Monday Morning Memo

MONDAY MORNING MEMO
January 28, 2013

What a glorious celebration of our first fifty years we enjoyed on Friday!  It was cheerful, colorful, full of surprises, and well-attended by friends and family.  There were so many people who made it this special that I am sure to overlook someone in this list but I have to be sure to thank: 

1.  Jill Watt, Chair of the Fiftieth Anniversary Celebrations for – 

• All the sporting mascots and Chiefs cheerleaders 
• The mounted patrol
•  The noisemakers for each child 
• The Mardi Gras beads for everyone 
• The volunteer pool of parents, students and graduates 
• And a hundred different ideas to make it such fun! 

2.  Jane Pennington, Development Director and another member of the Steering Committee for –

• Designing and creating the large puppets of the five Heads and five Rectors who have led our school and church in the last 50 years 
• The press releases that brought our media friends 
• And work on all of the details of the event 

3.      Pam Bauer Nolan for a fitting chapel service that featured –

• Kindergarten singers 
• Second grade singers 
• Former teachers, Mrs. Hendricks and Mrs. Linn and current teacher, Mr. Kurt, to share their histories at the school 
• And, of course, our chapel leadership team

4.      Mrs. Haskamp for writing lyrics to “Hey Look Me Over” for our 50th anniversary and teaching kindergarten through second graders to sing it

5.      Mrs. Graham for providing the birthday cake that each student, faculty, and staff member enjoyed at lunch

6.      The Tomasics for additional security in such a majestic fashion – horse patrols!

7.      The many middle school students who truly led our parade with the grade level banners and large-scale puppets

8.      Mr. Raney, our bagpiper, and Mr. Ronan, our drum teacher who provided the instruments, and taught and assisted student drummers Reece J, Gibbs M, Luke W, and Andrew B

9.      Our hardworking maintenance crew of Larry Maddox and Terry Hayes, plus Carlos Pantoja who helps with special events

10.  All of the parents who volunteered in so many ways, who came and cheered, and ensured a lively fun experience for all of us.

If you had to miss it, you can see 185 pictures at https://mingle.kansascity.com under “community faces” taken by a professional photographer who joined us for the event.  Thank you, thank you, ALL for a great start to our birthday!

We will dismiss at noon today for professional development.  To continue the excitement we started generating last week, Pat Bassett, Executive Director of the National Association of Independent Schools, will be here to address faculty, trustees and heads of area independent schools and we’re hosting this event!  Extended day is available for families who would like to take advantage of this service by contacting Karen McDonald, Director of Enrichment Programs, at kmcdonald@speds.org or calling 268-6536.

Our sixth grade students will be presenting their showcase to parents and friends this Thursday evening in the south wing multipurpose room at 7:00 p.m.  Mrs. Everly and the students have been and will be working overtime to perform for you so we hope you’ll come enjoy the fruits of their labor!

Forty-two seventh and eighth grade students met this weekend at Kearney for our third preliminary Science Olympiad tournament.  They all worked together as an outstanding team to take second place overall in the tournament.

Seventh graders Ben S., Ella L., Jonah W., Jensen P., Daisy B., Layne S., Roy W., Anna Louise S., Oliver C., Max M., Adam K., Natalie K., Catherine H., Caroline S., Zach T., Grace C., John R., Will P., Caroline R., Sydney H. , Carol Ann G., Faith O., Zach J., Sean W., and Connor T.  along with the leadership of our eighth graders, Lilly L., Monty L., Claire M., Meg B., Ashley B., A’starr M., Elyse C., Meghan L., Cora M., Drake R., Lilly H., Clayton F., Taylor N., Annie S., William L., Sydney W.  and Danny T. were fun and fabulous to spend the day with.

The students' behavior, willingness to work hard, individual responsibility and determination were all outstanding.

Individual winners were:
Drake R. and Roy W. 4th in Road Scholar, Drake R. and Lily L. 5th in Shock Value, Zach J. and Roy W.  2nd in  Dynamic  Planet,  Caroline R. 2nd in Heredity, Carol Ann Gibbs and Caroline Rooney 3rd in Sound of Music , Caroline R. and Natalie K. 4th in Write it Do it, Natalie K. and Caroline S. 2nd in metric Mastery, A’Starr M. and Sydney W. 1st in Anatomy, Meghan Long 2nd in Crime Busters, 3rd in Water Quality ,  and 2rd in Disease Detectives, Claire M. 5th  in Meteorology and 5th in Keep the Heat,  Ella L. and Catherine H. 2nd in Reach for the Stars, Connor T. and Zach T. 2nd  in Experimental Design, Elyse C. 1st in Food Science, Layne S.  and Sydney H. 3rd in Mission Possible.

Congratulations to all of these students and to the St. Paul’s community for their excellent representation! As always, thanks to our Science Olympiad sponsors, Lee Gruss and Ken Stewart, for all the work they do getting the students prepared and cheering them on.

