We have a Middle School French teacher! Dr. Eric Matheis (pronounced “Mathis”) is
looking forward to joining us in August.
He’s also very willing to teach electives in one or two of his other
four languages, so we’re excited to have him on board.
Thank you for all of the attention and very thoughtful
gifts bestowed on us last week during Teacher Appreciation Week and all
year long through the Parents’ Guild’s Staff Appreciation Committee. This year Tracy Gordon and Ann Fasel have chaired
this committee that provided meals and treats for us that were so
appreciated. The notes from parents and
children also mean so very much. Thank
you, Parents, for your support!
Great job second graders and Mrs. Haskamp for ending our
performance season on such a great note!
Dancing, creative movement, instrument playing, and, of course, singing
entertained us royally. Thanks to all
for a wonderful season finale!
Seventh and eighth graders will be having finals this
week. We know they’ll be relieved
when this week is over and the fun of the end-of-school activities can begin!
The chapel on Friday will honor the teachers who will not
be returning next year and the reception that follows will give special kudos
to our seasoned veterans who are retiring:
Mrs. Bottoni, Mrs. House, Chaplain Bauer-Nolan, and Mrs. Reynolds. Again, seating in the chapel service will be
very limited, especially since some of the retirees have invited family to join
them, but there will be lots of room in the Parish Hall for the reception that
will follow the service. Come join us
there to say thanks for the many years these teachers have shared with us and
our students.
We’re having our Spirit Day for this month on Thursday,
May 16, since we’ll be dressing up a bit for our special chapel service. Encourage your child to wear his/her St.
Paul’s colors this Thursday!
Thank you to all who helped support our fundraising
efforts for Haiti! The students were
so enthusiastic but your support was so critical to the effort. Thank you for baking, buying, transporting,
and offering your lawns and homes and soccer gloves to the project!
Summer is just around the corner and classes are
beginning to fill! Don’t waste any time -- take a look at our summer camp
brochure and all of the options we have to offer! Send in your
registration today to guarantee a spot in the class of your choice. If
you have questions, feel free to contact Karen McDonald at kmcdonald@speds.org
Congratulations to Natalie Denzer who has received a
$4000.00 academic scholarship to
St. Pius X High School! Hooray to another of our talented graduates!
The Rev. Daniel R. Heischman, D.D., Executive
Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools writes
a message to our faculties each week. I
thought this one would be appreciated by the whole community.
The
Great Irony
It
may be common knowledge that, in the hours after the Boston Marathon bombings
three weeks ago, investigators were overwhelmed with thousands of still
pictures and videos, pouring in via email and Twitter. These images came from
individuals who hoped that, in some way, their pictorial accounts of what took
place that afternoon might be helpful in tracking down the suspects. What may
not be as commonly known was that another race was beginning to take place:
officials were concerned to release official images of the suspects as quickly
as possible to avoid chaos in the investigation.
Within
a very short amount of time after the tragic event, thousands of individuals
were going online and mimicking the official investigation. Amateur
investigators were inspecting digital images of the crowd at the bombing site,
and in some cases were coming to quick and irresponsible conclusions about
people who might have been the bombers. The official investigators had to rush
the release of the images of their alleged suspects, in part to limit any
damage done to people who were being wrongly targeted as suspects on the
Internet.
Increasingly
we hear from school officials across the country about the added challenge, in
times of school crises or controversies, of having to deal with what might be
called a “side show” effect online, with quick judgments being made in social
media about the situation in question, and, in some cases, individuals being
targeted or preemptively accused. This obviously adds another layer of
complexity—if not the potential for chaos—to what so often are already
inherently complex issues.
Savvy
school officials now need to be thinking about what may spin out of control
online, when difficult issues surface in the life of the school. At the same
time, this reminds us of the need to balance our technological advances with
good judgment, patience, and a focus on interpersonal integrity. Thomas
Friedman expressed it quite well in a recent column in the New York Times:
…
the faster, more accessible, and ultramodern the Internet becomes, the more all
the old-fashioned stuff matters: good judgment, respect for others who are
different, and basic values of right and wrong. Those you can’t download. They
have to be uploaded, the old-fashioned way, by parents around the dinner table,
by caring but demanding teachers at school, and by responsible spiritual
leaders in a church, synagogue, temple or mosque.
Here
is the great irony of our technological age: these advances do not render
judgments of value and goodness any less important. They render them all the
more important.
Liz’s
note to this: Our St. Paul’s community exhibits the care
and concern needed to help our children make the right decisions and the
ability to work together to ensure they have the skills and judgment we seek
for them. It is a new challenge to our
world that we will approach together.
