Principal's Blog

The House Will Soon be Open

2012-02-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

Hello folks,

The next big event for La Salette is our Open House on Sunday, February 26th, from 11 am - 2 pm. Like last year, this event is critical to our success moving forward. Also like last year, I expect a great turnout.

Last year. Yes, our February 2011 Open House was extremely well attended. In case you forgot why, here is an excerpt from last year's post-Open House blog:

57% of our guests attended because of "word of mouth"- meaning somebody, somewhere said something to them about La Salette. That's why I was so adamant in asking my parents to spread the word. This method will unquestioningly produce the best results. 33% of our guests attended thanks to Al Gore. That internet thing he invented paid huge dividends. Our website brought people in, our open house being listed on various online directories brought people in (e.g. Patch.com), and email blasts brought people in. The remaining 10% said they were parishioners or Berkley residents that saw the open house signs on Coolidge. 0% said they came because of a print ad.

Clearly, our parents and alumni are our biggest sales force, followed by the internet. We've got our information on the web in many places already, but we can never have too much of that. The area that we need to continue to push is that "word of mouth" section. At the risk of sounding overly redundant, I really rely on my parents to spread the word because they are the ones that have chosen La Salette, and continue to choose La Salette. The parents are the ones that have stories about caring teachers and a caring community that prospective parents want to hear. They have stories about successes and breakthroughs with their children as a result of our staff. They are the ones, that despite the economy, sacrifice many things to give their children a La Salette education. I am forever indebted to the parents of La Salette, because without them, I would not have a job that a I truly love and care about.

If you'd like copies of the flier, or would like a digital copy to distribute, please use this link.

This year. Last night we had a meeting with some members of PTO that volunteered to be part of this year's Open House committee to work on finalizing our plans. So far, here is a rundown of what Open House will look like:
Alumni tour guides- Current high school students- if you know one, or have one, ask them if they would be interested.

YOUTHSTAFF pancake breakfast - The youth group has a pancake scheduled for that day already, which will be perfect for us- it takes care of our need for hospitality.

A couple students in their respective classrooms- Prospective parents learn a ton about a school by interacting with current students.

All teachers in their classrooms -including extended curriculum teachers.

The Gym - Mr. Gardner will be in there to discuss PE, but we will also use the gym to set up boards for all of our respective groups and organizations.

Multiage videos- I've asked Mr. Saliba to shoot some videos after break of the multiage classes in action to show for prospective parents.

The route- Parents will enter through our main doors and will be greeted by volunteers to sign in and receive a tour guide. The route will then take them throughout the school. The last stop on the tour will be the gym, which people will enter through the east doors. They will leave the gym through the west doors where another table will be set up so they can register on the way out. After that, the guides will lead them down the stairs to the pancake breakfast.

I'm toying with the idea of using our Media Center as mini-stop on the tour with some light refreshments and a few parents to answer any questions that may pop up on the tour.

What we need. We need many volunteers to make this a success. I need parents to handle the welcome table when parents first enter, and the table just before parents head down to the breakfast (and possibly the Media center). I need a few students to be in their classrooms (I'll ask some students to do this- NJHS and Student Council). I also need some more alumni tour guides.

Setup. We are going to have a group cleanup/setup on Saturday, February 25th. The more folks that come to help out, the better the school will look the following day. Besides making things shiny, I'd like to get all of the tables in place, and all of the displays done in the gym on Saturday so Sunday morning is less hectic.

Why La Salette? I'm trying to start a "Why La Salette" campaign for our website and social media. What I'd like are some testimonials from parents on what brought you to La Salette, and why you've chosen to stay here. I'm not looking for a dissertation, just a brief paragraph about why La Salette is special. I'd like to run one or two a day leading up to Open House on our website, Facebook, and Twitter. I already have the first one and am currently working with our web guy on the formatting for the site. Once it's up, I'll send out a notification so everyone can check it out, as well as Tweet it, and I'll ask Jenn Paprocki to Facebook it. If this is something you'd like to do, please email it to me.

Other stuff:

Confirmation. Confirmation is Saturday, February 18th, at 5 pm Mass. Congratulations to all candidates on this very blessed occasion.

Homecoming. Homecoming is Sunday, February 19th. The schedule for team introductions is being finalized, but please come out to support all of our winter sports teams. The first game begins at 1, and the last game begins at 7.

Break! Enjoy the week off!

Mr. Terbrack

Catholic Schools Week Review

2012-02-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

[Editor's Note: Sorry for the delay- it took longer to gather pictures than originally anticipated. In return for your patience you won't have to read any blog drivel... until Friday]

The story of Catholic Schools Week 2012:

Monday: Kickoff With Brother Al and Science Demonstrations

Brother Al

Brother Al plays the guitar

I can walk on liquid!

Oh wait... no I can't. Fail.

I can stand on eggs though!

Tuesday: Grandparents/VIP Day and Bingo

Great shot- who wants to take credit for it?

Bingo Callers

We have a good bingo!

See, I told you Mac could be nice...sometimes

For all grandparent/VIP photos: Click HERE

Wednesday: Student vs. Staff basketball game and Pies

The staff dominated the students

Yummy

Thursday: Spelling Bee and Pajama Day

Spelling Bee champ Karon Heath with
runner-up Lizzy Uhlarik

Spelling Bee champ Zeke Bowker with
runner-up Kendall Hall

Searchlight PJs

Very comfortable gentleman

Friday: Mission Fair

Courtesy of Jim Saliba

Madison working on her putting stroke

Rump shaker

Mrs. Fabian and Ms. Labara enjoying corn dogs and pretzels

Cool kids

Playing Wii

We do not endorse playing with guns

Coach Sermo might want to work on the follow-through

Still don't endorse that

Complete Mission Fair Album HERE

We raised $700 for Brother Al and his Franciscan ministries during C.S.W. 2012!

Great job students!

Yay for Catholic Schools Week? or !

2012-01-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday-

It's probably a bad sign when a blog begins with an explanation of its title. Oh well.

I'm not exactly sure which term best describes my feelings, so I'll use two and you can choose whichever you prefer: juxtaposition or dichotomy. In the interest of this blog not repeating itself year after year, I will point you to last year's post Catholic Schools Week blog in which I first experienced Catholic Schools Week from the perspective of an administrator. Admittedly, after re-reading that post I do seem to be getting a bit crotchety in my advanced age and appear to be rapidly approaching the "Get off my lawn!" phase of life. However, it's Friday, and I'm in a good mood today so my pre-Catholic Schools Week excitement meter is firmly at "tepid" as opposed to "giant rock rolling down a hill and my legs are broken."

Of course, other than the students having a enjoyable week, Catholic Schools Week at La Salette is about raising money for a worthy cause, and this year we have chosen Brother Al and all the ministries that he and his Franciscan brothers perform. Brother Al lives across from the Church in the former Loyola House, now Song and Spirit Institute for Peace, which serves as his base of operations. To learn more about Brother Al and all of the wonderful things he is involved in, check out his website. Brother Al will kick off Catholic Schools Week on Monday morning by talking to the kids about what he does and how the money we raise will help those in need.

As for the the Catholic Schools Week schedule:

Monday. Mix and match/crazy hair day. Kickoff with Brother Al at 8:45 am. After the kickoff, Mrs. Boura will be leading some science demonstrations in the gym. While I do not know exactly what she has planned, I was asked if I would be her guinea pig and told that I needed to wear shorts and no shoes (quite inauspicious). I've heard talk of me walking on eggs and walking through some sort of goo that I may, or may not, sink into. After the all school science demonstration/Mr. Terbrack harassment, each teacher will have their own science "make and takes" down in the cafeteria. The final activity on Monday will be a nacho fundraiser at lunch for $1.

Tuesday. School uniform. We invite all of the grandparents and other very important people to La Salette. The event begins with hospitality in the morning, beginning at 8 am, followed by our school Mass at 8:45. Immediately following Mass we will announce our 2nd quarter academic awards. At 10:30, student council will lead a few games of bingo leading up to lunch with grandparents and other important people (Granparents/VIPs can only take their students out to lunch. For safety reasons, I cannot allow a student to leave campus with anyone other than their grandparent/VIP)

Wednesday. Spirit wear. Movie day in the morning. The afternoon features two crowd favorites: academy vs. staff basketball game (2 pm) and Lighthouses throwing pies at my face (after the game)!

Thursday. Pennies for pajamas. Students need to bring in at least 100 pennies (or equivalent) to wear pajamas. And yes, I am getting a lot of pressure to wear mine (already well documented). I guess I'll have to see if I can scrape up100 pennies. We also have the school spelling bees in the morning (older Searchlights and most Lighthouses at 8:45 and oldest Lighthouses through Academy at 10 am). In the afternoon we have the Read-a-Thon (beginning at 2) and possible performances and adaptions of favorite books.

Friday. Class shirts and jeans. In the morning we will take an all school picture, but the afternoon is the main attraction: The "Kids Who Care Mission Fair." The Mission Fair will be slightly altered this year in terms of prizes (sorry, you can no longer clean out your old toys and dump them on us!), but we'll have some new games and other exciting activities for the kids. We need parent volunteers to run the games so teachers can be moving around monitoring the students. We also need some donations of baked goods for the "Sweet Shuffle." This a great way to earn service hours, but it's also a great day to watch your kids have some well deserved fun. We are asking for $5 minimum donation to get a ticket to the Mission Fair (the Mission Fair is our major fundraiser of the week for Brother Al).

So that's the plan.

Pre-Catholic Schools Week event. Every year during Catholic Schools Week, the Archdiocese of Detroit holds a Catholic Schools Week Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral for all of the schools in the diocese. This year, that Mass was held before Catholic Schools Week this past Tuesday. Mrs. Boura and I took 9 students with us this year: Emma Beaudoin, Luke Bowker, Julia Burbidge (Julia represented La Salette by altar serving at the Mass), Autumn Washington, Kordell Smith, Adriana Prakken, Issy Smith, Nick Uhlarik, and Tess Youmans. Archbishop Vigneron presided over the Mass and our very own Deacon Dan Darga assisted Archbishop Vigneron during the Mass. La Salette was well represented at this event and our students even had the opportunity (thanks to influence of Deacon Dan) to pose for a photo with the Archbishop:

Not pictured: Mrs. Boura

Unfortunately, there was a mass of students trying to get pictures and we were not equipped a camera. Luckily we had cell phones, but we had a student at another school take the picture, which is why we're missing part of Deacon Dan and Kordell, and why Mrs. Boura is not pictured. Following the Mass, Deacon Dan was gracious enough to take all of us to lunch and the waitress commented on how well behaved our students were. I think sometimes we take for granted the quality of student that we have at La Salette and it's nice to be reminded that not all students behave as well as ours, and that's a credit to our parents and teachers.

