Hornet Herald
Teaching the Way of Jesus Christ.
April 6, 2020
Holy Family Catholic School
Email: awalters@hfsfw.org
Website: hfcsfw.org
Location: 6146 Pershing Avenue, Fort Worth, TX, USA
A Message from the Principal
Dear Holy Family Catholic School Community,
Yesterday was Palm Sunday I’m sure we all missed getting our palms this year. Now, we are embarking on our Holy Week journey. The coronavirus has made this a most remarkable Lent and I hope that you are well and not suffering too much with the “stay home” directives that we are all confined to.
I’m sure that we are all feeling a little stir crazy right now, and yet, recommitting each day to do the very best we can. Our best might look and feel differently than it did before the coronavirus changed our lives, and that’s ok, we are all in the process of surrendering to this new reality. Let us continue to lift each other up in prayer, we will get through this – imagine how joyful it will be to gather again as a community!
HFCS will not be in session during our Easter break: video classes will end at noon on Holy Thursday, April 9, and will resume on the Wednesday after Easter, April 15.
Last week the teachers and I dug into learning about how to use RingCentral to communicate with you and your children more effectively. RingCentral is an integrated communication system that will allow the teachers to create specific classroom teams with the ability to send and receive homework, teach via video conferencing and pre-recorded lessons, and communicate via instant messaging. RingCentral also contains a cloud based telephone system.
By now you should have received the RingCentral classroom/team invitations from the classroom teams. I have attached a Helpful RingCentral Features document to this letter for your reference.
Some of you and your children have already participated in live video class meetings today. I sat in on Mrs. Szostek’s class meeting and it was a great joy to see the 2nd grade class together again!
The teachers and I have created a new HFCS Fourth Quarter Master Class Schedule; this document is attached to this letter. The Master Class Schedule will help give each class predictable scheduled times to experience live class sessions with their teacher. We tried to keep the schedule fairly simple knowing that not all households have multiple devices to use for distance learning. All live class sessions will be recorded and posted on RingCentral so that students will have access to the classes at a later time that works for the family schedule. The live sessions are important because they will give each class the opportunity to personally connect with their teacher and fellow classmates in real time.
Grade 4-8 students have multiple teachers; the homeroom teachers will compile an individual schedule for each student for easy reference. These schedules will be sent to the parents through RingCentral.
Here are important VIRTUS/Safe Environment/Video Conferencing Behavior Guidelines:
· Teachers are not allowed to have private phone conversations with students, please do not share the teachers’ phone numbers with your children.
· Teachers are not allowed to have private, individual, video conferences with students. A Parent, or guardian, must be visibly present for the duration of an individual tutoring session.
· All video conferences will be recorded and archived in a HFCS Video Learning Library.
· Teachers will establish student behavior expectations for live video conferencing sessions; these will be similar to the HFCS in-person classroom expectations. The overarching goals are to create a respectful environment and highly engaged video classroom experience for each class.
School attendance will be recognized through student participation, for example: completed homework that has been turned into the teacher, attending live video sessions, small group or tutoring sessions. It is important that students turn in their homework to receive recognition of attendance.
New grading policies are being considered for this quarter, I will keep you informed. Right now we are focusing on delivering lessons to the students and the students participation in the lessons.
I am grateful for your partnership in our efforts to provide your children with a quality Catholic education.
God bless you all, my thoughts and prayers are with you during this Holy Week,
Ann Walters
Principal
Helpful RingCentral Features
HFCS 2019-2020 Fourth Quarter Master Schedule
Saint of the Month - St. Catherine of Sienna
Virtue of the Month - Gentleness
TPSMEA Solo Competition
Congratulations to the following students who received First Division Superior Ranking...
Gabriel Johnson - Violin
Julia Garcia - Flute
Emery Medearis - Flute
Alexis Hilliard - Clarinet
Evan Olmos - Trumpet
Olivia Reed - Trumpet
Ashton Brissette - Percussion
Annica Moreno - Percussion
Tristan San Miguel - Percussion
John Cote - Clarinet
Jackson Schuster - Clarinet
Rose Morton - Clarinet
Alexa Gottlieb - Alto Saxophone
Aden Geary - Alto Saxophone
Abigail Smith - Trumpet
Lauret Miller - Trumpet
Mary Ellen Price - Trumpet
David Granado - Trumpet
Ludmilla Saba - Trombone
Tuesday Hiett - Percussion
Addie Roels - Percussion
Caleb Marks - Percussion
Bella Alfaro - Flute
Adrianna Gray - Flute
Lily Barker - Flute
Amaryn Moreno - Flute
Special thanks to our wonderful Band Director Ms. Kathy Bernal for all she does for our students in and out of the classroom!
Way to go Hornets!
School Away From School
Keep them coming!
What Can You Find In Your Backyard?
What in the world is it?
Crawdads!
Look at what Mrs. Wetmore found in her yard...
Bluebonnets Etc...
Kendra Scott Spirit Day!
Watch the Hornet Herald for more details on how to participate and earning 20% for HFCS.
A reminder to order your yearbook All orders will be taken online at https://ybpay.lifetouch.com. Please use code: 13681620. If you have any questions contact myself or Mrs. Griffith.
I hope this finds you healthy!!!
Go Hornets,
Mrs. Hiett
shiett@hfsfw.org
Questions? Contact Mrs. Head at busmgr@hfsfw.org.
Nolan Catholic News
Check out one of our Alumni!
HFCS alum Savannah Blandford (HFCS Class of 2018) offered the morning prayer and announcements at Nolan last week. Watch her here...
https://www.facebook.com/363236137094634/posts/2790446541040236/?d=n
Savannah is a Sophomore at Nolan Catholic, a member of the Nolan Ambassador program, a member of the NCHS Marching Band (trumpet) and recently received an invitation to National Honors Society. (They did the invitation ceremony through a video due to COVID-19.) She was in National Junior Honor Society at Holy Family and received the Christ Bearer Award.
Savannah, we are so proud of all your accomplishments!