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St. Agatha Catholic School, Miami, Florida

Mrs. Glass &

Mrs. Hernandez's (A.P)

Principal's Note

"Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God."

Sirach 3:18

Our Mission: To help mold and educate responsible catholic citizens for a diverse and dynamic society.

EARLY DISMISSAL.........

Wednesday, November 5th we will have a 12:00pm dismissal. We will not be having afterschool care this day. Please make arrangements for PROMPT PICKUP AT 12:00!

Accreditation visit..........

I would like to thank all of the students and parents that attended our welcome for the FCC Accreditation Team the evening of November 3. It was so nice to see so many of you there. I would especially like to thank all of the students that participated in the skit, sang in the choir and danced for our entertainment. Mrs. Gonzalez, Mrs. Navarro, Mrs. Aguilar and of course, the beautiful powerpoint finale prepared by Mrs. Balter. we are so fortunate to have so many talented faculty members.

Tuesday morning, some of our parents were interviewed by the accrediting team. Later, students and faculty members were interviewed. On Wednesday, we will have a 12:00pm dismissal, and a final luncheon to celebrate the completion of the process.

I feel so blessed to see how our children have risen to the occasion of this accreditation visit. They too take an enormous amount of pride in their school. THANK YOU....................................................

FRIDAY NIGHT - 7PM the Hispanic Heritage Festival - "CALLE OCHO EN LA 107."The parents have worked diligently to make sure that everything is in place for this event. I was happy to see so many parents sign-up to receive participation hours. I am sure that we are all going to have a GREAT TIME!

Academic Olympics..........

We are very proud of all of the St. Agatha students that participated in the academic Olympics at Archbishop Coleman Carroll and Christopher Columbus High School.The students below brought further recognition to our school by excelling in the subject areas listed:

Archbishop Coleman Carroll Academic Olympics

Overall our school won SECOND PLACE

Science:

Stephen Cutie 1^st place

Anne Marie Hunter 1^st place

English:

Monica Sabates 2^nd place

Spanish:

Alejandra Guerrero 2^nd place

Math:

Christopher Leesang 3^rd place

Christopher Columbus Academic Olympics

Science:

Stephen Cutie 1^st place

Christopher Tonarely 2^nd place

Anne Marie Hunter 3^rd place

Math:

Christopher Leesang 1^st place

Nicole Cruz 2^nd place

Spanish:

Alejandra Guerrero 1^st place

English:

Cristian Gutierrez 1^st place

Nathalia Dondo 1^st place

Cristian Calderin 2^nd place

Monica Sabates 2nd place

Parent Participation Hours....

This year EACH family is expected to complete 20 parent participation hours. Additionally, families new to the school must complete ONE RETREAT here at St. Agatha (parent hours will be given for this retreat).

Approved Activities at this time are:

*Serving as an official chaperone for the middle school community service hours (see Mrs. Veciana)
Serving as a Home and School Officer
Working at Home and School Events
Serving as a member of SAC
*Serving as a homeroom parent

* (must complete fingerprinting process - described below, and the 3 hour Virtus training program)

If you would like to participate directly with our children, in our school activities, you will need to complete the 3 hour Virtus training, please go to www.virtus.org and register for another upcoming session.

School Improvement Plan.................

Update: On October 2, 2008 we had our preliminary visit from the Chairperson of our visitation team, Sr. Joan Dawson, OSF. We did very well. The objective of this preliminary is to review the entire School Improvement document, and validate that the school is ready for the formal visit.

The goals that were established, that we will work on for the next 7 years:

THE STUDENTS WILL IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION
THE STUDENTS WILL IMPROVE MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM SOLVING AND DATA ANALYSIS
THE STUDENTS WILL IMPROVE INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

The formal visit will occur on November 3,4,5. We invite ALL parents and students to join us in welcoming the accreditation team at 7:30pm in the Church. some of our students will be involved in a short dramatization, the liturgical dancers will perform, and we will have a brief slide show presentation of our kids. ALL STUDENTS THAT ATTEND WILL RECEIVE A NO HOMEWORK PASS FOR THAT NIGHT. We are hoping for a BIG turnout.

On Wednesday, we will be having a 12:00pm dismissal in order to end the visitation process and all faculty members and staff to unite for a luncheon. NO AFTERSCHOOL CARE WILL BE OFFERED ON NOVEMBER 5TH. PLEASE REMEMBER TO PICK-UP YOUR CHILDREN ON TIME 12:00PM

School Advisory Council....

Please note if parents would like to submit a policy concern to be discussed at the next SAC meeting, please complete action Request form available at the school office. They will be discussed at the next Advisory Council meeting. For any other questions, please feel free to call the school office so as not to have to await a formal response.

The purpose of the School Advisory Council is to:

promote the practice and development of the Catholic faith
act as advisory board to the administration
respond to policy proposals and recommendations initiated by the administration
assist in developing the annual budget
determine sources of funding
approve proposed expenditures
reflect major concerns of parents
report valid concerns/procedures/proposals of the council to parents
assist in implementing diocesan policies and procedures
recruiting students
implementing public relations programs

On behalf of Father Garcia and myself I would like to thank all the members of the School Advisory Council for all their hard work this year. We are pleased to welcome a new member to the School Advisory Council, Mrs. Fabiola Cruz!

We are very happy to present the members of the School Advisory Council:

Amarillys Perez - Chair

Ignacio Tonarely - Vice Chair

Fabiola Cruz

Jose Acosta

Jorge Alonso

Frank Diaz

Father Garcia and Mrs. Glass

Home and School

Our Home and School Officers for the 2008-2009 academic year:

President Felix Caceres, Martin Rodriguez

Vice President Betty Hidalgo, Lily Vega,

Secretary Veyra Castellano, Chary Fernandez

Treasurer Mirella Correa, Eduardo Nunez

Here is what's happening...

MASS ATTENDANCE - Remember every child is expected to bring in a mass attendance coupon (if they attend St. Agatha) or a SIGNED bulletin by the presiding priest at the catholic church that they attended.

If attending St. Agatha Catholic Church, students are to go personally to the usher's room to collect the mass card.

DATES TO REMEMBER