Miscellaneous Department:

Winterfest. This Saturday is the 2nd annual Berkley Winterfest, taking place at the Community Center from 10 am- 9 pm. Like the rest of our "winter" has been, it doesn't look like snow will be in the forecast. However, there are still of events and activities to participate in, and La Salette is a presenting sponsor of this event. With our Open House coming up on February 26th, this is a great opportunity to get out into the community to talk up our school and parish. Please stop by the La Salette table as you wander through Winterfest and if you see anyone looking at the flier, please feel free to tell them why you chose La Salette.

The Prince is here. In case you live under a rock, my Detroit Tigers signed Prince Fielder!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait for April 5th (Opening Day)! Best part of this signing other than Prince himself? No more Inge at 3rd! I am what you call a Brandon Inge hater (the opposite of my mother who is an irrational Brandon Inge lover) I know he does things for the community and that's great. But as a baseball player making 4 million dollars, he does nothing for me. I will not miss his overrated play at third base or .165 batting average. He can now take his rightful position on the bench as a super utility player- a role that I think suits him perfectly. World Series, here we come!

Open House. February 26h from 10:30 am - 2:00 pm. I had a chance to discuss some ideas for Open House with parents at PTO last night and we got a great start. We'll meet again specifically to discuss Open House on February 9th at 6 pm. Last year we had our most successful Open House in a long time because of all the work our parents did in promoting the event. I'd like that same support this year. Don't be afraid to tell people why you chose La Salette and why you continue to choose La Salette for your children's education. Much more on this in the future.

On the horizon:

-Winter break is quickly approaching! February 13th- 17th

Have a great weekend,

Mr. T.

Halfway Home

2012-01-20T12:49:00.000-08:00

Hello Bloggies,

Today marks the official halfway point of the school year and seems like a good time to reflect and assess the significant changes that were made this school year: the multiage program and standards based grading. In general terms, I believe this has been a very successful school year. Sure, I'm the principal, and failure is an obvious indictment of my abilities to lead La Salette, but trying to be as objective as possible, I still believe this has been a tremendous year for our school because of the work of our teachers. The multiage and standards based transitions have been most difficult on them because it was like the first year of teaching all over again. Most of the paradigms they were used to completely changed and the teachers did a miraculous job of assimilating relatively quickly.

As an added bonus, if you make it to the end of this post you will be rewarded with a nice photo of me that may already be circling the realm of Satan (aka Facebook).

Multiage? Yes, multiage. No doubt the biggest change at La Salette this year was the transition from the traditional graded classrooms in the elementary school to the more innovative, pedagogically based multiage system. We grouped our former kindergarten through second grade classes into one super class of Searchlights under the guidance of Mrs. Fabian and Mrs. Barczyk. Similarly, our former third through fifth grade classrooms combined to form our Lighthouses, with Mrs. Giasson and Ms. Labara at the helm.

Instead of rehashing why we made that change (if you'd like to go back over those reasons, check out this blog post), I'd like to look at when the program officially started to where we are now. From the parent meeting last year outlining the changes through the summer, I received a number of emails, phone calls, and visits asking questions about the specifics of the multiage program at La Salette and why I was so confident that it would be successful. I answered the questions as best as I could and pointed to all the research on the subject that was wildly positive. I had many parents that were still quite skeptical and a number of them said, "well, I guess we'll try it and if we don't like we'll leave at the end of the quarter." To me, that was fair enough. I understand the impact of education on a child's life, and as a parent, I would have the same exact concerns if my daughters were at school making such a drastic change. Once the school year began, there were more questions that needed to be answered, especially relating to the youngest and oldest students in each respective multiage classroom. [In in the interest of complete transparency, we did lose a few students the first week of school. In my opinion, that may have been a knee-jerk reaction, but every parent has the right to do what they believe is best for their child. I'll also say that we've had new students register since the school year began specifically for the multiage program.] I held multiage update nights with parents from each class in November and was very happy with the response. Sure there were some things about homework and planners that we changed, but the overall philosophy of the program and the social advantages were already becoming obvious.

I've reached out to many parents that were initially skeptical (the same parents that said they would give it until the first quarter to decide if they would stay) and all responses were positive. To me, that is one of the biggest indicators of success. As long as my parents are happy with the Christ-centered education that their children are getting, I'm happy.

Below standard grading. The other major change was the move to standards based grading. Again, I'm not going to discuss why that change was made (if you would like to go over that again, please read here)- instead, I'm going to look at the feedback that I've received from parents. To be perfectly honest, I have yet to hear anything negative with regard to SBG (standards based grading). The old method of grading wasn't necessarily bad, it just didn't paint the entire picture for parents, teachers, or high schools. SBG answers the most important question with the utmost clarity: Is my student learning the material he/she is supposed to be learning? With our new system, that answer is obvious. Each standard is listed and assessed individually in EVERY class (including extended-curriculum classes) and students don't progress to the next standards until they reach the level of proficiency. This is the only way to insure that our students are not (for lack of a better) left behind [Editor's note: This is not an endorsement of the federal "No Child Left Behind" legislation, just an ironic coincidence]. The SBG change was implemented school wide which put additional strain on all teachers, but again, they persevered in spite of a principal who likes to make changes knowing that it will be difficult for the staff.

Money? We even have a little bit of that! Finances this year are in much better shape. Parents are paying, usually on-time, and our restructured budget is paying dividends (economic pun). Yes there are still some stragglers, but we are in vastly better shape right now than we were at this point last year. *** Also, whenever you remit payment, please put your student's name on it so we can credit the correct account!***

SO??? Back to the main point: have the changes made been good for La Salette? I given you my thoughts. What do you think? [Editor's Note: This is not just a rhetorical question- email me with your thoughts. We can always be better].

Wi-Fi. We have some! We've had wi-fi in my office and the media center, but as of today, we have wi-fi coverage in the entire Academy. For now, only teachers have access as I need to do some server maintenance and update our list of blocked sites before I allow the students access. Incidentally, we have an updated Technology Acceptable Use Policy that students will have to sign before they get access. There are a number educational uses for handheld devices (i.e. tablets) that we can leverage with this updated technology.

Chili dinner. Tonight from 5-8 pm in the Landry Center to help offset the boiler repairs from earlier this year. This event is sponsored by the Parish Pastoral Council and Finance Council.

Winterfest. January 28th beginning at 10 am at the Berkley Community Center. La Salette is a presenting sponsor so come out and support our school and local community!

Big payoff. So you've made it to the end (or just scrolled down to the bottom). As promised here is me and my little ladies in very comfy nighttime gear. Enjoy.

Ready for bed!

And, yes, I know how to hold a baby. Emma is just arching her back to display some early acrobatic skills.

Enjoy the weekend!

Mr. T

Reflecting on Dreams

2012-01-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hello La Salette Blog Readers,

There are only three people in U.S history that are honored by their own day- George Washington, Christopher Columbus, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

I cannot tell a lie. Poor George's day has been usurped by every other president and is colloquially referred to simply as "President's Day," but it was originally created to honor Mr. Washington and is still observed close to his actual birth date of Feb. 22. Being a war hero in the Revolutionary War and subsequently being the first constitutional president of the country certainly qualifies him for a day of honor. I'll let his day stand.

United States of Colombia. This one I have a beef with. I'm aware of Columbus's contributions in "discovering" the Americas, even though he didn't. "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue" is ingrained into our students lexicon. However, in the year of our Lord 1492, Mr. Columbus did not even sniff these here United States. In fact, the furthest West he ever got was Hispaniola (now the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and in reality Leif Ericson was there before him. Columbus was the first European to establish a colony in the Caribbean, and when I say establish a colony, I mean pillage the inhabitants already there- the so called "Indians" because he believed he was in the Indies. Since they didn't have Google Maps in the 15 century, I'll permit the whole Indies versus new continent gaffe. However, I draw the line at murdering natives. Finally, the guy never set foot in what is now the United States, hence the name America, after Amerigo Vespucci, and not Colombia. We need a Vespucci day more than we need a Columbus day.

Dreaming of La Salette? That brings us to a man that is truly deserving of having a national day of honor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King's actual birthday is January 15th, but he is honored every third Monday in January due to a Federal Uniform Holiday bill. While I'm not going to give a complete history on all that Dr. King did for this country, I want to reflect on his impact at La Salette. This morning, I played a portion of his "I have a Dream" speech over the loud speaker for all students to hear, because I firmly believe that La Salette is an example of some of his dream realized, specifically this part:

"I have a dream that little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

[Editor's Note: The following is not meant to say that other Catholic schools in the area discriminate in any way- simply pointing out something that makes us special].

At La Salette, we truly celebrate diversity and I am proud to say that. I know that other Catholic elementary schools in the area do not have the same amount of diversity that we do at La Salette and this is a great benefit to all of our students. Our students don't think in terms of black and white or Catholic and not Catholic- we are simply Broncos. Getting to that point is what I believe Dr. King was hoping for throughout the United States. Sadly, there are still some people in the country holding on to archaic beliefs born of hate and fear, but luckily, our students don't have to worry about that. I've preached about La Salette being a community before, but as we prepare to honor Dr. King on Monday, I'm going to do it again. We are a Catholic school, and our Catholic identity is the reason we operate. But that does not mean we aren't accepting of all religions. We don't preach tolerance of races, religious beliefs, cultural beliefs, or anything. We preach the loving acceptance of all, just as Jesus taught us to do. Our students demonstrate this. Our teachers demonstrate this. Our parents demonstrate this. Our parish demonstrates this. In a very simplistic way, I think Dr. King would be proud of La Salette (as well as all schools like us) and the messages we teach and model to our students. Please take some time on Monday to talk with your students about why they do not have school and the heroic work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Catholic Schools Week. The teachers and I met last Wednesday to map out our Catholic Schools Week activities for 2012. The motto this year is "Faith. Academics. Service." I find it ironic that "academics" is highlighted only because the week of January 30 - Feb. 3 is not exactly conducive to academics due to the myriad of events taking place during the week... but the rest of the year it applies. While the final schedule is not 1000% complete, I can tell you about a couple events that are official: The student versus staff basketball game will take place Wednesday afternoon and throwing pies at my face will immediately follow the game. Also, grandparents Day will again be held on Tuesday of that week, so please get the word out to all grandparents to clear their schedules for the 31st.

Winter? At least today felt like a normal January day. These poor students are begging for some real snow.

