Patty Bajek / Thursday, March 25, 2021

Saints Speak from Mrs. Marshall - 3/25/2021 - Called to Serve

Only one more day (or for the students, a half day) remains until Spring Break! I know we are all looking forward to the break and hopeful for nice weather so we can enjoy some time outside. Whether you are staying home or traveling, we urge all families to take appropriate COVID-19 safety precautions, including wearing masks and practicing social distancing, especially if you are interacting with people from outside your usual “pod.” We have successfully completed 75% of our school year with safe, continuous in-person instruction, and we want to finish the year Saints Strong!

Next week is also Holy Week, and much is happening in our parishes. Click here for more information on Holy Week and Easter services at our supporting parishes. You can also click here for a student-friendly version of the Stations of the Cross, which I encourage you to pray as a family next week. We have been using these in our morning prayer, so the students should be familiar with them.

As we prepare for the end of the current school year and continue our planning for the fall, I want to share some updates on our school’s governance structure and ask you to prayerfully consider how you can share your gifts with the ASCA community. Over the past year, the bishop, pastors, and Catholic Schools Office have worked with All Saints to revise our governance model. As a regional school supported by more than one parish, we are unique. The updated governance model is designed to ensure our school has the support we need from the Catholic Schools Office while maintaining strong relationships with each of our supporting and sponsoring parishes. If you are interested you can review the complete governance here, or key points are summarized below:

All Saints is a regional Catholic school, sponsored by multiple parishes in the area.

The pastors of the four sponsoring parishes (St. Elizabeth Seton, St. Margaret Mary, St. Thomas the Apostle, and Our Lady of Mercy) sit on the Executive Board, along with the Diocesan CFO and the Superintendent. Holy Spirit Catholic Community is a supporting parish of All Saints. Holy Spirit families will continue to be eligible for in-parish tuition rates, but the parish has not agreed to governance responsibilities at this time.

The School Board will now be referred to as the Board of Directors. A key responsibility of each sponsoring pastor is to appoint two members to the Board of Directors from the parish; preferably, one from the Parish Council or Finance Council and one who is a parent of a current school family (determined after consultation with the Principal). The Board will also include one or three at-large members, who may be school parents or members of the local community.

The Board has three main areas of responsibility:

Planning: ensure the school mission is being lived, support the school's marketing and recruitment efforts, recommend the implementation of any capital campaigns and capital projects, and maintain a long-range strategic plan.
Policy Development: recommend administrative policies consistent with Diocesan policies, periodically review the Board Constitution, provide review and oversight of the implementation of school policies, and establish policies for use of the grounds and buildings
Financial responsibilities: develop an annual budget for the school and oversee general financial matters of the school.
Board members serve on one of the three existing committees: Marketing, Catholic Identity & Diversity, or Finance & Facilities.

As we look forward to next year, please prayerfully consider how you are being called to share your time, talent, or treasure with All Saints. We hope to soon be able to welcome volunteers back into our building, but we are also looking for parents to step into more official volunteer roles such as the School Board of Directors, Committees, and All Saints Parent Association (ASPA).

If you are interested in the Board of Directors, please contact me or your pastor. Board members serve in an advisory capacity in the areas described above. They are integral to the success of the school in the committee roles that they hold and perform, and in their enthusiastic support of school administration and the greater school community. Historically, both board and committee meetings have been held monthly throughout the school year, and a multi-year commitment is expected.

If you are interested in learning more about our committees or ASPA, please click here for more information. Thank you for your consideration!

If you are having a “staycation” next week, consider spending some time at the DuPage Children’s Museum, either in person or virtually. Explore, create, build, wonder, discover, think, play, learn, and GET THE WIGGLES OUT – DuPage Children's Museum is now booking Private Play Time through Spring Break! The Museum has been divided into two separate play experiences – each offers exclusive access to select exhibits for your small group of up to 10 children and adults. Click here to learn more and book your Private Play Time today! Pre-registration is required. Not ready to visit yet? Turn your place into an exhibit space. Rent one or more of our hands-on portable exhibits to create unique, open-ended learning outcomes at home.

The College of DuPage is offering free GenCyber summer camps to both teachers and students. In addition to the professional development opportunities, the teacher camp also includes a Chromebook and $300 stipend for those that complete the camp. More information can be found at cod.edu/gencyber.

The Catholic Conference of Illinois and Bishop Hicks are calling us to act on a very important issue. Bills have been introduced before the Illinois General Assembly to repeal Illinois Parental Notice of Abortion Act. They are House Bill 1797 and Senate Bill 2190. The Parental Notice of Abortion Act requires that when a minor girl seeks to have an abortion, a parent or guardian is notified 48 hours before the procedure. The obvious hope of the law is that parents, by their deep love and moral obligation, will act to protect, support, and guide their children. In every other facet of life, we are taught – and we teach – that parental involvement is key to the child’s best interest.

Visit the Catholic Conference of Illinois website – www.ilcatholic.org – scroll nearly to the bottom of the homepage, click on “Find Your Legislator” and input the asked-for information. Doing this will identify one’s state elected officials, and simply clicking on their names will provide the contact information. Please consider contacting your legislators about this!

For Thankful Thursday this week, we would like to recognize Buck Services, one of our past DDA sponsors and one of our greatest allies over the past year. The Buck Services team provides maintenance and cleaning services. They have been instrumental in keeping our school clean and safe each day, and we are incredibly grateful for their continued support!

Lastly, I’d like to recognize the following students who received Saintly Acts over the last two weeks: Hope L. (2nd grade), Andrew W. (2nd grade), Will P. (5th grade), Natalie S. (4th grade), Avery S. (4th grade), Rebekah P. (4th grade), Averie N. (3rd grade), Norah G. (3rd grade), Melissa O. (3rd grade), Gio Q. (3rd grade), Alex I. (8th grade), Gavin M. (7th grade), Tim W. (7th grade), Dean F. (7th grade), Nathan G. (7th grade), Mary F. (7th grade), Lola K. (8th grade), Lauren T. (8th grade), Zach W. (3rd grade), Hudson C. (3rd grade), Allison C. (5th grade), Savanna M. (5th grade), Kaydence F. (5th grade), Will G. (1st grade), Finn M. (1st grade), Katie H. (3rd grade), Zayna A. (3rd grade), Rhett S. (4th grade), Atene D. (4th grade), Rose T. (4th grade), Luke B. (Kindegarten), and Tallula M. (4th grade). Way to go, boys and girls!