Dear OLMC Families,

I hope you had a beautiful Thanksgiving. I am sure this was different from past years, but even with everything going on, there are still so many things to be thankful for!!

As we move into the Advent Season the 7th graders usually lead us in prayer and light the Advent Wreath before school. We will not do this as a community in the prayer Garden but we will still be praying together in our classrooms. The 7th graders have recorded these prayers and we will share them with you on our YouTube page and social media for you to enjoy every morning. These videos will be streamed into the classrooms as well.

In medical terms, having ‘20/20 vision’ means a person sees with optimum acuity and clarity. In popular culture, the phrase ‘20/20 vision’ means a person has a clear view of a situation. In the year 2020, one needs far more than perfect vision to see clearly through the cloudy atmosphere of the coronavirus pandemic! So much of what we hear seems confusing, conflicting, or inconsistent such that the effects of the “infodemic” may leave us angry, frustrated, or overwhelmed. Late last Wednesday, as we headed into our Thanksgiving Break, the CDC indicated that it is considering shortening the quarantine period for those persons who have close contact with someone who is COVID positive, but remain free of symptoms. For those who have had to endure a 14-day quarantine, this news probably has them seeing red. Why the change, especially now with an increase in coronavirus cases nationwide? The answer is “evidence”.

In August, we certainly thought the coronavirus pandemic would be much better by the time Thanksgiving arrived. But, instead we find ourselves, once again, trying to balance the essentials of life with protecting ourselves from infection. This week, with evidence of increased community spread over the past month, some schools have decided to send their students back home. Many have asked, “Will OLMC remain open?” The answer to that question is, “We have planned to remain open”. The reality is that this is the first test of how effective our strategies are. Though we have been operating with extreme caution since opening school on August 17th, this is the first time that students have been in school when community spread has been on the rise. Recall that schools were closed in March and were not open in June when Arizona recorded the highest numbers for infection. (Confirmed COVID Cases by Day)

Dear Parents,

The children did a wonderful job with the lockdown this week. In the 10 plus years I have been here, we have had only one other lockdown. This year just keeps on giving! 

If your child brought in food for the food drive he/she may wear their spirit shirt and jeans on Tuesday. 

Wednesday we will have STEM Day. It will be a bit lower key because we cannot have our usual teams of volunteers, but the children will still engage in some fun activities and experiments! The children will have Mass at 11:30 and we will need the 7th graders to be in their Mass uniforms, as they will attend in-person.

The word “stewardship” probably brings to mind things like “time, talent and treasure” and is often thought of only in terms of church. But, in the broadest sense, stewardship refers to “the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care” (www.merriam-webster.com).

When plans were carefully developed for the reopening of school, they were developed with the goal of establishing a safe environment, in the midst of a pandemic, that would allow our children to be served physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally for the entirety of the school year. We give thanks to God, and all in our community, for what has been accomplished thus far.

Dear OLMC Families,

Thank you for taking the time to participate in Parent Teacher Conferences. For this upcoming week we will have a half day on Friday with a 12:30pm dismissal. The children may wear a Spirit Shirt with uniform bottoms. Remember, the first dismissal time does not start until 12:35.

Thank you for participating in the St. Vincent dePaul food drive. In times such as these, your donations are greatly needed! The OLMC St. Vincent de Paul needs drivers to deliver the Turkey Boxes on Saturday November 21 beginning at 9am. Volunteers will follow the school drop off parking lot design and stop along the breezeway to be given names and addresses, boxes of food and turkeys needing to be delivered. This is a great way to get the whole family involved in service to our community. Please wear a mask, bring hand sanitizer, and a phone for GPS. If you have any questions, please contact Janet Kovach at 480-229-3128.

There are currently six potential COVID-19 vaccines in phase 3 clinical trials--the last phase of testing before the potential vaccine can be submitted for FDA approval. Phase 3 clinical trials aim to study the effectiveness and safety of the injection of an active substance, meant to develop a protective response in the body’s immune system, versus a non-active substance (a placebo). Though it is not known for certain when a COVID vaccine will become available, plans for quick distribution and administration are already being made. Public health experts agree, a safe and effective vaccine will play a vital role in reducing transmission of this virus and help to bring the current pandemic under control. Each November, the Arizona Department of Health Services requires schools to submit an Immunization Data Report.

Dear OLMC Families,

I wanted to begin by saying thank you for all of the kind words, prayers, cards, phone calls, emails, flowers, cookies and gifts on my birthday this past Monday! It was so very sweet and heartwarming. I was beyond surprised and appreciated all of the love. I felt very special!! Thank you, it was an amazing way to start the week!