Snow infant

Students worked together today to get every ounce of snow they could to build this snow infant (not enough snow to build an actual man). The stick used for an arm is actually as tall as the entire snow person (12 inches in height). Hopefully the kids will get at least one real snow fall before Opening Day.

Coming Up

Halfway home. The second quarter officially ends on January 20th, and report cards go out January 27th. That signals the halfway point of the year and means summer is right around the corner.

Awards. Second quarter awards will be given out after the Grandparent's Day school Mass on January 31st. Please come out to celebrate all of our students' accomplishments.

Winterfest. Berkley's 2nd Annual Winterfest takes place on Saturday, January 28th beginning at 10 am and ending at 9 pm. The Boosters have been gracious enough to donate money to be a presenting sponsor of Winterfest, just as they were last year. That means that La Salette will have a strong presence in the community that day and our logo will plastered all around, including on the official Winterfest t-shirts. We will also have a booth set up in the ice arena with some literature on hand. Last year's Winterfest was extremely well attended, and even more people are expected this year. Some events that day include: a winter petting farm, craft show, snowman building contest, children's crafts and activities, broomball, kickball, a bonfire with s'mores, turkey bowling, a Berkley Varsity hockey game, open skating, and much more. Bring your family out to enjoy some winter (hopefully) fun and represent our school at the same time!
For more information, click here.

Open House. Open House is tentatively scheduled for February 26th (Sunday) from 11 am- 2:30 pm. There will be more information to follow, but please keep the date open as we will need many volunteers (great time to finish up those service hours!). We will also discuss Open House more in-depth at January's PTO meeting.

Comfy duckies. In case you forgot or didn't read the blog last week, click here for a picture of the surprise gift that was left in my office. I can say (and my wife can verify) that I wore the sleeper last Friday night and was super comfortable. While there were only a few comments on the blog (because people aren't registered- you only have to have a gmail account to comment), I did receive a number of emails expressing interest in seeing a picture of me in my duckies, so I will oblige in next week's blog (that's a teaser to get good readership next week!)

That's all for now,

Mr. T

Goodbye 2011. Welcome 2012!

2012-01-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

I trust that everyone had a wonderful holiday break (albeit seemingly quite short). It's been a few weeks since my last real blog (not discounting Emma, but there wasn't much in the way of content on the 17th) and I have a number of updates and upcoming events to discuss.

Breakfast With Santa. A huge thank you to Gilda Wachowiak and her crew for Breakfast With Santa. The event was extremely well attended and everyone had a chance to sit and talk with the big man. Even though Breakfast With Santa takes place at La Salette, it truly is a community wide event and this year's attendance clearly demonstrated that.

This cute young lady will require years of therapy.

Christmas Program. I want to thank Mrs. Feeny again for the job that she did in preparing our students for the Christmas program. We come to these things every year but I'm not sure that we truly appreciate the amount of effort that it takes to coordinate this event. We've been blessed the past couple of years with teachers that really care about the program (Mr. Schulz last year and now Mrs. Feeny) and I hope that Mrs. Feeny will stay with us in the future. Of course, putting on a good Christmas program raises the expectations for the Spring program, but I'm sure Mrs. Feeny and Mr. Reutter will not disappoint us! I also want to thank Claudia Saliba for organizing the parish Nativity play and Bob Doppel for providing the music and narration. I'm especially fond of the grand finale that saw the entire school sing together in a show of La Salette pride. If anyone has any pictures from the concert, please send them to me- I'd like to put some on our website and Mrs. Feeny would like some for the bulletin board.

Heat? Yes, we have it. The repairs to the heater in the gym are finally complete! There were a number of issues that needed to be fixed, but the biggest one was a new circuit board that had to be specially ordered, which created the delay. It did cost around $2300 to fix, but at least our maintenance staff won't have to climb up to the top of school anymore to keep firing it up. Sadly, this means we will lose our home-court advantage as other teams were not equipped to deal with La Salette's Frozen Tundra (move over Lambeau), but I think our coaches will be happy to spend a few extra minutes game planning and few less minutes shivering.

Checkpoint Number 4. In a previous blog I mentioned that I was going to sit down with Deacon Dan and Gabe to get an up-to-date picture on our tuition thus far. I'm pleased to say that we are doing much better than past years and I appreciate the efforts to stay current. That being said, there a few families that are behind and if payment is not remitted before the end of the 2nd quarter (January 20th), students will not be permitted to return. These families will be receiving a phone call from me, as well as a letter to Deacon Dan detailing what needs to be done to fix the situation.

Somebody has a good memory. In my February 4th blog, I half-jokingly wrote the following:

Before I forget, there was something wonderful that came out of Catholic Schools Week. I found out that Target sells adult-sized feety pajamas, or blanket sleepers- you know, the kind that zips all the way up. My daughter wears one every night and looks super comfortable. I will get one of those. I may even wear it to school. I’m very excited!

When I came into my office today (I was out battling flu-like symptoms yesterday), this was on my table:

The note says: "As per 2/4/11 blog request! Enjoy!" Now, there is no name on the note so I don't know who to thank, but if I get enough comments (like 10) asking for a picture of me wearing it, I will oblige.

Latchkey drop off. It has come to my attention that some students are not coming to latchkey until after 3:45. I'm not sure how or why this is occurring, but it cannot continue. If a student is attending latchkey, he or she must be signed in by 3:45, unless the student is attending after school tutoring (and I already know who those students are). Latchkey is service that we provide to parents that cannot pick their student up right after school- it is not a babysitting service that kids can drop in and out of. We take the responsibility of watching after these children, and if they are not there right after school I cannot let them into latchkey because we do not know where they were. It is a safety issue for the students and liability issue for us (the same goes for after practices- students cannot return to latchkey after practice because we have no way to monitor that they actually were there).

Coming Up

Booster hospitality. The Boosters are hosting hospitality this weekend and are looking for some volunteers. This message was sent out yesterday via JupiterGrades:

This coming weekend (1/7-1/8) is hospitality at OLLS hosted by the Boosters! I would like to reach out to all of you to see if you can help support this effort.
The way it works is we need to have coffee, punch and treats set up after every mass - 5pm, 9:30 and 11:30am. We will need to supply the treats (as a group) and the punch. This is a general time line we need to fill:

5:00 Mass:
General Set Up*:
Punch + Coffee set up:
Treats:
Greet after mass:
*We will want to put up any display boards we have!
9:30
Punch + Coffee set up:
Treats:
Greet after mass:
11:30
Punch + Coffee (Refresh):
Treats:
Greet after mass:
(to include clean up)

I assume that you will get Booster service hours for this, as well as school service hours.

Who doesn't like chili? On January 20th, the Parish Council and Finance Council will be hosting a chili dinner in a continued effort to raise money for the boiler that was repaired earlier this year. Here is more information from the councils:

Our Cookie walk was a great success! With the help of bakers and buyers we netted
over $1,400 for the boiler repairs. Thanks to everyone who donated cookies. We had a beautiful selection. A special thank you goes out to all of the helpers. Many hands made
light work.
Our next fundraiser for the repairs is the CHILI DINNER. On January 20, 2012 we will hold a CHILI DINNER over in the Fr. Landry Center. This dinner is sponsored by the Parish Pastoral Council and the Finance Council. Dinner will be from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The menu will feature chili -meat and meatless, macaroni and cheese, salad, cornbread, and dessert. The price will be $20 for a family of 4, $7 for an adult, and $5 for
children 12 and under. Come and warm yourself up with a great dinner surrounded by family
and friends of La Salette. If you have any questions, please contact the parish office. See you there!

MLK Day. Please remember that there is no school on Monday, January 16th in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Catholic Schools Week. Catholic Schools Week is quickly approaching (January 29th - February 5th). Stay tuned for more information... I can say definitively that the pie tossing for the Lighthouses and special guests will take place during that week (and yes, I know I said before Christmas but things got a little hectic there so I pushed it back. Don't worry, it will not be pushed back again)

Have a great weekend!

- Mr. Terbrack

Happy Birthday!

2011-12-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

[Editor's Note: Gratuitously self-serving]

Welcome to the La Salette family Emma Kate Terbrack!

Born 12/16/11
8 lbs, 9 oz.
20 inches long

Baby and mommy are happy and healthy.

That is all.

Mr. Terbrack

Run Zeke Run!

2011-12-09T10:15:00.001-08:00

Happy Friday Folks-

We have many great athletes at La Salette, but one in particular is going to be highlighted today for his exemplary accomplishments: 6th grader, Zeke Bowker. Zeke is not with us in school today because is busy preparing to run in tomorrow's 2011 USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Zeke is happy (File Footage)

Click on the image for more details

The USATF's Junior Olympic Program is made up of 57 developmental meets throughout the country followed by 15 Regional Championships. Zeke earned the right to participate in the Championship after placing 2nd in the State Meet and 5th in the Midwest Regionals (the top 10 qualify). After witnessing the display he put on during the Hramiec Run this year, his success is not a shock to me. If I recall correctly, he was finishing up his 35th lap while I was on my second. Not only is he an excellent cross country runner (member of our CYO Championship squad this year), but he is also our student council treasurer and a great ambassador for La Salette. Tonight, all 3,000 athletes participating in the Junior Olympics will gather for the Opening Ceremonies and the Championship will be tomorrow at 11:30 am. The entire La Salette family is supporting him and we wish him luck in Saturday's meet! Congratulations Zeke!

Uniforms. I must be getting soft in my old age. I'm beginning to see more and more students out of dress code and I don't know why. The biggest culprit: Academy students. Apparently the older students get, the more they think they don't have to follow rules. I see shirts untucked, sweatshirts, tennis shoes, no belts, egregious gym uniform violations, and a number of other dress code infractions that need to be reigned in. Students that violate the dress code will now receive an immediate lunch service hour (if after lunch he/she will serve it the following day) as well as an after school service hour (Tuesdays from 3:30-4:15). I just don't understand why it is so hard to follow this relatively simple rule. I have visited other schools in the AOD and I have to admit that I really don't see this problem anywhere else. It is simply about the students taking pride in their school. I especially cringe on days when we take field trips because perception is very important. Our students are walking billboards and I don't want the billboard to read "Our Lady of La Salette is a sloppy school." Additionally, students that are out of uniform on gym days will no longer be permitted to participate that day, which will negatively impact their ability to be assessed.

Iowa Assessments. The Iowa Assessment scores came in this week. However, the AOD has hired a new service to report these scores which no longer come in paper form. All of the results and accompanying data are completely digital. While nice for the environment, this has created a whole new set of problems because I have to figure out how to run reports for parents- rest assured, you will be receiving a printout of your child's scores, I just have to figure out what to print. The scores will also be accompanied by a letter from the AOD discussing the impact of the changes to this year's assessments (refer back to Running With Mrs. Hramiec for more Iowa information).

