I have some exciting news to report. As of this week, we officially have 200 students enrolled at Holy Rosary! Yeah!! This important milestone is due to the success of the Juan Diego Academy, a program of innovative, bilingual, Catholic education. Thank you for your support of the important work we are doing to build our school and our programs.

Señora Farias and I will be heading back east for a few days next week. We are going to attend the National Summit on Catholic Schools and Hispanic Families at Boston College. We will return in time for the Back to School Night on Thursday evening. This is an "adults only" event and I encourage at least one parent to attend from each family. The evening begins in the auditorium at 6 pm and then there will be classroom sessions, so that families can spend time with each child's teacher. This is an important event with information about the school year, fundraising, special events/activities, and specific classroom information. Please do your best to attend. More information will come out about the event.

Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,

Katie Dempsey

Principal

Friday - Spirit Gear

Sunday - First CYO Cross Country meet (2 pm - 4:30 pm at Mt. Tahoma High School)

Here is an outstanding article about the impact of tardiness on a child's academic success: http://oureverydaylife.com/effects-tardiness-childs-education-25692.html

Please check it out!!

Dear Team,

Our shirt orders have been placed and we had a great first practice on Monday! Thanks everyone for doing a great job and thank you to all the parents who volunteered so that our kids would stay safe while running!

I have some surprising news. Our first meet date has been changed from Sept. 25th to Sunday Sept 18th starting at 2 PM ( yes, that is this Sunday)! The following meets will be held on October 2nd and 9th.

Our race location has also changed this year. All races will be held at Mt. Tahoma this year. Directions to Mt. Tahoma HS are provided here: https://www.tacomaschools.org/mt/Pages/Directions.aspx

You should plan to be at Mt. Tahoma at least 30 minutes before the race to check in, get a number, and warm-up. Please note the race times are estimated and may vary slightly. You are free to leave after your race is completed.

The meet start times for all meets are roughly as follows:

PK/K boys - 2:00 PM

PK/K girls - 2:08

1st Grade boys - 2:15

1st grade girls - 2:22

2nd Grade boys- 2:31

2nd grade girls - 2:41

3rd Grade boys- 2:52

3rd Grade girls - 3:02

4th & 5th Grades boys- 3:14

4th & 5th Grades girls- 3:29

6 - 8th Grade boys - 3:45

6 - 8th Grade girls - 4:05

I plan to hand out shirts at practice on Friday. If for some reason your child is not at practice on Friday, then I will bring the extra shirts to the meet on Sunday.

Lastly, our school is responsible for providing one timer for all the races. That means we have to have someone with a stopwatch at the finish line for every race. I need one or two parents who can volunteer at each race (can be different each week). We would need someone to be there by 1:40 and to stay as late as 4:30 PM. If two parents want to swap places at each meet then it would cut the total time down to 1.5 hours versus 3 hours (Example: 1:40-3:10 (volunteer 1) and 3:10-4:30 (volunteer 2)). Please let me know ASAP if you are able or willing to help in this capacity.

I'm excited for a great first race!

Coach Jennifer

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES and VOLUNTEER HOUR TRACKING

As detailed in our Parent Commitment Forms, each family is required to complete at least 30 service hours of volunteer work related to Holy Rosary Regional School (15 for single-parent households) by May 1, 2017. Thankfully, there are many ways to complete these hours, depending on one's interests, skill sets, and availability. Enclosed in this week's communication envelopes are some examples of volunteer opportunities that will fulfill these requirements; you may have other ideas for ways that you can benefit our school community with your service, and we welcome these ideas.

Please be aware that volunteering at school with our children will require completion of the archdiocese safe environment requirements, which involves an initial one-time live training class, as well as a background check (registration online at virtus.org).

This year, we will have each household self-report their volunteer hours on tracking sheets. A tracking sheet will be sent in the communication folders each month, beginning this week. These are to be turned in once each month, and in turn, another tracking sheet will be sent out. Hours will be tabulated internally from these sheets, and notices will be sent out at least each trimester calculating how many hours have been accumulated. We will no longer be tracking volunteer hours through the office sign-in sheets or e-mail, although hours that have been recorded on the sign-in sheets prior to this week will indeed by counted internally and will be included in total hours. Any questions regarding this hour tracking process, or volunteering in general, can be directed to Colleen Thomson, at casmt@comcast.net.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYl52b_nCQ-rX2Y3_5CbriwTX0v5pHc71UctNdvt2Y0KPyVg/viewform

If we have enough interest, we will offer weekly classes, taught by Señora Nolting. The cost will be $5.00 per class.

• We are in need of a timer for the Cross Country meets at Mt. Tahoma. If you are interested, please contact Coach Pickles directly at jenniferolive@yahoo.com or at 253-686-6643 (text).
• Recess Duty - If you can come to the school between 12 pm and 1 pm any day of the week, we would love to have recess helpers to supervise the kids. Extra eyes are always appreciated!!

• Volunteer and supporter Mary Jane Long for the new basketball hoop and new recess equipment.
• Shanan O'Driscoll Hedges for leading the Chocolate Fundraiser.
• Camai Catlin for taking over the Box Tops for Education program.
  
• Maria Cordero for agreeing to be the "Carnival Queen" for the Halloween Carnival.