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Hello OLOL Families,
I am stressing to all staff and students that we need to finish the 2024-2025 school year strong. I feel very strongly that how you finish is more important than how you start. Most of this newsletter article is about next year but please don’t think at all that we lost any focus on this school year.
I want to make some announcements in regards to staffing for next year. We have most of the positions filled and I think by the end of the year we should be 100% staffed. Here are some announcements that I am proud to announce.
Joining Mrs. Matzke in 3rd grade is Mr. Patrick Daniels. Mr. Daniels just graduated from St. Norbert College, where in addition to having a stellar GPA, was captain of the baseball team. He has a connection to OLOL through Fr. Jim. He student taught at another GRACE school where he received rave reviews. Welcome Mr. Daniels!
Our new PhyEd teacher is Mr. Todd Kleinhans. Mr. Kleihans started his career teaching PhyEd for 7 years. From there he moved through the ranks of assistant principal, principal, and even superintendent. He wants his career to come full circle as his first job was at a Catholic school in Louisville, Kentucky. Welcome Mr. Kleinhans.
We are expecting between 30 to 40 new students for next year. I saw the need to expand our supportive consultant and intervention team. I am excited to announce that Mrs. Pahl is switching from her part-time 4th grade position to working full-time as an interventionist. She will join the team that supports both students and staff to meet the needs of our students. Mrs. Pahl is excited to join the team.
Next year’s 4th grade is going to be split. One of the 4th grade teachers is going to be Mrs. Malkowsky who is moving from her current position as 1st grade teacher. Mrs Malkowsky's work prior to joining OLOL was at the middle school level. She is looking forward to working with the 4th graders and Mrs. Stephanie Johnson.
Mrs. Chris Schmidt will be joining Ms. Nisbit in 2nd grade. Mrs. Schmidt, an OLOL parishioner, has over 20 years of teaching experience. She started her career working in middle school adaptive learning. She then took some time off to raise her family. For the last 10+ years she has been subbing (both short-term and long-term) for the West DePere School District. She is very excited to guide our 2nd graders through their First Reconciliation and First Communion. She is eager to get started as she asked for all of the teacher manuals for 2nd grade to review over the summer. Welcome Mrs. Schmidt!
Courtney Tisdale is joining OLOL and St. Thomas More as our art teacher. Mrs. Tisdale hsa experience as a classroom teacher as well as teaching art. Two things that stood out during her interview was working with classroom teachers to include art with what they are teaching and bring Jesus and God into her art instruction. Welcome Mrs. Tisdale.
The positions that remain open are a, 1st grade, and a half-time 4th grade position (Mrs. Stephanie Johnson will continue to teach the other 4th grade class in the afternoon). Some of these have offers out and I will announce these hires upon acceptance.
I am very pleased by the teaching talent these individuals will bring to OLOL. There is a great combination of experience and youthful teacher excitement. Once the final bell rings on June 6th, I will start counting down the days before school starts with great enthusiasm.
Reminder: If you have a teacher request, please email me by May 29th. We will try to accommodate all requests.
Lastly, a reminder that Bounce into Summer is Saturday, May 31st. We have approximately 20 new families that have been personally invited so we need many of existing families to give them a warm OLOL welcome. We are in need of church choir members. Please sign-up on the Sign-up Genius below. We also are looking for adults to sell water and beverages. This is a great opportunity if you need a few more TSF hours. A strong turnout to Mass shows gratitude to the Parish for all they do and shows a strong community to all of our new families. I hope to see you there.
“He that would live in peace and ease, must no speak all he knows or judge all he sees” - Ben Franklin
Educating mind, body, and spirit,
Jeffrey Young
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