Progress Reports. Progress reports go home today. Just like the report cards, these are in the standards-based format. As usual, nothing goes as smoothly as I would like. While the extended curriculum classes now have standards, due to Thanksgiving and various field trips, not all extended curriculum teachers have had an opportunity to summatively assess the students. Without an assessment, the standards do not show up on the reports. This does not mean that they are not assessing or using objectives; it just means they have not had adequate time in class to properly assess each standard. If you have questions on how your child is doing in any of these classes, please directly email the teacher (you can find all of their email addresses here). I will also create a document with the standards that students are currently working on in each extended curriculum class and link them to the website so you'll at least know what students are doing in each respective extended curriculum class.

Not All Students Will be Receiving their Progress Report. As I've mentioned previously on the blog (and from the invoices that you've received), there are a number of families with outstanding latchkey fees that have still not been taken care of. Instead of a progress report, you are receiving a letter and another invoice stating that JupiterGrade access has been cut-off and that your child cannot attend latchkey until the balance has been paid (these are only for excessive amounts past due). Others are receiving progress reports along with a letter for minimal amounts past due. Please take care of these balances as soon as possible.

Checkpoint Number 3. In keeping with the financials, we have reached our third tuition checkpoint of the year. I have a meeting with Deacon Dan and Gabe next week to see where everyone is in terms of tuition. I'm very happy to say that our families are doing a much better job this year of staying current with tuition, but there are a few exceptions. In those few cases, a letter will be sent home next week stating that your tuition has fallen behind and that it needs to be taken care of by the end of the 2nd quarter or your child will not be able to return. Again, I want to emphasize that we are in MUCH better shape than last year and I want thank our families for their attention to tuition.

Breakfast With Santa. At long last last, the man in the red suit will be visiting us this Saturday from 9 am - noon. Many of our students had an opportunity to visit with Santa at the Berkley Holiday Parade last Saturday (which we had a great turnout for!) but I cannot emphasize enough that Santa is getting up there in age. He needs as many reminders as possible about what our children want for Christmas, so you'd better show up Saturday to be sure there is no confusion. Additionally, Gilda and her crew are finalizing the decorations today after school and can always use some extra help.

Christmas Concert Reminder. If you haven't already done so, mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 20th at 6:30 pm. This will be our annual Christmas Concert and this year it will include the parish Christmas play (students from the school and religious education come together to perform the play) in the middle. This night truly gets everyone into the Christmas spirit and the students love performing for their families (most of them...some preschoolers aren't as excited about getting up in front of a crowd, but that's one of the most entertaining parts of the evening!)

January Lunch Menus. January lunch menus are due by next Tuesday, December 13th. If you can't find your menu, you can print one here.

[Editor's Note I: I'm trying out a new format. Let me know what you think in the comments section.]

[Editor's Note II: My wife is due next Friday, so there may not be a blog next week. Don't fret, I'll try to work one more in before Christmas... between diapers, feedings, frantically trying to finish the addition, and Addison]

Enjoy Breakfast With Santa!

Mr. Terbrack

'Tis the Season to be Volunteery, Fa La La La La

2011-12-02T08:43:00.001-08:00

Hello again folks-

In case you were not aware, we have officially entered the season of giving, so naturally, I'm looking for some gifts. However, not the kind of gift you may be thinking of (although those gifts are perfectly acceptable as well)- instead I'm asking you to give some of your time to La Salette this holiday season. As if you don't already have enough to do this month, we have a number of events in which we are in need of volunteers. Believe me, I realize how difficult it is to find some spare time, but I ask that you thoughtfully look over the following list of events and help out when possible (remember, it's for the kids!).

Berkley Holiday Parade:
The parade is this Saturday beginning at 5:45 pm, but if you'd like to participate we need you to meet at 3281 Bacon (look for the La Salette float) at 5:15 pm. I want La Salette to have the biggest contingent of supporters in the parade, so I need your help. As an added incentive, if you participate in the parade, I'll give you a school service hour. Santa will be on hand at the parade to receive the very important key to the city (to access Berkley chimneys for present dissemination) and to do some reconnaissance work to make sure he knows what the children want. It would be wise for children to visit with Santa multiple times to be sure he has an accurate list and the parade and Breakfast With Santa (December 10th) provide great opportunities.

Santa Shop:
I have already documented a couple of times how much students enjoy having the autonomy to pick out and buy their own presents for people, but if we don't have volunteers to work at the shop, the students won't be able to. We are in desperate need of volunteers during the school day on Tuesday Dec. 6th and Wednesday December 7th. There is a signup sheet in the main office, or contact Gail Washington at gwashin1@hfhs.org or Pam Smith at luckypals1@aol.com for more information.

Christmas Tree Lot:
Even though I have already purchased my tree from the lot, many others have not. This is the Booster's largest fundraiser which supports all of our athletic offerings at La Salette. The next few weeks will be extremely busy at the lot and we will need extra volunteers to accommodate the masses. Much like the Santa Shop, I fondly recall working the lot with my dad when I was a youngster- what kid doesn't like bundling up and running around a bunch of Christmas trees for a couple hours? As an added bonus, working the tree lot earns double service hours (school and Boosters) so it really is a win-win for everyone! The signup sheet for the lot is outside the main office.

Concessions for basketball games:
Basketball season is officially underway and we have home games starting this weekend. Like the tree lot, working concessions/gate for basketball games will also earn double service hours. Since you want to watch your children participate in their events, look to games immediately before or after your children's to work so you don't miss any action.

***IMPORTANT NOTE FROM BOOSTERS***
If you have a uniform from last year that didn't get handed in, please return it ASAP because we are short some uniforms. We are blessed to have two JV and Varsity teams this year and we need all of our uniforms to outfit these squads.

From the not good news department:
Apparently no place is sacred. In the parking lot this morning, one of our parents had their vehicle broken into and a purse stolen. The car was locked, but the assailant smashed the window and grabbed the purse. The incident occurred between 8:00 and 8:15 am. If you saw anyone that you didn't recognize hanging around the parking lot this morning, or saw anything suspicious, please give me a call immediately. While there is never a good time to have a purse stolen, this time of the year has to be the worst. The police are investigating the matter but any information you have is appreciated. The police said that thefts spike in the month of December and that we are certainly not an isolated incident, even in the parking lot of a Catholic school. They also said to be sure not to leave any purses, briefcases, wallets, or anything of value in plain sight in your vehicles anywhere you go (even if they are locked) as perpetrators look for items that can be obtained quickly. Please keep the family in your prayers as they work through this event

Latchkey Payments:
There are number of parents with outstanding latchkey bills. As was stated on your last bill, if these are not paid ASAP, your student will not be able to attend latchkey. I will be sending out letters next week for those of you that have a balance and will no longer be able to send your child to latchkey. With 2nd quarter progress reports next week, latchkey fees or delinquent tuition will result in the withholding of those reports.

Other news and notes:

-There is no school Mass this Tuesday- instead we will attend Mass Thursday (December 8th) to celebrate The Immaculate Conception.
- Progress Reports come out next Friday. The 2nd quarter is always a bit disjointed because of Thanksgiving and Christmas so you will probably not see as many standards on this progress report (especially extended curriculum classes- you will see standards for them, however; unlike the 1st quarter report cards, there will just be fewer standards).
- Breakfast With Santa is next Saturday (Dec. 10) from 9 am - 12 pm. The event is really coming together as the committee is doing a wonderful job.

I'll see everyone at the parade on Saturday!

Mr. Terbrack

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

As Imentioned last week, I’ve whipped up a little Thanksgiving edition of the blog.

[Disclaimer:I cannot list everything that I amthankful/not thankful for because that would be impractical. If I neglect tomention something I should be thankful for but didn’t list, I apologize inadvance- but feel free to leave a comment reminding me)

Things I’m thankful for in 2011

1. My family (I believe there was a time when Imentioned my family as “1a” or “1b” and I will not make that mistake twice):First and foremost, I’m talking about my wife, Jacqueline, my 2 year olddaughter Addison, and soon to be born Daughter #2. But also, we are trulyblessed to have so many family members living so close to us. Both my parentsand Jacqueline’s parents live in Berkley. Two of my sisters and one of mybrothers lives in Berkley. I have two sets of aunts and uncles (and cousins)that live in Berkley. My other brother and his wife live in Clawson. Mygrandparents recently moved back to Michigan from Florida and now reside inWest Bloomfield (my father’s parents are both at home with the Lord, but whenthey were on Earth, they lived in Berkley as well). We have an incrediblesupport system around us and that is something that I am thankful for everyyear.

2. Our Lady of La Salette School and Parish: As alifelong member of this parish and a graduate of this school La Salette willalways hold a special place in my heart. But 2011 provided some unforeseenchallenges to the school, and I’m extremely proud of the way that we haveresponded. We came together to build a great new multiage program that furtherdistinguishes our school and we revamped our funding sources to make the schoolmore self-sufficient. I can report that we have been successful on both frontsas the multiage system is beginning to take off and our budget is in much, much bettershape than at this same time last year. I probably should’ve put this in aseparate category, but the only reason that we had such a great start to thisschool year is the faculty and staff. Not only have the multiage teachers hadto learn and adapt to a brand new system, but all of our staff members(including Mrs. Lockett) continue to go well above and beyond the call of duty.To be honest, I could write a blog every week about what our teachers do thatis not expected of them (and it’s obviously not for the money). They genuinelycare about your students and they care about La Salette and I’m thankful tohave such a dedicated staff.

3. Football teams that have returned from theabyss: Over the past few years, I’ve actually been more stressed out thinkingabout the weekends than I have about the weekdays because I knew that I wasgoing to be exceedingly frustrated. As Lion and Wolverine fan, I threw logicout the window and actually thought both teams were going to win more oftenthan not. Obviously, I was wrong. Matt Millen, Marty Mornhingweg, SteveMariucci, Dick Jauron, and Rod Marinelli made sure that Lions didn’t fail- theysucceeded in becoming the worst franchise in the history of the NFL. RichRodriguez presided over the destruction of the winningest program in collegefootball history. Although he may have been destined to fail because he couldnever win over the fan base, he also seemingly didn’t want to win over (seewhat I did there?) anyone in the Big Ten. He was an offensive genius anddefensive nit-wit. But all of that is no more. Both the Lions and UM arecompetitive once more and I am thankful that my house has not been destroyedover the last few years of incessant losing (I am NOT a good loser).

