Dear DeSales Family,

Well, if you have taken a look at our website lately you will undoubtedly notice that something is amiss. Apparently we have been bitten by a little bug, a virus if you will. Our website has decided that all published material looks better in lower case and some of the material that has been saved to blogs have not been recorded/published; mine in particular as I see that three are missing. So, in case you missed it, I am going to put together an entry that will cover some of the more practical items.

It has come to my attention that some of you, OK, maybe more than some, were not aware that we at DeSales have moved from our historic four quarter marking periods to trimesters. This is a decision that we as a faculty looked long and hard at and, at the very end of last year, decided to make the leap. The biggest reason, among many discussed, was that it would offer the students more time to improve their grades if they were to receive a mid-making period notice that indicated some need for improvement. As we have in the past, all of the end of marking period dates, as well as the mid-trimester dates is published on the Global calendar on our website.

At the beginning of the year Mr. Paul Schuster, our Director of Religious Education and Middle School Religion teacher challenged each faculty member to dedicate themselves to some form of a service project this year as we embark on the new evangelization of the Catholic Church. I felt that it would be best for me to look forward with a stance firmly in the past. With that being said, I went back to our patron saint, St. Francis DeSales. The following six tenants are recognized by the Oblates as central to St. Francis’ life:

• The recognizable call to holiness for all people in all walks of life
• The necessity of living in the "present moment" as the privileged opportunity to know and live
God's will
• The goodness of creation
• The centrality of love and freedom in one's relationship with God and the world
• The sanctity of the "ordinary" done "passionately well"
• The gentleness, humility, optimism and joy that come from living in truthfulness

With these in mind, I have decided that my project this year will be to catch students walking the path that St. Francis has blazed for us. Starting in October, students who are “caught” going above and beyond will be rewarded with a DeSales Dollar, created by our very own Mrs. Kruse. The student will them be instructed to put his/her name on the back and deposit the DeSales Dollar into a fishbowl located in the Main Office. At the end of each month I will draw out a winner and that student will win a gift certificate.

Peace,
Scott

Dear Friends,

Well, the first week of the year is behind us and we have welcomed many new faces to the school as well as all of our returning friends. Throughout the summer we have been busy hiring many new teachers. While I was able to introduce a number of them to you before, I am going to list them all for you now so you have their names in one place. Please take the time to stop by and give them a genuine DeSales welcome.

Mrs. Webster ~ First Grade
Miss Trombitas ~ Third Grade
Mrs. Rahill ~ Library
Mrs. Deegan ~ AIS Literacy
Mrs. Kowalski ~ AIS Math, Grade 8 Math
Miss Rarick ~ Music
Mrs. Mongeon ~ Spanish
Ms. Pelligra ~ Technology Integration Specialist

As I wrote last month, one of the many fond memories that I have from my elementary years are the many different clubs that I could join to explore different opportunities; those not normally available to me. Now, with some creative scheduling, we have been able juggle the schedule such that on non-Mass day Wednesdays we will use the last period of the day as a time when clubs can meet and students can still go home on their regular bus. The above teachers, as well as our returning veterans, are already busy brainstorming different clubs that they want to offer. Look for more to come on this soon.

Finally, as I am sure you have heard, NYS recently released the long awaited test result from last year and, while we at DeSales did very well as compared to our local districts, as well as the state, we are already working to improve and help our students to expand their capabilities. Parents of students in grades 4 – 8 look in the mail over the next couple of weeks for student reports and a detailed explanation of what exactly those numbers 1 ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 mean and just how seriously to take them. (You can get a brief preview of my thoughts if you look back at my blog from January 22nd of this year.)

As always, if you have any questions or just want to stop by and share your thoughts, please feel free to do so.

God Bless You All,
Scott