Thursday Note Home

Dear Visitation Families,

It feels like a whole year since we last sent a parent note home! Here at school, we are working very hard rewriting and improving our accreditation self-study, planning for Catholic Schools Week, and celebrating the fact that the space for our new pre-kindergarten at St. Ann is ready for operation!

Fr. Tuan officially blessed the room on Sunday, January 14th, after the 9:30 mass at St. Ann. Fr.Tuan and I would like to invite all of the school families to come and see the new space at our next open house on Sunday, January 28th from 10:00AM to 2:00PM.

If you need directions to St. Ann, please call the office. Also, please spread the word to any families you might know in the St. Ann area with 3 or 4 year old children that they have a great pre-kindergarten program close to home!

WHEN THE SCHOOL CLOSES: Making the decision to close the school or have a delay involves a number of factors. First I look at the schedule of the larger school district that Visitation is located in, in this case Tacoma. If Tacoma School District has made the decision to close, I give that factor considerable weight. However, I do not always follow the Tacoma School District.

Visitation was open when the Tacoma District was closed on Dec. 15th because we had power whereas many of the Tacoma schools did not. I also look at what the adjacent districts (University Place, Lakewood, Puyallup) are doing as a number of our families come from those districts. Then I consult a few of the staff members who live in the area to get a picture of the conditions around the school itself.

I listen to the weather forecasts and finally make a determination. Uppermost in my mind is the safety of our children, families, and staff. As inconvenient as making up days can be, it is definitely preferable toputting any of our Visitation Family at risk.

I know that this week has been very frustrating for many families, particularly when both parents are working or it is a single parent family and there is a scramble to find child care. As I said, my first priority is always going to be safety. If the school is insession and parents don't feel that it is safe to travel, then I would certainly expect that they would make a decision in the best interest of their family. Teachers will always take weather factors into
consideration if a parent's decision was to keep a child home because the roads were hazardous around them.

Please tune to KOMO News or KING News for the latest information. Margie also updates the voice-mail whenever there is new information and the website is updated as quickly as possible.

Because of the number of days we have had to cancel school, the faculty and I will be looking at the calendar and determining how we will make up those days. I will have more information to you soon.

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: We are looking for part time help in our kitchen and on our playground. Please contact the office for more information.

8TH GRADE PARENTS: A reminder that any 8th grade parent whose child is applying to Bellarmine and wishes to apply for financial aid can pick up the application papers in the office. The deadline for submitting an aid request is January 31st.

CONTEST TIME: There is still time to get those labels and box tops in! PTO is sponsoring a contest with Box Tops for Education and Campbell Soup labels. The contest runs until Jan. 19th.

The class with the most labels and box tops will win a pizza party! The second place class wins an ice cream party and the third place class wins a day of free dress. Start clipping!!

POLICY CHANGE: Previously, when we had a late start, we would not provide hot lunch. However, it became apparent during our last late start that this was difficult for a number of parents.

As a result, on days when we have a late start, students will still be able to get lunch. However, because of the shortened preparation time, it will likely not be what was originally planned on the menu, and it will likely not be a HOT lunch. Depending on what is available in the kitchen, it will likely be sandwich, chips, and fruit.

EMAIL ADDRESSES NEEDED: Our technology support has put a new spam filter in place. It is a great filter and has made a huge dent in the volumes of spam we were receiving.

However, it also tends to filter out parent addresses especially if they are aol, msn, or hotmail. For that reason, we are asking you to send your e-mail address to Support@visitationschool.net.

This will allow any e-mails you send to the faculty and staff to not be blocked. Also, there has been some discussion by parents about receiving your Thursday Note Home by e-mail. If you are interested in that, please e-mail me.

AHOY MATIES! You’ll notice that a pirate ship is sailing in our main hallway. This is to get us all thinking about our annual Family Auction Night on March 23rd and our Auction Gala coming up on March 31st. Be sure to save that date or you risk walking the plank!! Thanks to Mrs. Todd for the cool ship….

SERVICE HOURS OPPORTUNITY: The parish needs help taking down the Christmas decorations. If you can spare a few minutes, please stop by the church after the 10:30 AM Mass on Sunday, January 21st or contact Kathy McSperitt.

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK: We are finalizing plans for Catholic Schools Week which runs January 28th through February 3rd. Stay tuned for the details.

Peace and Blessings,


Sheila Harrison