4. Far less Oprah.

Things Iam NOT thankful for in 2011

1. Home improvement projects: I am notBob Vila, Bob the Builder, Tim Taylor or Handy Manny (I wish I had tools thatworked on their own. And in a recent episode, Manny and the tools built a wholeaddition in the time it takes to sing one song. Showoff.) - but luckily, myfather is. I also am not made of money. These two faults of mine (combined withall of my other faults) have caused the last few months to be extra stressfulon my poor, pregnant, bed-ridden wife. Ifnot for my father (which if you recall, I was thankful for above), my soon-to-be-borndaughter would be living presumably in one of my dresser drawers or on thedining room table, or perhaps more accurately, I would be living on the diningroom table (if my wife allowed me in the house). I wish when I was younger Iactually paid more attention to all of the home improvement projects my dad didaround the house so that I was not quite so incompetent at my own humble abode,but you live and you learn. I hope that this same item does not show up on my2012 and 2013 lists of items that I am NOT thankful for as well, but I fear itmay.

2. Presidential Candidate Debates: Assomeone intrinsically drawn to politics, I find myself watching and reading waytoo much about the 407 candidates campaigning to run against President Obamanext year. It has nothing to do with partisanship- it has everything to do with18 debates and a year of caucuses/primaries- it’s just way too much. Picksomebody and get it over with.

3. Steve Carrell leaving The Office- James Spader is just weird.That show went from “Must See TV” to “I’ll DVR it and watch it when nothingbetter is on.”

4. Economy still not recovering: At somepoint this has to stop. The state cannot cut much more from the budget withoutdevastating cities and schools. And give me back my state-shared revenue (Seealso my 1995 Not Thankful blog about Proposal A).

News andNotes:

- Thanksto a large donation, the Lighthouses (our largest class) have won the GreatTurkey Race and will have the opportunity to throw pies at my face (along withsome special guests).

- TheBerkley Holiday Lights Parade is next Saturday and we need as many students andparents to attend as possible. It is a wonderful night that all enjoy and Iwant La Salette to have a strong presence in the community.

SantaShop is the week following the parade

- Breakfastwith Santa is also quickly approaching on December 10^th. Thecommittee is really doing a fantastic job preparing for the event and I cannotwait to see their efforts pay off.

- Pleasecheck your children’s La Salette wear. With the cold weather here, students aremisplacing sweatshirts and sweatpants, or accidentally taking someone else’s.Please write names on the tags of La Salette wear and check the tags of yourexisting gear to be sure that your child has his/her clothes. Also, on the topic of what children wear to school on gym days, please remember that there is a required gym uniform. If students are not wearing the approved gym wear, they will receive no credit for gym that day along with a service hour.

- JenVan Every forwarded me an interesting article for everyone to take a look atthat discusses the role of parents in the education of a child: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-about-better-parents.html?_r=2&src=tp&smid=fb-share Luckily, at La Salette our parents are already involved, but please feel free to pass the article on to others.

Have awonderful Thanksgiving!

Mr. Terbrack

Commerce, Education, and... Oops.

2011-11-18T07:45:00.001-08:00

That's how I'm feeling today, except I'm not running for leader of the free world. I'm also not trying to remember a very important detail at a nationally televised debate that I've said about a thousand times on previous occasions. In hindsight, I guess that is in no way related to how I'm feeling today- I just don't have any unifying theme for today's blog.

I have blogger's block (+1 for use of alliteration). Maybe it's because my daughter closed a door on my head last night (not really, as in yes, she really hit me, but no, it didn't sap any creative juices I may have had). Or, maybe (and much more likely) I just don't have an excuse. After the Lighthouse Multiage Update Night and the PTO Meeting this week, I feel like repeating everything talked about at those meetings would just be redundant. My readers would revolt. Subscriptions would decline. The internet would kick me out.

However, since I have nothing better to write about this week, I guess I'll do that anyway... (and pray for mercy)

Ongoing and Upcoming Events:

The Great Turkey Race

The Great Turkey Race is ongoing, at least until next Tuesday. Every $2 donated to the Detroit Rescue Mission gives someone who wouldn't otherwise have the means, a Thanksgiving Dinner. This a tradition here at La Salette, and this year's race has the added incentive of throwing pies at my face. The winning class will have the opportunity to take out some principal-related aggression just before Christmas (date to be determined).

Youth Participation Mass/Count Day

The Youth Participation Mass will be this Sunday at 9:30. This particular Mass will be featuring our CYO Champion Cross Country squad. However, as this Mass is directed at the youth of our parish (and we still need others to help as greeters, ushers, etc.) I hope all of our students can make it. I ask that all school students wear their uniform shirts to this Mass to show the parishioners who we are. Many parishioners support the school but don't realize how many of our kids actually go there. Additionally, Masses all weekend serve as "Count Day" Masses for the Archdiocese of Detroit. Just like all schools in the state have a count day to get accurate numbers of students, the parishes of the AOD will have a count weekend to get an accurate number of parishioners attending Masses. It's important that we make it a priority to attend Mass this weekend to get an accurate La Salette census.

Short Week of School Next Week

After much deliberation, I've decided to give the students next Thursday and Friday off of school, and a half-day on Wednesday (NO LATCHKEY). There is some merit to having a couple days off school to spend with the family even when it comes at the expense of some valuable learning time.

Searchlight Multiage Update

The Searchlight Multiage Update Night will be on Tuesday, November 29th in the media center (7 pm). This meeting will give us a chance to reflect on our multiage program to this point and to discuss the future.

Berkley Holiday Lights Parade

The Berkley Holiday Lights Parade will be on Saturday, December 3rd down 12 Mile Rd. in beautiful downtown Berkley. We are registered with the city to walk in the parade and we need as many students and parents as we can get to show off our school spirit. Our newly elected Student Council will be leading the troops, led by Your Highness, Julia Burbidge.

Breakfast With Santa

The breakfast is on December 10th. Gilda Wachowiak and co. and have been working feverishly to pull this great event together (and it was discussed last night at PTO).

Santa Shop

There's no place better to drop $20 and buy presents for 35 people/pets. I vividly recall doing my Christmas shopping at our Santa's Shop (probably because it was last year) and the student's truly light up when they pick out the perfect gift. This year's shop will be December 5-9.

December PTO Meeting

The December PTO meeting will be on December 15th at the newly opened Berkley Book Corner, owned by La Salette's very own Wooddell family.

Christmas Concert and Nativity Play

The concert and play will be on December 20th at 6:30pm. The students have been busily preparing with Mrs. Feeney.

Christmas Vacation

Being the pushover that I am, I will also be giving the students some time off for Christmas- beginning with a half-day on December 21st (NO LATCHKEY). Classes will resume on January 5th.

I apologize for mailing it in this week- honestly, I was sitting in front of this computer all (not literally, I was out and about a bit) morning waiting for inspiration, but, alas, it was not meant to be. I shall return next week with a list of things for which I am thankful and not so thankful.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. T.

PS: There goes one reader. Addison was so upset with my effort this week, she said she was outta here.

I don't blame her.

Mailbag!

2011-11-11T06:41:00.001-08:00

Hello all (and I use "all" loosely),

The first quarter has officially ended and report cards have been printed. Those of you that were are at conferences have already seen the new standards-based report cards, and if you were not at conferences, you will see one next week. Although I've already discussed what "standards-based" means on a number of occasions (see "Progress Reporting"), there are still a few questions that need to be answered in my inbox, as well as some other burning questions, so I figured I'd do the first mailbag response of the year this week:

Q. How does my child make "Academic Excellence" or "Academic Achievement" since there are no more letter grades? Linda, Berkley.

A. That's a great question, Linda. Our students work hard to earn these prestigious awards, and you can be assured that they will continue. Although we now use a number system (4 being the highest) attached to all of the standards, each class still gives a composite grade- so, for example, although the math grade is composed of 7 individually graded standards, there is still one composite math score in the shaded area of your report card, and that is the score that is used to identify achievement levels. To be awarded "Academic Excellence" (or "Principal's List" for the older folks), a student would need all 4's in the composite grades. To be awarded "Academic Achievement" ("Honor Roll"), a student would need all 3's and 4's in the composite grade. This does not mean that a child cannot have a 1 or a 2 on their report card to earn these awards, it just means he/she cannot have a 1 or a 2 in the composite section. I hope that answers your question, Linda, and as an aside, we will be presenting these awards after Mass this Tuesday (Mass at 8:45, awards immediately following)!

Q. You've run your mouth a lot about "extended curriculum classes" this year. In the past (when we called them "special classes"), they didn't really count. Is that still the case? Jim, Royal Oak

A. No Jim, that is definitely not the case anymore. The extended curriculum classes count for everything, including "Academic Achievement" and "Academic Excellence," and that's precisely why I changed the terminology to "extended curriculum." These classes are part of our curriculum and students need to realize that. They are not 45 minutes of rest between the "real" classes, and I know that is how students viewed many of these classes last year. I have instructed the extended curriculum teachers to grade students the same way core curriculum teachers grade- based on the standards they are teaching. The Spanish standards were on this report card, and all the extended curriculum standards will be on subsequent report cards so parents can see exactly why their child earned that respective grade. Finally, Jim, the curriculum of these classes has been revised and updated to reflect the new emphasis as well- it's not just the students that needed a new perspective, but also some teachers. And I will try to not "run my mouth" so much... but I probably will.

Q. How married to this standards-based stuff are you- like are you planning on sticking with it or is this just some fad?
Mary, Troy.

A. Well, Mary, I see this as a two-part question. First, I guess I need to develop a system of levels of being married to something. I could go with a traditional, "kind of married," "mostly married," or "very married." I could go with a celebrity scale, ranging from, say, "Carrie Underwood married" (the highest level-which Mike Fischer already achieved) to say "Linsday Lohan married" (the lowest level- which, well, I think is self-explanatory). But being a good Catholic and devoted husband, I'll go with the scale of "my wife" to "my wife," which is the same as "very married" or "Carried Underwood married."

Now that we've got that sorted out, I would say I am definitely "my wife" married to standards-based grading. As long as I'm at La Salette, this system will be as well. I really believe that tying everything to the standards that we are teaching is beneficial to everyone- students, parents, teachers, and high schools. Report cards now give parents a wealth of information as to areas where their child excels, and areas that their child is still developing. In the past, a grade of "B" seems like a good grade, but what does it actually mean? I also believe that standards-based grading is not just a growing trend, but something that will be mandated by the state in the future because it makes so much sense.