Coffees will be held next week, beginning with the ECC Coffee on Monday, Feb. 4.  Each will be held in the Garden Room of the church, beginning at 8:30 a.m.  Please remember that the coffees are not the place to discuss personnel concerns and that, because there are many grade levels represented, issues that pertain to one class or grade should, as always, be taken to the teachers at that grade level and then the Division Head.  Teachers, Division Heads, and I are always willing to meet with you about your concerns and we sincerely appreciate those of you who come in to share with us your insight in this way.  I cannot overemphasize how much our teachers and we want you to talk first to the teachers about your specific views on their class or grade level.
           Lower School Coffee – Tuesday, Feb. 5
           Middle School Coffee – Wednesday, Feb. 6.

February Service Club Activities:  Calling ALL interested k-8th grade students/parents for two Service Club Opportunities that are in honor of St. Paul’s 50th Birthday!  The purpose of these activities is to distribute St. Paul’s cups loaded with 50 kisses to 50 area businesses.
Activity one:  Cup Assembly:  3:30 – 4:30 pm, Tuesday, February 5:  Kindergarten through 8th grade students will gather in the  North MPR, aka: the lunchroom.  There we will put the kisses into the 50 ST. Paul’s cups and attach a note to each one. Kindergarten through 5th graders are required to have a parent or adult with them.  Middle Schoolers may enroll without an adult.
Activity two: Cup Delivery: We need ten drivers at 3:30 pm  on Tuesday, February 12 to deliver five cups each.  Volunteer drivers will  go to five area business to deliver a cup of kisses. This would be a great (and fun) activity for a parent and children.

To enroll, please e-mail Pam at pbauer@speds.org.  Indicate whether you are enrolling for “cup assembly” or “cup delivery” or BOTH!  Thanks so much.

Monday Morning Memo

Remember our early dismissal today at 12:00 noon for ALL students, except those enrolled in after care.  Our faculty will be using the rest of the afternoon for professional development work.

Please note that the entire school will be dismissed at 12:00 PM which makes for a longer carpool on this day. We appreciate your patience as it takes longer to load more students.

The Lower School Coffee will be this Thursday at 8:30 in the Garden Room of the church.  If you have the time and would like to share your child’s and your experiences to date this year, please feel free to join us.

The Buddy Run is almost here!  It’s this Friday morning!  We’re hoping for another glorious day to run and cheer and celebrate our buddy partnerships on the upper field after all-school chapel.

Register your children here  https://stpeds.ejoinme.org/?tabid=387225

Turn in your child's sponsor sheet by Friday! The child with the most sponsors will be Head of School for a day.  Eat at California Pizza Kitchen on Monday for the half day - special reserved section for SPEDS!  Shop at Stuff on Thursday all day!  Proceeds from these opportunities will benefit this special fundraising event.  Come and join the fun Friday at 9 a.m. on the upper field!

The Toddler teachers have found that the Buddy Run is overwhelming with the noise, number of people, and eventual separation from their parents.  So, while they will happily support any parent who would like to take his/her child to the event to share the experience with siblings, they will not be taking the whole group to the Run.  They will be having a special buddy activity with their third grade buddies this week, and the third graders will run with picture representatives of their little buddies.  We do hope you understand that this is being done for the sake of the students in the eyes of our experienced toddler teachers.

Some Announcements from the Health Office:

·        We still have several families who have not filled out their Emergency Directory and Health Information forms for each student attending St. Paul’s.  Our student forms are online at: https://go.speds.org/studentinfo. We sent out login information this summer, but if you don’t have your username and password, please call the front desk (816) 931-8614.

·        Student Directory and Policies and Procedure Handbooks were sent home last week.  Please familiarize yourself with the new procedure for reporting absences on page nine (9) of the Handbook.  If a child is to be absent, parents or guardians are asked to notify the school daily by phone before 8:30 am.  A parent should call every day of the student’s absence; otherwise the school office will contact the parent or guardian to make sure that the student is safe at home.  You may choose to e-mail this information but a phone call is the most timely way to get this information to the school nurse before calls are made. 

·        There will be a snack offered to each student after the Buddy Run on this Friday, October 19. As per school policy, if your child has a life-threatening food allergy, you are asked to send a snack to school that morning for him/her that is safe to consume.   

If you have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact the school nurse, Catherine Kuhls at CKuhls@speds.org.  Thank you.

ABC Sale:  It’s time to clean out your attics, basements and closets because the ABC Sale is fast approaching! Donations of gently used clothing, shoes, toys and household items will be accepted October 15-17 during school hours, and the sale will run October 18-20. As always, we can use lots of volunteer help to sort the donations and staff the sale.  Starbucks, doughnuts, and Halloween candy will be provided to fuel the work. Your room parents will e-mail you a link to the on-line sign-up for the sale. In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to contact Jennifer Martin at jenellenmartin@hotmail.com, Kelly Groebl at kgroebl@gmail.com, or Tracey Weisenfels at mrsnip@kc.rr.com, the Chairs of this special community service project – a joint effort of the Parents’ Guild and the church.

This is a special auction year for St. Paul’s where we will celebrate the school’s first 50 years and the next 50 going forward. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us on February 2nd, 2013 at the home of Joe & Marian Tutera for the Parent Gift Gathering Party and on April 6th, 2013 at the Marriott Muehlebach for the 50 & Fabulous Auction Gala. Get ready – it’s going to be a fabulously fun 50th!