 Fr.
Tom's Tomes August 6, 2006
This week the teachers return to begin their 2006-2007 Bishop Hogan School contracts. The teachers for our school this year are going to be Karen Overton for Kindergarten, Mary Burnett for 1st & 2ndjgrade, Marty Rogers for 3rd & 4th grade, Charlene Thompson for 5th & 6th grade, Brian Murrell for 7th & 8th grade, Mary Garr for music and computers and Angie Bonderer for PE. Janet Lauhoff and Paula McCoy are returning for the cooks for this year. Joe Darr will be the custodian. Misty Burnett will be the secretary of the school. Our Early Learning Center does mot get a summer break, but rather readjusts their schedule to meet the needs of the children attending the ELC in the summer time. Pam Luzader is returning as director and preschool teacher, Lisa Gillilan is going to be after-school caregiver, Lori Ashford is working with the toddlers and Damaris Summerville is working with the infants. Chris Summerville is the custodian for the ELC building. Many p0eople refer to the red building as the old academy building, but I only know it as the Early Learning Center. It has been many years since the Academy was here and many other children and students have used the building as a place of learning and growth. It is wonderful to see the times when something closes and other ministries come forth to be served in the same space. Many of the early members of our parish helped to establish the Academy and School. Over the years the parishioners of St. Columban have watched the changes in the city of Chillicothe and at the parish. With time we continue to see changes which occur. Some rumors have surfaced about the future of Bishop Hogan School. The school will be here as long as the people of the parish support it. There are changes being made in the staffing of the school in relation to the number of students we have. It is important to always remember we can only hire the number of staff as warranted by the enrollment. Any school or business can only afford to hire the number of staff required by the amount of people a company serves. The more children in our school the more staff we can hire. It is my hope to really try to balance all factors together to protect the longevity of the school and to balance all factors together to protect the longevity of the school and to balance it with the resources of the parish. It is important to remember the school is a mission of the parish and can only survive as long as the parish is strong and vital. This coming Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I will be gone all three days. I will be in Kansas City at training meetings to introduce and implement a further program in the school and parish about protecting g children from sexual abuse. The Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is trying to educate not only adults but children also in learning how to identify and protect themselves from being victims of child sexual abuse. The Diocese e is hoping to train and begin the implementation of these programs in the Diocese this fall and coming school year. Thursday morning the teachers return and begin their work for a new sdcho0ol year. On Friday the staff of the school will be gone to go to a training session for curriculum to improve the school. Two years ago the school began a program to introduce and help teachers to write a reflection on theo9ir curriculum. We continue to work on this initiative to make a school stronger and to provide a better academic course work for our students. I will also be gone on Friday morning as the meetings begin at 8:00 a.m. in Kansas City. There are still openings in our school for children. If you would like more information about enrollment please call the parish office at 646-0190 for more information. Parents of children who are not attending the grade school are reminded we need you to enroll your child in our CCD program. Registration forms for the CCD program are at doors of the church. |