Campus Safety
Work on campus safety projects should conclude within the next week or two. All but one camera has been installed, and final wiring is being completed. Security cameras can help staff monitor the entire campus, serve as a deterrent, provide an early warning to potential suspicious or dangerous situations, be used by first responders should an event be in progress, and help with after the fact investigations. We received a Scott County Regional Authority grant for this project. We will soon have approximately 22 cameras covering the outside of the school, the main church entry, and several large common areas/hallways within the school.
Lovewell Fencing should be back this week to finish installing the gates and the fence that goes down the divider. Yellow sleeves will be placed over the bollards by the concrete barriers as well. Lovewell also finished the concrete work for two new basketball hoops, but “some assembly required” may slow us down for the rest of the work there.
Phase III of the parking lot safety plan, when funded, will create a new visitor and handicapped parking area off of 42nd Street level with the office entrances. With all the work we have happening on campus already, however, there is no timeline for phase III.
Sad to See Tree Go – What Will Replace It?
To make way for the drainage project behind the school, a large tree had to be removed. What might we do instead when the final grading is done in the spring? A rosary garden? Butterfly garden? Outdoor Stations of the Cross? Let’s think about how we might utilize the land with which we have been blessed. Send me your ideas!
Thanks for Supporting Home & School
I just read that teachers nationwide are spending an average of $652 of their own money on classroom supplies, instructional materials, and professional development. At JFK, we would like to thank you for your support of Home & School. Through Home & School’s fundraisers like spirit wear sales, the directory, the magazine sale, the plant sale, Spaghetti Supper, movie nights, etc., H & S provides each teacher with a $300 bonus that he/she can use toward things in their classroom.
Approved Vendors for Skirts; Logos on Socks to be Discussed Again
We have noticed a few plaid skirts with buckles slip into the building. Neither one of the approved vendors, Religious Supply and Denis Uniform, sells our plaid skirts with buckles. Here’s a little history on the skirts. Years ago, the only place one could get the skirts was through Religious Supply. Then, we added Land’s End to offer families another option, and the uniform policy was changed to read “or approved vendor.” (I believe all of the other Catholic schools still only have Religious Supply as the vendor for their skirts.) A few years later, we added Denis Uniform, in particular, to allow families a good online option. Over the past year or so, national chain stores started selling plaid skirts, and differences began to be seen here at school: fit of skirts, types of pleats, base colors of the plaid, exterior buttons or buckles, etc. (We have enough of a challenge identifying a new approved vendor skirt and an approved vendor skirt that has been handed down from child to child and family to family for years — I don’t know if we every bought a new skirt for any of my three daughters!) Staff members were left wondering what to do. When the policy committee met this past spring, the attempt was to put the “genie back in the bottle” and state clearly who the approved vendors were. No sooner had we stated the three vendors in the policy itself than we discovered that Land’s End no longer sells our plaid, and we had to change the language again to just include Religious Supply and Denis Uniform. Now, Denis Uniform doesn’t feature our plaid on its website; you have to ask for it.
When the board meets on Tuesday night, I will also ask it to review the issue of skirts and logos on socks at the request of several parents. We thought we were doing great by adding that socks could have logos. Now, the question is why can’t socks have two logos on them? I love dress code! It always consumes more than it should — can’t you just tell by the amount of space it’s taken up in this Principal’s Post? (OK, I really do like having a dress code. The problem is always in the details!)
Handbook Sign-Off
Please read the parent and student handbook, available HERE, and on our website: https://www.olvjfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Parent-Handbook-2018-19.pdf. Then, print off the last page, sign it, and return it to the school office — one per family. Thank you for helping us to reduce our printing costs.
Parish Picnic and Outdoor Mass
September 15th — Outdoor Mass at 4:30
Picnic following: bounce houses, Iowa/UNI game available, huge pork tenderloins
Price: $1 and a dish to share. Please bring a serving utensil and mark all dishes and utensils with your name for return.
Last name ending in: A – H bring Salads
I – P bring Desserts
Q – Z bring Vegetables
Spirit Day Snuck Up on Me
I almost forgot about last week’s spirit dress day myself. I wasn’t even thinking about it for a Thursday. However, it was the first home football game for our Assumption Knights. Thank goodness I look at the school calendar regularly!
The Wave on Saturday
No sooner had I spoke about my kids being scattered than Kirsten’s boyfriend came for the weekend, and Tom is taking some vacation time to spend here and probably in North Carolina with Colleen. I really need to finish the master bedroom remodeling project that I began last Christmas and get the other bedrooms set up for company!
I couldn’t work too hard on Saturday though as I had to catch some important TV. First, it was services for Senator John McCain. While there were some political jabs, I couldn’t help but shed a tear as I listened to Meghan McCain talk not about the public life of John McCain but about his private life as a father to her. It makes me wonder what my kids will say of me.
Then, as I mowed the lawn, I had to hurry so I would finish in time for the Iowa game. In an add sort of way, though, it wasn’t the game itself that I really wanted to see. I had to be done in time for the end of the first quarter so I could see the “Iowa Wave” when all the fans, players and coaches of both teams, referees, and everyone in the stadium turn to wave to those watching from the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. Football is just a game; some things are just more important.
Chad
