Principal’s Post for December 8, 2024

Religious Activities this Week

The Vatican has stated that the obligation to attend Mass for the holy day, The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, has been transferred to December 9th. Students will attend an all school Mass on Monday. OLV has Masses at 7:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. (livestreamed and in-person), and 6:00 p.m. on Monday. JFK also has Mass on Thursday for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and third through 8th graders will receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation on Wednesday during the day. The Davenport Deanery is offering all day Reconciliation opportunities at Sacred Heart on December 12th and Our Lady of Lourdes on December 17th from 7 am – 7 pm.

Participating Member of Our Lady of Victory or Other Catholic Parish

We do have a definition for being considered a participating member of OLV:

An OLV registered and participating member or member of another supporting Catholic parish, at a minimum, follows the precepts of the Church and is called to go far beyond the minimum in the love of God and neighbor.  Below are the precepts of the Church:

• Attend Mass at OLV or a supporting Catholic parish on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Members of OLV are expected to fulfill the majority of those obligations at OLV to help ensure that the parish and families develop their relationship together as disciples of Christ.
• Confess one’s sins at least once per year.
• Receive Holy Communion at least once per year, during the Easter season.
• Observe the days of fast and abstinence.
• Provide for the needs of the Church, including OLV or the supporting Catholic parish to which one has membership. The use of envelopes or electronic funds transfer should be used by OLV registered and participating members to facilitate this obligation.  If this obligation is too much of a hardship, an individualized plan for donated services/voluntarism may be agreed upon.  Those who are members of another supporting Catholic parish should utilize methods desired by the supporting parish.

In addition, the following are also included in the definition of an OLV registered and participating member, and similar requirements are often made by other supporting Catholic parishes:

• Register in the parish by completing the parish registration form.
• Participate in and help with parish/school activities.

Registration/enrollment for 2025-26 will be available first to participating members of OLV. Families who are members of OLV “in name only” may not be given as high of a priority.

Flag Essay Winner

Congratulations to Kai D. in 5th grade. His flag essay was judged a winner.

Amazon Wish List

Do you want to help your student get something for their teacher as a Christmas present? Many of the teachers have an Amazon Wish List on their JFK webpage. Find the teacher on the Contact Us section of our website, www.olvjfk.com.

Safe Snack List

Snacks, including those brought in by students, are “regulated” and must be from the approved snack list. Please review the list before sending treats to school. Note that the goal was to identify “safe” snacks/food items, not necessarily “healthy” items.

CSW Talent Show

It’s time to start thinking about the talent show for Catholic Schools Week. Information was released last week so students could start thinking about their act and practice over Christmas break.

Standards/Evidence-Based Assessment and Reporting

A letter regarding the next step in the diocesan and SCCS elementary schools’ transition to more standard/evidence-based assessment and reporting was emailed two weekends ago. It is also available below:

SBAR Letter

Here, again, is the link to the UPDATED instructions for parents to check their students’ “in progress” standards grades. It also includes directions for checking missing assignments and Algebra grades for students taking the class at Assumption. The directions cover how to use both the PowerSchool portal on a computer and the PowerSchool app.

Instructions