Q. Although I don't have children, I recall stories about students at your school throwing pies at you? Two questions, are students going to get to throw them at you this year, and can I get in on that action? Kristi, Chicago

A. Yes, for some reason students enjoy throwing pies at me. In the past, I've been whip creamed and feathered for the Great Turkey Race and had pies hurled at me for Hramiec Run pledge winners. Since the Run has already come and gone, I'll give students another chance to throw pies at me in the Great Turkey Race of 2011. If you are unfamiliar with the race (a JupiterGrades message was also sent out), it is our annual tradition of raising money for the Detroit Rescue Mission to provide turkey dinners for the less fortunate. One dinner is provided for every $2 we collect. This year, the class that provides the most dinners (on average based on the number of students in the class) to the Mission will have the coveted opportunity to throw pies at me! The student in the class that brings in the most money will get to throw 4 pies at me, while everyone else in the class will get to throw two. The Race officially begins on Monday, and I'm really pulling for an Academy class or preschool to win (Lighthouses and Searchlights have a lot students).

To answer your second question, sure you can- as long as you match the total amount of money raised by the winning class. If the winning class donates $200, and you donate $200 of your own, you can also throw a couple of pies at me.

Q. When will the addition on my house be finished? Jacqueline, Berkley

A. Uhm... no comment.

And with that, I'll close up the mailbag.

News and Notes:

1st Quarter Awards will be handed out this Tuesday following Mass- please join us to celebrate the accomplishments of our wonderful students!
Mom 2 Mom sale is tomorrow morning from 8:30 am until 12:30 pm
Euchre Night is tomorrow evening, beginning at 7 pm.
Lighthouse Multiage Update Night is next Tuesday, at 7 pm in the Media Center
Picture retakes, candids, and group pictures are November 18th
PTO Meeting is November 17th at 7 pm Father Landry Center
Youth Participation Mass is November 20th at 9:30 am
Berkley Holiday Lights Parade is coming quickly on Saturday, December 3rd and we need all the volunteers we can get to walk in the parade to show off our La Salette pride. Contact Claudia Saliba for more information.

Vote Early and Vote Often

2011-11-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh yes, election day is quickly approaching.

This Tuesday, voters across the country will head to the polls (if you happen to be one of those voters in, say, for example, the city of Berkley and you happen to recognize the name of, say, someone that works in a local Catholic School on Coolidge Highway on the ballot don't be afraid to cast your vote for that person, for example, if you'd like). Here, voters across the school will also head to the polls to elect our student council for the 2011-2012 school year.

The final chance for the candidates to connect with the voters will be at Monday's debate, but since many of you will not get a chance to see that debate, I figured I'd give you some insight on the school-wide races this year:

Treasurer: Joseph Smith vs. Zeke Bowker
Smith, the Savvy veteran takes on the young upstart, Bowker, in the battle to control the purse strings. Joseph was confident throughout the primaries but a misstep out of the campaign bus resulted in some torn meniscus and subsequent surgery. Although he is still laid-up, he has continued to push his campaign electronically through YouTube stumps and Edmodo posts. Although Zeke will not comment publicly, some in his circle believe that Smith's surgery was a plan devised by Karl Rove and executed to perfection to get Joseph the sympathy vote. While Smith's age may secure him the senior vote, Zeke is hoping his age and youthful exuberance will secure him the younger vote. Zeke also has something that few can replicate- name recognition. "Bowker" is akin to "Kennedy" in political circles, and with a brother (and former Treasurer) on the ballot for president, Zeke hopes to cash in on some string votes.

Publicist: Emily Uhlarik vs. Kendall Hall (i)
He's brash, he's loud, and he's a bit cocky- but he's a proven winner. In an attempt to soften his image a bit, and garner more female support, Kendall hired political strategist Donna Brazile at the beginning of his campaign. The move was paying early dividends as Kendall's early polling numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire were stratospheric... until Emily threw her hat in the ring. Uhlarik is your classic anti-Kendall: stoic, reserved, and calculating. She is a Teddy Roosevelt disciple in that she believes firmly in speaking softly, but make no mistake, she will break out the big stick and crack you with it if you cross her. Emily has quickly siphoned off Kendall's female support and has tasked her younger sister, Lizzy, with delivering the Lighthouse vote. Although he hasn't rested on his laurels, Brazile has reminded Kendall that it is always difficult to unseat an incumbent.

Historian: Ashton Garwoord vs. Issy Smith
Although she may be clinically insane, Ann Coulter has called this the "toughest race to predict." Anderson Cooper called it a "complete toss-up." CNN has already pulled a Florida (circa 2000) and called the race for both candidates, while Fox News has maintained that both candidates will lose. No one seems to have a handle on how this will play out. Garwood has slightly more experience than the unassuming Smith, but both seem to be courting the same voters. With their bases split, this will come down to the independents. Smith believes that her primary numbers were skewed because she was up against her ally, Mikayla Johnson, and that divided her support. She believes that with the endorsement of MJ and the base that MJ brings, she will defeat Ashton. Ashton disagrees, obviously, and says she coasted in the primary and hasn't even dipped in to her war-chest yet. She is on a ticket with Presidential Candidate Julia Burbidge, and Ashton has used her culinary expertise to deploy baked goods to help garner some swing votes.

Secretary: Emma Beaudoin vs. Kordell Smith
While the race for historian is labeled as the toss-up, the race for secretary is labeled as the "Mud War." Fortunately the candidates have stayed above the fray in their public comments, but their teams have engaged in the dirtiest campaign since 1884. Team Beaudoin claims Smith's campaign coffers have been lined with special interest groups (TrapperKeeper, Bic, and Mead have been specifically mentioned), while Smith's Team maintains that Beaudoin may not even be a legal La Salette student and has pounded on her to produce her registration form. Beaudoin's Team responded by attacking Smith's proposed lunch plan, saying it doesn't even have a public option, and we are the last school in the Archdiocese that doesn't already have universal hot lunch. Both candidates claim the other is supported by the Tea Party. One thing is for sure- the winner will have to do some major damage control to repair the factions, but both candidates possess the skills to do it.

Vice President: Michael "Mac" McTyre (i) vs. Justin Richmond
The "Mac Attack" is back in 2011. After a successful term of holding Jimmy's handbag, Mac looks to cement his #2 status with a new president. One undecided voter believes that Michael is clearly chasing the younger vote by creating campaign literature that appeals to the Searchlights. Will this be enough to keep Mac elected, or will the suave newcomer, Justin Richmond, end his run in office? Richmond looks and acts like a VP, flashing his smile in photo ops and sporting a fedora, but is there enough substance to unseat McTyre? The candidates claim to mutually respect one another and TMZ recently spotted them together on the same gym floor. The campaigns have been eerily quiet and one can't help but wonder if Richmond is positioning himself for a power play at election time next year as McTyre has made it clear that is his final campaign at La Salette. Only time will tell.

President: Luke Bowker vs. Julia Burbidge
Politics as usual vs. change. After two terms as treasurer, Luke is looking to move on up, but Julia Burbidge would like to put the brakes on those plans. Burbidge has clearly the won the messaging battle with her "I am La Salette Loyal" tagline and volume of campaign posters. Luke has relied on his name recognition and wooing of the Searchlight and Lighthouse vote during lunchtime stumps to sweep into the presidency. Although Julia would never say it, anonymous members of her entourage worry that the Godfather (Jim Bowker) may be making some back-channel deals to get Luke elected, a la Joe Kennedy. Luke says that's "completely unfounded rumor-mongering" and he's above that. He let's his reputation of fiscal responsibility as a two-term Treasurer and his history of following through on campaign promises do the talking. Julia represents change. She claims she is not a career politician, like Bowker. She says she "represents new ideas, new hope, and new future for La Salette and is not indebted to anyone." She will work for the students because she genuinely cares about La Salette- at least that's how one member of her campaign portrays her. In response, one member of Luke's committee said, "Julia is a great candidate and we respect her, but Luke has the experience necessary to step in a lead right away. He has paid his dues and is a master of diplomacy." To put the proverbial "icing on the cake," Julia handed out some baked goods with ticket-mate Ashton Garwood to leave a good taste in the mouths of voters. Both Luke and Julia are polished candidates, and both will represent La Salette positively. The voters will have the final say this Tuesday.

[Editor's note: Most of the above claims are unsubstantiated]

Other News and Notes:

The first quarter officially ends today. Report cards will be handed out at conferences next Thursday, so please sign up with your student's teacher.
Reminder about the Lighthouse Multiage Update Night November 15th at 7 pm, in the Media Center. This is simply a time to reflect on our new program and to keep lines of communication open. The Searchlight Update Night will be November 29th.
Euchre Night is coming up on Saturday, November 12th.
Mom 2 Mom Sale is also scheduled for Saturday, November 12th.
Picture retakes are Friday, November 18th
The Berkley Holiday Lights Parade is quickly approaching (Dec. 3rd)
Breakfast With Santa is Saturday, December 3rd- Thank you to Gilda Wachowiak for all of her efforts in planning this year's breakfast.

Out for Blood

2011-10-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

Although today is “Trunk or Treat” and the Academy Halloween dance(aka the Academy huddle), I will not be spending much time discussing thoseevents because, well, they are tonight. Instead, there are some other items on my agenda.

[Editor’s note- I believe that I now need two separateblogs- one for La Salette happenings, and a second for my own self-servingramblings about life, my poor-to-fair home improvement skills, my horrible fantasy football managing ability,etc. I needed to get that out before Iwent off on some tangent not related to La Salette… like I just did]

Scholastic Olympics

Some of our eighth graders participated on Wednesday at theBrother Rice [withholding comments about B.R. being the best high schoolaround] and Marian Scholastic Olympics 2011:

Boys at Rice: Girlsat Marian:

Kordell Smith (Logic) SharniceDargin (Reading Comprehension)

Luke Bowker (Math) BrianaMcCary (Fine Arts: Drawing)

Michael McTyre (Art) EmmaBeaudoin (Fine Arts: Vocal Music)

Kofi Nagbe (Art) AutumnWashington (Math)

Alex McWhorter (Art) AshtonGarwood (Math)

Kaio Huvaere (Art) JuliaBurbidge (Math)

The Scholastic Olympics is a competition among many areaCatholic Schools, and consisted of about 400 students (200 boys and 200 girls).The top 3 students in each category receive a plaque and the top 3 schoolsoverall receive a trophy. I’d like to congratulate all of our students forcompeting and representing La Salette in a very positive manner. While we didnot receive a school trophy, I am very proud to say that we did have a student thatplaced at the Olympics!

Congratulationsto Kaio Huvaere for taking 3^rdplace in the Art category!!!

