| September 4, 2023
Dear JPII Families and Friends,
It is with great pleasure to welcome all of you to the new school year! As the new Head of St. John Paul II School, I feel the excitement of the school community. Personally, I see this as the Holy Spirit working through us to bring the Gospel to all in our sphere.
The summer has been busy as many have been working behind the scenes with me to have the buildings and grounds ready to welcome you back. We have several new items to share. We have attained more technology through various vendors. Our enrollment is higher than anticipated. In addition to the meet and greet events, the welcome back cookout had over 500 RSVPs. It was truly a wonderful event.
The facade project, started twelve years ago, is coming to completion. We have our new bus and a slightly used bus to transport our students safely. Thank you to all who helped to expand our parking lot. This was only possible by our parents coming together to make this vision a reality through their time, talent, and treasure.
Many initiatives have already started, and at the heart of this year is the goal to further join as one community. We will be working with all community members as we will create a new and bold strategic plan. We welcome your ideas, support, and prayers.
As we continue to align ourselves with other top Catholic schools across the nation, we have altered some titles to better reflect the responsibilities of personnel at St. John Paul II School. The following changes have been approved by the Diocese of Fall River: Phillip VanDenBrink: Head of School, Mona Lisa Valentino: Assistant Head of School Grades 9-12; Paula Daly: Assistant Head of School Grades 5-8.
As we look towards the future, we will expand our STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Art and Math) curriculum. We have the technology to create a STREAM center. We are looking for professional volunteers in industry who will help us create these programs. We have robotics equipment, 3D printers, and much more with which to educate students as we honor the donors who sacrificed to make these tools available to us.
We will continue to build our faith-based programming as well. Campus Ministry is now a 5-12 continuum. We are working diligently to partner with St. Pius X Catholic School to have more joint activities and teams this year. Our goal is to create more opportunities for extracurricular involvement.
We ask you to become involved. St. John Paul II School is a Catholic community-oriented school. Thank you to those who are already active in our school in whatever ways you are able. We have a new JPII Parent Partnership Council. We are inviting all to join us to create a bolder student experience. For those of you who know alumni or alumni family members, ask them to join our Alumni Network. If you would like to work with Advancement directly, please reach out to Jenn Canzano, Advancement Director, to volunteer. We are pleased to announce that Dr. James Boyle and Kasey Boyle will Chair the Blue & Gold Annual Fund. The Blue & Gold Annual Fund is our school‘s largest and most important fundraising effort. We will be taking a different approach to fundraising this year, which will help the wider community better understand the mission of St. John Paul II School.
Finally, my door, mind, and heart are open for your ideas. I know many of you work hard to ensure the success of this school. Thank you to all who are willing to share your time, talent, and treasure to develop the faith-filled leaders of tomorrow who will communicate Christ by the lives they will lead.
Blessings, |
