"The Halls (and Stalls) are Alive!"
Dear FJVD Parents,
The Peace of Christ be with you. I'm happy to announce two new “coming attractions” to Father John V. Doyle School:
First, “The Halls are (soon to be) Alive, with the Sound of Music!” As Mrs. Smith mentioned in last Friday's Newsletter, we will be adding an in-school music program for Grades K—8 to the curriculum, beginning next year! It has been my goal since I got here to bring back music to the school, and after much work securing funding through the new annual alumni appeal and other sources, and after consultation with the finance committee, we are now able to make that goal a reality, and hire a music teacher for next year, thereby furthering our school's mission to provide “a solid, well-rounded” Catholic education to the children of our community.
Not only is an education in music a great good in itself, there are also some studies that show a link between music and math skills. According to a Scientific American article, “students who are musically trained have been observed to have higher mathematics grades and standardized test scores, compared with students who have not studied music.” While this is debatable, I can only speak from experience: I began studying Music seriously in the fifth grade, and continued through high school; at first, I was just average at Math, but suddenly at the very end of eighth grade, my math skills and grades shot up, and throughout high school and college, Math was my best subject, which led me to get my bachelor's degree in Engineering. I suspect that my learning to read music had something to do with math coming easy to me. In any event, I still enjoy being able to play and sight read music, even though I don't do much calculus any more as a priest!
Secondly, “The Stalls are also Alive, with the Sound of Tilework!” If all goes well, by next Monday, the boys bathrooms on the grammar school side will have new bathroom floor tiles, and the girl's room on the grammar school side will also be retiled in February. They are being installed starting this Saturday by Ss. John and Paul Parishioner Mike Bagley, owner of M B Tile Works, who is donating his services to the school. A couple of weeks ago after one of the morning prayer services, I brought in some sample tiles and asked the parents and faculty present to choose the one they liked best. The winner was the “retro” style black and white octagon and diamond shaped tile, which really “pops” and goes well with the wall tiles. Not only are these floor tiles being installed at no cost to the school, but a FJVD grandparent is generously paying for the tiles as well!
Both of these new additions to our school are partly the result of the recent PTO Survey that about half of you FJVD parents filled out. One of the questions on that survey was “One thing I would like to see at the School is . . .” More than anything else, parents who filled out the survey said they would like to see a Music Program during school (it was Number One at 45%, followed by Improved Technology at 23%). In addition, several parents in the comments section of that question said that they would like to see updates to our bathrooms. Well . . . you asked – we listened!
Happy New Year,
Fr. Michael J. Woolley
Pastor
Ss. John and Paul Parish
and Father John V. Doyle School