Kofi Nagbe and Kaio Huvaere posing with the winning drawing

Halloween Section of the Blog:

Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooood. Except we actually want your real blood, not the fake kind. For whatever reason, we have really struggled to reach our quotas in recent La Salette Blood Drives and I would like that trend to change. I know giving blood isn't the most exciting thing in the world, but it's really only taking like a half-hour of your time to save lives. I'm not a hero, I'm not a doctor, and I'm not a soldier, so I very limited in what I actually can do to try save lives of those in need, but giving blood is something I can do. No, this is not a self-serving "look at me I give blood" thing, it's just a sincere plea to join me in doing our small part to save lives. Everyday, there are parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, aunts, and others who need blood transfusions to live, and if any of us were in that unfortunate situation, we would hope someone would donate blood for us- so lets pay it forward. In case you've missed any of the emails on how to register to donate, or about the incentives for those who donate (or attempt), here is the information (courtesy of Peggy Squires):

La Salette's next blood drive is November 4 from 1:00 until 7:00. We've not met our goal in three consecutive drives, so we are really looking to change that. Our goal this time is a mere 23 pints - 23 pints of blood will save 69 lives. Every single appointment, every single pint collected helps.

Click here https://www.givelife.org/index.cfm?group=op&step=2&opid=910893 to make your appointment for LaSalette’s blood drive Nov. 4.

New blood drive incentive – regular donors may have noticed that the Red Cross has changed their post-donation cookie offering. This is because Keebler now sponsors Red Cross Blood Drives through their “Be a Good Cookie, Get a Good Cookie” campaign. That’s great, thanks so much Keebler. But many of our donors have said that nothing beats an Oreo or a Fig Newton post-donation. So rest assured, I will be supplying a variety of Oreos – vanilla, chocolate, double chocolate, stuffed, mint – you name it. I will also be supplying Newtons – Fig, Apple, Strawberry, Blueberry, whatever I can get my hands on.

And since you shed over 600 calories with a single donation, why not have a few cookies?
Click https://www.givelife.org/index.cfm?group=op&step=2&opid=910893 to make your appointment. Every single appointment, every single pint collected - helps trauma and cancer patients right here in our own community.

All donors will be entered to win a gift certificate for 4 free services from Revitalize Day Spa.

And if none of that works for you, maybe some good old fashion Catholic guilt will.

And if that still doesn't work, I'll send this scary person to your house:

Multiage Update Nights

As we come to the end of the first quarter, I think it's time to gather to discuss the success of our multiage programs. I've decided to schedule separate "Multiage Update Nights" for the Lighthouse and Searchlight classes, beginning with the Lighthouses on November 15th, at 7 pm. The Searchlight Update Night will be on November 29th, also at 7 pm. As I mentioned last week, after hearing parent input a few changes were made to reflect the needs of our students. The Update Night will give us a chance to reflect on our multiage program as a whole as we move forward. I am very pleased with the time effort that our teachers have put into these programs and I can certainly see improvements in the how our teachers are delivering instruction and how our students are learning- which is the ultimate goal of the program. Please mark your calendars for these "Update Nights." As always, if you have any questions or concerns at any time, please do not hesitate to email me at dan.terbrack@lasaelette-school.org.

News and Notes:

Conferences are coming up on November 10th- please sign up in advance with your teacher(s) (including extended curriculum teachers)
There is no school for students on November11th for a post-conference professional development day.
Picture retakes are coming up November 18th.
The Berkley Holiday Lights Parade is Saturday, December 3rd, and La Salette will be participating again this year. There will be more information to follow, but this really is a wonderful night for everyone.
Happy Halloween on Monday!

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Terbrack

Raising Banners and Rubber Chickens

2011-10-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! With the Searchlights and Lighthouses out on a field trip today, I am presently enjoying the sounds of silence.

Last weekend nearly sent me into a depression-induced coma (if that is even medically possible) as CMU lost to the Hurons, U of M got embarrassed again by Sparty, the Tigers exited the ALCS, and the Lions got upended by an overly excited handshake, which was just too much for me to take (not to mention the continued lack of progress towards me becoming Bob Vila). Thankfully, Coach Jim Bowker and the Cross Country team had my back as they captured their second CYO Championship in 4 seasons and saved me from Prozacville.The only thing that gets me more fired up than playing "We are the Champions" over the loud speaker before announcements is a banner raising ceremony. Admittedly (evidenced by the opening salvo of this week's blog) I don't deal well with losing, but I'm a great winner (even though I, personally, was of zero consequence in the Cross Country victory). We will raise another banner, and we will all sing "We Are the Champions," and I will love every second of it- and I owe it all to this group right here:

I found out earlier this week that our JV Volleyball (Coach Teri Meyers) team also gets to raise a banner as they won their division for the second year in a row, and Varsity Volleyball (Coach Chris Beaudoin) finished second in their division- a very successful fall sports seasons for La Salette.

Multiage Update

The La Salette Constitution, Article II, Section 3 states, "The Principal shall from time to time give to the parents information of the state of the multiage program, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." As last Friday was our first professional development day, it was an opportune time to meet with the multiage teachers to attain information necessary for such an update. As should be expected with the implementation of any new program, we experienced some growing pains with our program, especially in the Lighthouse department. That isn't to say that it's not working, just that we needed to assess the best ways to make the multiage program work for us La Salette. The disparity in development in the Lighthouse domain presented us a with some challenges that we are now attending to- such as homework load, the great "Planner vs. Assignment Tracker Debate of 2011," and communication with parents. After meeting with teachers and receiving input from parents, we have made the following adjustments to the program: homework load will be more directly related to the age of student, and less dependent on ability/development level, meaning that a student that would've been in third grade in a traditional classroom should have no more than 45 minutes of reasonable practice per night. For each subsequent grade level, 15 additional minutes of practice could be expected. The hallmark of the multiage program is to not teach students at these grade levels as they are all being taught at developmentally appropriate levels, but we need to keep in mind that an 8 year old student is still an 8 year old student. Additionally, the "P. vs. A.T.D. of 2011" was ended when planners were given to all of the students this week with instructions on how to use them. It was also determined that both sets of multiage teachers (Searchlights and Lighthouses) would send home weekly newsletters reviewing what happened that week and what to look for in the week ahead to better keep parents apprised of multiage happenings.

If you were to ask my parents or my wife, they would probably tell you that I can be stubborn or even hard-headed (which is totally NOT true). The multiage program at La Salette is already showing signs of success and I will do whatever I can to ensure the continued success of this program because I truly believe it is the best way to educate your children. To that end, if you have a question or concern, please email me (or call if you're old school) directly. I can only work to fix things that I'm aware of, and hearing things second or third-hand isn't optimum.

The award for the most interesting mail I've ever received...

Goes to these people for sending me this:

Yes, that is a rubber chicken, and I have no idea who sent it to me. This 2 year old chicken is very aptly named Rubber Chicken and seems to be some kind of marketing ploy. The instructions told me to go to www.rubberchickened.com to find out who sent it, but after putting in a bunch of false information (more accurately Mrs. Van Every's information) I still didn't get an answer. In other news, if anyone is looking to purchase a rubber chicken, I know where you can get one for the fair market price of $100 (or best offer).

News and Notes

Thank you to Mr. Wilson (father of Lighthouse, Colin Wilson) for putting in a ton of time in our computer lab over the last few weeks. He has been very busy updating, fixing, and rearranging machines to improve our lab's operating capabilities and our IT Department (AKA me) sincerely appreciates his efforts!
Trunk or Treat and Academy dance are next Friday! We are still looking for some volunteers to help out at that evening (sign-up sheets in the main office), and since many of you will be here anyway, it seems like a great time to get in some service hours.
Next Friday is also the Hramiec Run casual day for all of those students that met, or exceeded, the requisite number of laps.
If you have not registered for Winter Sports, please do so ASAP. If you are not sure if you are registered, please email Kelli Labara (kell.labara@lasalette-school.org) to be sure.
If you haven't visited our website lately, please check out the "Getting To Know Our Staff" piece on our new music teacher, Mrs. Feeny (www.lasalette-school.org)

I will be leaving right after school today to take family portraits...outside...yippee (deduct a point from me for excessive use of the ellipsis) And no, not because I don't love my family or don't want to spend time with A and J- I just have a severe disdain of posing for pictures. I guess I'm funny that way.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. T.

Progress Reporting

2011-10-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

Aside from the major event of the day- the Hramiec Run (which was great! Thanks to all volunteers who helped out!), we also have our first status report of the year in the form of progress reports. The beginning of the year at La Salette is always a bit frenetic because of Labor Day and Festival days off (which have only allowed us two full weeks of school so far), but this year we added to that with the addition of the multiage classrooms and standards-based grading. The latter is the point of this week's blog as we are still determining how to best display this information to parents.

Quick Review:

We are moving (present tense) towards a standards-based grading model. That means that students will be assessed strictly based on their skills (at their level) as it relates to a given objective. Within standards-based grading, we have two separate categories: summative and formative. Summative grades are those that reflect directly on a skill, and are typically tests or projects. If a student were taking a unit test on multiplication, that test would show whether or not a student can multiply. Formative assessments reinforce the teaching and are more commonly thought of as homework or classwork. In a formative assessment, there is no reflection on a direct skill, because it is within the learning process. What we want to do at La Salette is give parents and high schools a more accurate picture of student achievement. Additionally, since grading is tied directly to standards via summative assessments, letter grades and percentages do not really apply anymore. Instead, students are graded on a rubric of that describes their level of understanding each specific skill; a 4 means mastery of skill, a 3 means proficient, a 2 means the skill is still developing and a 1 means that skill has not yet been developed. Since formative assessments do not display mastery, the emphasis is not on them, but they do give us insight into organization, responsibility, and behavior. The two types of assessments need to be separated to get an accurate portrait of student abilities.

Example 1:

Dan is awful at math. He hates it and it makes no sense to him. He averages Cs on his tests, but turns in all of his homework because the mantra at his house is "be good or be dead," and at least turning in homework is being good. Since he turns in all of his homework, he generally gets high Bs or even low As on his report card. While that B or A is a good grade, it does not accurately reflect Dan's ability in math. When Dan went on to the best high school in all the land (Brother Rice), he was placed in a math class for students who got Bs and low As on their middle school report cards and he struggled terribly because homework and behavior no longer counted for a large chunk of his grade.

If however, Dan had a standards-based report card, with a summative and formative section, this may not have happened. Dan would most likely have received 2s on his summative assessments because he struggled with the actual skills, but would have received 4s in the formative section because he did all of his work. Brother Rice would then have had more information on Dan and knew that he struggled in Math but was a hard worker.

