Dear OLG Families,
This week we celebrate our completion of our Accreditation! We welcomed a highly qualified set of visitors to our campus who met with students, teachers, parents, and staff to review our work together. I am happy to share this synapsis with you:
Our Lady of Guadalupe School committed themselves to a thoughtful, thorough, and honest Self-Study process, resulting in a site visit that allowed the Visiting Committee to witness and affirm the good work being done throughout the school and community. From a strong commitment to and rooting in their Catholic faith to a solid and well designed curriculum, OLG provides a strong foundation for young people to build upon during their time at school and beyond.
Furthermore, they acknowledged the goals and action plans we've set as we look towards the future of our school. Reaching the status of full accreditation has been an extra long journey through covid. Thank you for all your parts in making this journey possible, especially those on the Parent Org and School Commission for leading the way together. We have much to be thankful for here at OLG!
As we look to the future of OLG there is news to share on both student and staff transitions. We are graduating
24 8th graders this spring heading to the HS of their choice. Join us next week as we celebrate this class in their production of the Spring Musical,
Aladdin Kids! Enrollment is strong for next year with the following data:
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97% Retention (returning students who are re-enrolling)
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19 new students fully enrolled plus 5 more with enrollment in process
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Waitlisted classes: Preschool, PreK, 5th grade
Thank you for the strong push to meet our enrollment deadline last week. We've had several conversations with new families this week who were waiting for a spot to open in our fuller classes. We do still have a small amount of room in Kindergarten and other key grades if you know someone who is still looking. Please contact the school office for more enrollment info!
We also have some other classmates and teachers to say goodbye to this year. Mrs. Hyder (2nd Grade) and Mrs. Lawler (K-5 Math Support) are both announcing their retirement from teaching as they have served in catholic schools for many years. They are looking forward to more family time ahead. Mrs. Thrall (3rd Grade) is also choosing a new direction for her and her family in the future. We have been blessed with each of these talented educators. Each will have a more personal message to share directly with their classes and families they teach. We will have further celebrations of their time with us at Guadalupe before this school year is out.
As with any change it can be sad to say goodbye but we also gain an anticipation and hope for the future. Several changes are happening including a return to full time 2nd grade classroom teacher (no co-teaching), moving the K-5 Support position from 0.8FTE to 1.0FTE to increase support for all learners, and also adding a part-time Vice Principal position. I am guided by our
Vision 2025 as well as in our Accreditation Self Study, and in conversations with many of you! I am excited to enhance our abilities to serve all students as well as support teacher professional development and growth. I will outline in more details the internal and external movements in our staff next week after concluding our internal staff conversations.
In this newsletter you can find the following info:
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Spirit Wear (tomorrow)
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Day of Service (Saturday)
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Musical Aladdin Kids news
- Volunteer Opportunities (new and more each week), including exploring assistance to refugees and/or hosting an exchange family.
- Loop the Lupe' news
and more...