Please do not forget this is FFT Credit Card Week! We will be selling FFT outside in front of McCready Hall on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. You may order online and have it ready too. You can simply bring your card to school and it will already be set aside. Again, this is a huge fundraiser for the school and I appreciate your support tremendously.

Dear OLMC Families,

Ventilation is one of the safety precautions with COVID and we are keeping the doors to the classrooms open as much as possible. It is important for your child to have a sweatshirt or jacket. In the classroom they need to be an OLMC sweatshirt/jacket. The Spirit shop closes tonight. If you do not have one for your child, please order one. Below is the link: Spirit Shop Clothing

If you have not returned your conference slip, please do so tomorrow as we need to schedule these appointments. We will be doing the conferences via Zoom this year. 

Dear Parents,

The meteorologists are forecasting Monday to be a very rainy day. This will impact our pick up. I cannot stress to you enough to be very patient on Monday as we will do our best to get the children to the cars SAFELY. We have been clearing the campus by 3:15 at the latest, but Monday may be a different story. We do not want the children drenched if it is pouring down rain so again, PATIENCE is what I am asking. If your child is a walker and you choose to pick up, please contact the office before 2:00 on Monday.

As the weather cools, the children will likely be wearing jackets to keep warm. The jackets must be OLMC to be worn in the classroom. Our Spirit Store is open until November 1st. Please use the link below: Spirit Store

Dear Parents,

We had another wonderful weekend of celebrating Confirmation and Communion! The children were amazing and the Masses were beautiful. 

School Pictures will come home on Monday. If your child needs retakes, please send them back on Thursday and they will be retaken. 

We will have a fire drill on Tuesday morning. 

Dear OLMC Community,

Thank you so much for your generosity this weekend with the Gala. It was such a wonderful fundraising event. I wanted to say a special thank you to Ashley Hall and Jenn Blackstad for all of their hard work in making this night a success. The proceeds from this event will be used to help keep our tuition costs low. Thank you again for your support.

Just a friendly reminder, we do quite a bit of disinfecting from 6:30 to 7am daily. Please do not drop off your student before 7am- there is no one at McCready to receive and supervise them.

Dear OLMC Families,

Thank you so much to all of the families who donated a case of water for the children. We were going through water bottles so fast! We have a good amount and do not need any more right now - I appreciate your generosity.

Upcoming this week…

Thursday is a half day, 12:30 dismissal. There is no school on Friday due to a Teacher Inservice. As noted on the calendar that went home with your orientation paperwork in August, we DO have school on the 12th and 13th. These are two of the days we chose to use as make up days since we started three days later than planned. We felt October was a better choice than May as the children tend to be ready for the summer after Memorial Day! It will still be nice to have a three day weekend. Enjoy!

Dear Parents,

Thank you for another beautiful week with your children! One of the many challenging parts of this pandemic was the time we lost with the children being present on campus beginning way back in March.The summer always brings a quieter vibe as we are closing out the year and preparing, ordering, and organizing things for the next year; however, we tend to still have a little buzz with children here for childcare and, of course, our amazing Vacation Bible School. This year, we had none of that. It was desolate. I remember when we went to record the new drop off/pick up procedures in July, and I saw some of the children in their uniforms. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I thank you every day for entrusting your children with us and sharing our Home and School bond. I am so grateful for the OLMC community! I am thankful that more and more children are attending in-person, and I look forward to when all of the students are back! 

Dear OLMC Community,

This week the school calendar indicates the Progress Reports to be emailed. Under the current circumstances, we will not send out an “official” Progress Report, but we do encourage parents to check Renweb/FACTS to review your child/children’s grades. We will email home Report Cards for the first trimester on November 10th.

Please remember the children need to have a water bottle and two masks. We have gone through many masks and have been distributing water bottles, but we really need the children to bring their own. 

Dear OLMC Community,

Thank you for your patience with the new drop-off and pick-up system. We have been getting through the line faster and faster. By separating the 7th and 8th grade students who are “onlys” this next week, we should also increase the pick-up speed.

This Friday is a half day and we will have a 12:30 dismissal. The preschool dismisses at 12:15. PLEASE do not come early! If you have a preschool child and an elementary school child, your pick up time will be with the elementary.

Dear Parents,

I hope you are enjoying your long weekend. We are looking forward to seeing your children on Tuesday! 

Included in the newsletter is the invitation to our Fundraising event, the Night to Soar Gala. I will send more information home next week. 

We are offering a How to Afford A Catholic Education seminar on the 14th at 6:30 pm in the South side of McCready Hall. Please go to our website and register. It is free!