent us well!

The following 6th-8th graders participated in a track meet sponsored by The Barstow School on Wednesday, May 7:

6th Grade: Mark H, Spencer S, Peter B, Ryan B, Mollie D, James S, John W and Josh T.

7th Grade: Brady W, Phillip C, Henry M, Reece J and Olivia S.

8th Grade: Jordaan A, Matthew A, Sean M and Ella L.

The following students placed in these events:

1600 meters: Ella L (2nd)

1600 meters: Reece J (1st)

                      Henry M (3rd)

100 meters:  Jordaan A (5th)

200 meters:  Spencer S (4th)

400 meters:  Mark H (3rd)

800 meters:  Mark H (1st)

Long Jump:  Spencer S (4th)

4X100 Relay:  7th/8th Grade (3rd)

Congratulations to all of the participants!

From the Parents’ Guild Staff Appreciation leaders:

St. Paul’s Staff Appreciation Week

May 12th - May 16^th

It takes a big heart to shape little minds

A time to show our appreciation for all that our St. Paul’s 

teachers and staff do for our children

A time to say thank you for all the small but important extras they do

A time to not forget the endless communications so we could all know what was happening in our children’s time at school

A time to say thank you for the dedication of our teachers and staff 

to our students, families and community

A time to say thank you before we say good-bye to the 2013-2014 school year.

THE TOKEN OF YOUR APPRECIATION MAY BE OF YOUR CHOOSING, CREATIVITY AND TALENTS. PLEASE BRING THEM TO SCHOOL DURING THE WEEK OF MAY 12 - MAY 16. 

Monday Afternoon Memo Update

Our Head of School for the Day, Mr. Max Maday, has had to change his special day from Wednesday to Thursday of this week, due to a conflict with his schedule as a Middle School student.  We respectfully request that you dress in your American theme outfits on Thursday, May 8, and prepare to be led by Mr. Maday on that date.  Thank you for your cooperation and flexibility.

Monday Morning Memo

We had a delightful week of celebrations last week!  We loved having our grandparents visit; enjoyed a terrific Art Fair; and celebrated the last of our 50^th anniversary events.  It was a people-filled, celebratory week!

This week will also be full, particularly with grade-specific activities, most at the end of the week:

            Thursday, May 8 at 9:00 a.m. in the north wing MPR – the Second Grade Music Program

            Thursday, May 8 at 7:00 p.m. in the north wing MPR – the Third Grade Showcase

            Friday, May 9 at 9:30 a.m. in the gym – the Fourth Grade ROAD Rally.  Parents and special friends of our current fourth grade students are invited to attend the ROAD Rally.  Students have had the privilege of working with Ms. Tess Butterfield from the Kansas City Ballet to participate in this exciting program that is specifically geared towards fourth grade students. ROAD’s mission is to motivate children through dance experiences that help them achieve tasks related to life skills and personal achievement. For children, ROAD emphasizes discipline, teamwork, dedication and self-awareness through dance. Come join us for a lively and entertaining celebration of all the students have learned this year. If your child is not in fourth grade but you’re curious about the program or interested in helping support it in future years, feel free to join us.  We think it’s a phenomenal program and, though we don’t know if it’s a possibility for future years, we are thrilled we have had the opportunity to participate this year. 

            Friday, May 9 at 2:00 p.m. in the south wing MPR – the Fifth Grade Mercado.  Students will share all they’ve learned about their Spanish-speaking country and will also be selling small items related to their assigned country.  The students have created their own pesos so no need to bring change or cash.  We hope you can come and partake in the fun.

In addition, and directed toward a wider audience:

            Tuesday, May 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the north wing MPR, we sincerely hope that parents of third through eighth grade students will come hear the presentation by Drs. Kevin and Natasha Burgert regarding raising children in this digital age.  They have good advice, resources, and guidelines that are so important for parents to know.  As a school, we are dealing with more and more challenges to which this technology exposes our students and we need your help in protecting them and directing them toward the great resources that this technology provides.

            Wednesday, May 7, Max Maday will be the Head of School for the Day and he has invited everyone to show patriotic spirit by the wearing of red, white and blue.  He’ll direct some activities on that day, too, of course.

Wednesday, May 7 is also the date of the MS Book Fair.  Fifth through eighth grade students will attend.   Charge slips will be sent home Monday, May 5, for students wishing to charge books to their St. Paul's account.
 Friday, May 9, will be the date of the book swap. This is an opportunity for students in first through fourth grade to bring in books they have finished and exchange them for new reading material.  Please start looking for reading material appropriate for grades 1-4 that you want to give to the swap. You must donate a book in order to participate.   You may get up to five books if you donate at least five books.   You can start bringing books for the swap to school on Tuesday, May 6.

Author Paul Tough, who wrote How Children Succeed, Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, a book that many of our teachers and administrators have read and enjoyed, will speak at the Plaza branch of the library on Wednesday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m.   We highly recommend this opportunity to you, if you can attend.

If you chose Plan C to pay your tuition for the 2014-2015 school year, please remember that this plan begins in May 2014 and runs through February 2015. Your first payment will happen on May 5—today. Monthly payment amounts of tuition and fees for those not receiving tuition assistance can be found in the table below. These amounts are per child:

Grade	Amount
Kindergarten - 5th grade	$1,076.10
6th grade - 7th grade	$1,181.50
8th grade	$1,166.50
Preschool/Pre-Kindergarten	$   723.40
Toddler half day Tues/Thurs	$   282.50
Toddler half day M-W-F	$   440.50
Toddler 5 day all day	$1,116.50

A-Team fees are as follows:

Day	Charge
All five afternoons	$477/mo
1-4 days/week	$95.40/mo/day

If you received tuition assistance, please refer to the back of your enrollment contract.

If you have more than one child at St. Paul’s for whom you chose Plan C to pay tuition, and/or are having A-Team fees withdrawn, you will see one transaction each month that is the total of all payments due.

Please remember that these monthly payments only cover tuition and fees (and A-Team, if applicable). All other charges (hot lunches, Extended Day, etc.) are billed and must be paid for separately.

Feel free to contact Christina Cutcliffe in the Business Office at ccutcliffe@speds.org with any questions.

If you wish to sign your child(ren) up for Lunch Bunch or Extended Day next year: the sign-up forms for both are now online.

Extended Day: http://www.speds.org/Page/Programs/Extended-Day

Lunch Bunch: http://www.speds.org/Page/Student-Forms

Should you find that you need to make a change to your child’s enrollment in either program after you’ve registered, please DO NOT fill out another form. Instead, send the changes for Extended Day to Karen McDonald (kmcdonald@speds.org), and send the changes for Lunch Bunch to Linda van Thullenar (Lvan@speds.org).

Extended Day will be available the week of Memorial Day.   We will be open Tuesday-Friday.  Please register by May 16^th to Kmcdonald@speds.org if you are interested in joining us on any of those days. Each day will be filled with fun and exciting activities for everyone! It’s a great way to kick off the summer!

The last Parents' Guild Meeting of this school year will be Wednesday, May 14th in the Garden Room at 8:30.  Please feel free to join us, if you’d like to know more about the great work of this dedicated group of parents.

Reminder:  We are sponsoring a blood drive for our neighbors, the Community Blood Bank, on Friday, May 16 from 12:00 – 4:30.  Please come help us save lives by donating a pint of blood for those who so desperately need this precious commodity that we can replenish.

Service hours for the Presidential Service Award will be accepted until the last day of school. If your child has participated in this program, be sure to submit those service hours to Chaplain Castellan by May 22^nd.