Example 2:

Dan is great in social studies. He is intrinsically motivated and wants to get involved in politics when he gets older. He gets As on every test and project but never turns in his homework because doesn't want to. He already knows the skills that the homework is trying to teach and he feels it is waste of time that could be better spent playing his PlayStation. He also constantly talks and yells out during class which has become quite a distraction. On his report card, he gets a 4 in the social studies summative section, but a 1 in the formative section. This shows that he has mastered the concept, but isn't motivated to do any work and is generally a pain in class. In the traditional model, Dan may have gotten a C in social studies even though he has mastered every concept being taught- he just doesn't do homework. The C is not an accurate picture of his social studies skills.

What does this mean?

It meas that I am in the process of working with JupiterGrades to see if they can accommodate our needs. This will all be sorted out by report card time, but for progress reports, teachers are trying to simplify. The Searchlights and the Lighthouses are only giving one grade (a weighted combination of summative and formative) to help acclimate parents to the new system. In the academy, Mrs. Haynes is my test case. The language arts classes are graded using the rubric (4,3,2, 1- also only one grade that is weighted more heavily towards summative versus formative), while Mrs. Van Every and Mrs. Boura are still using the traditional grading system. As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, we are phasing this system in so there is not a total culture shock. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me or one of the teachers.

Lastly

To assuage any potential concerns, I talked to several area high schools about how they will perceive standards-based grading when it comes to acceptance into their respective schools, and all responses were positive. We are certainly not the only school that has made this transition so most schools are already familiar with it. In fact, every school I spoke to likes this method because they get more information about the student. Sometimes with traditional grading (as I showed in the examples), schools don't get an accurate picture of the student, so the more information they get, the better.

This blog has already been a bit lengthy, so I'll do the Hramiec Run recap next week. There are a couple important dates for next week, though, that I want to quickly remind everyone of:

Next Thursday, October 13th is school picture day. Forms went home so please make sure those are ready for Thursday.

Also, students do not have school next Friday as we have our first professional development day for our teachers. If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please email me. I will be meeting with the multiage teachers that day to review the first 6 weeks of the program and discuss any modifications that we need to make.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Terbrack

Running With Mrs. Hramiec

2011-09-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

Of the many great traditions at La Salette, one of the mostenjoyable (and memorable) events each year for the students is the Hramiec Run,named after former principal Iris Hramiec (principal from 1980-1989). Today, Iwas lucky enough to speak with Mrs. Hramiec (who was principal when I began myillustrious career at La Salette as a 4 year old) about the how the “Run” cameto be:

Me: Can you tellme a little about how the “Run” came about?

Mrs. Hramiec: I came to La Salette in 1980, and when Itook the job, there were rumors about La Salette closing down becauseenrollment was declining (I guess some things never change… that was 30years ago and we’re still alive and well!). Oneway that I thought we could bring in some revenue was through the “Jog-a-Thon”fundraiser (The “Jog-a-Thon” was later renamed the “Hramiec Run” after Mrs.Hramiec retired in 1989).

Me: What was thereaction from parents when you introduced the idea?

Mrs. Hramiec: Well, I introduced the idea my first yearand the PTO was extremely against it. In fact, I had to fight for three yearsbefore they finally agreed to it. At that time, the PTO was very hesitant toask the students to go out and solicit pledges.

Me: Did you havethe funds raised from the “Run” earmarked for anything specific?

Mrs. Hramiec: Oh yes! The inside of the school needed afacelift. We used the money to replace the old desks in the classrooms- eachyear we rotated out old desks and brought in new ones.

Me: Youmentioned increasing enrollment when you were here, and that’s something I’mtrying to do today. Do you have any advice? (When Mrs. Hramiec left, La Salettehad about 500 students)

Mrs. Hramiec: I read in the paper about the new multiage programand that’s a good start because it separates La Salette from the other Catholicschools in the area- but the best advice I can give you is to use the parentsto sell the school. They’re the ones talking to neighbors over the fence, andthey’re the ones who have already chosen La Salette. They need to communicateto others why they have chosen, and continue to choose, La Salette as the placeto educate their children.

I thanked her for her time and invited her to the Run nextFriday and hopefully she will be able to make it. Although we aren’t replacingdesks this year, the Hramiec Run is still a vital fundraiser for our school.The PTO budget is now built almost exclusively from the Run profits so pledgesare critical to the vitality of our PTO.

Aside from theHramiec Run, the standardized test ofthe Archdiocese, The IOWA Test, begins on Monday and continues for the next two weeks. This year’s test is a brandnew version, completely updated to reflect students in the 21^stCentury. Some sections have been removed -Reference Materials and Map Reading- becauseuse of the internet has essentially made them obsolete. The test is also incolor this year, which I’m sure will make students happy about taking this batteryof tests instead of the trepidation and boredom from previous years [In caseyou didn’t catch it, that was sarcasm].

For those of you that may not know, the IOWA Test isdifferent than the MEAP Test in a very significant way: The Meap is “criterion reference”test, while the IOWA is a “norm reference” test. The MEAP is designed to matchthe Michigan content standards, which inevitable leads to teachers “teaching tothe test” instead of having the freedom to simply educate students the bestthat they can. The IOWA is based on a norm of a few hundred thousand studentsnationwide. Our students are then compared to that norm which results in apercentile rank. Our students consistently score above the norm, but since wehave a new test and a new norming group, results may vary this year. I’m sendinga letter home from the AOD explaining all of these changes for yourinformation.

New and Notes:

Aside from the Hramiec Run and IOWA Testing next week, theschool book-fair will also be open. Our Media Specialist, Ann Jaski, puts alot of time and effort into organizing the fair so please stop by and check outthe great selection.

Progress Reports come out next Friday, October 7^th.As I outlined last year, this will be the first tuition checkpoint of the year.Please make sure your tuition is in order or you will receive a letter statingthat it must be up to date by the end of the quarter or your student/s will notbe allowed to return.

Picture Day is coming up on October 13^th. Thatgives you about two weeks to get haircuts scheduled and outfits picked out.

The Mom 2 Mom sale that was originally scheduled for October22^nd has been moved to November 12 due to a scheduling conflict.

Christmas vacation begins at 11:45 am on December 21^st-mark your calendars.

Mr. Daybird will be out next Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and I need some parents to help me out during lunch/recess. If you're available, please let me know. It's a great way to get service hours and see all of the kids!

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Terbrack

Things Just Got Real

2011-09-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

With the Festival and subsequent recovery period now behindus, things are getting serious around here. Next week will be our first full week of school. Lighthouses andSearchlights have the new procedures down. Kids are going home with homeworkand others are being assigned service hours for missing assignments. Our fallsports season is in full gear. The countdown to Christmas break has officiallybegun (58 school days or so).

Additionally, we’re getting some press about our new,innovative multiage program. In case you missed it, the Woodward Talk publishedan article on Wednesday that you can read here: http://www.candgnews.com/news/la-salette-becomes-first-catholic-school-metro-detroit-switch-multiage-education.A reporter from the Daily Tribune was here this morning to put together a storyon the multiage program as well (with pictures!), which she hopes getspublished this Sunday. In fact, I also had a visitor today to check out themultiage classrooms because of what she read in the Woodward Talk so we’ve gotthat going for us. And yes, I’m aware that the transitionhas not been all candy canes and gumdrops, but I think we’ve navigated throughthe roughest waters.

The first PTO meeting of the year was last night, and I wasencouraged by the turnout. I saw many new faces and many familiar faces, but Idid not see all the faces. While Idon’t expect everyone to attend every meeting, I want to make sure that we donot fall into the same trap as last year: great participation up front only towane as the year progressed. Claudia Saliba has worked hard to emphasizecommunication and a new meeting structure that is less focused on reports(which can be sent out via email before the meetings) and more focused onspirited discussion of the many PTO tasks, the first of which is PTOhospitality the first weekend in October. The first weekend of every month, adifferent La Salette organization arranges hospitality after each of theMasses. That means PTO will provide food and light refreshments in the gatherarea after all 3 Masses (5 pm on Saturday, 9:30 and 11:30 am on Sunday) thatweekend. This provides us a nice opportunity to gather with the school familiesand the parish to support our school. Of course, in order to pull off thishospitality, we need donations and volunteers. We need some baked (orpurchased) goods donated by Friday, September 30^th so we will knowwhat kind of inventory we will have for the weekend. We also need some volunteersto staff the hospitality after each Mass (yes, you get service hours). If youare interested in any of these tasks, please email me. We also discussedpreparations for the upcoming Hramiec Run, which you should have all receivedinformation about this week. I’ll have more on the Run next week.

Finally, my fantasy football team is 0-2. Super.

News and Notes:

- Welcome back to the Squires family! They wereacross the pond in Europe for the past couple of weeks- ask them about theirtrip.

- The Feast of Our Lady of La Salette was Monday,and today, we celebrated that Feast as a school with a program prepared by Mrs.Boura. If you didn’t know, our school has a theme song that has been extremelyunderutilized the past few years and we are working to bring that back intovogue. If you ask any La Salette alum (2003 or older) to sing “O Mary Queen ofLa Salette” you will undoubtedly get (at least) the chorus. Ask your student/sabout the story of Mary in La Salette and ask them to sing a few bars of thechorus.

- Next Tuesday, September 27^th, we willbe hosting a “Protecting God’s Children” seminar in the evening. If youvolunteer at the school, or want to attend field trips, class parties, etc. Istrongly encourage you to sign up at https://www.virtusonline.org/virtus/.To register, you need to create a login and password, and then choose ourlocation under the Protecting God’s Children link.

- The Hramiec Run is Friday, October 7^th(again, more next week).

- The students have no school on October 14^thas the teachers have professional development.

- Book Fair, Mom 2 Mom sale, and Trunk or Treatare all coming up in October- stay tuned for more information.

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Terbrack

Time of Transition

2011-09-12T04:16:00.000-07:00

As is expected with anything new, there is a time of transition and adjustment and we are well into that period with our multiage program. Teachers, parents, and students are figuring out how to navigate through our Searchlight and Lighthouse classrooms. I was very pleased with the turnout to last night’s “Back to School Night” and I hope many of your questions were answered. It’s perfectly acceptable to question the changes that will impact your student, but the one item that cannot be questioned is the wealth of research supporting this system. To be honest, the two “grades” that worried me the most during the transition were the incoming kindergartners and the incoming fifth graders. At first glance, it is easy to see how these two ages of students may feel either overwhelmed (incoming kindergartners) or underwhelmed (incoming fifth graders) because of the disparity in physical size, maturity level, and academic ability of the makeup of these classes. However, these ages are also the students that see the largest gains in ability (kindergarten) and preparation for the next level (fifth graders). Research very strongly supports incoming kindergartners picking up language and reading skills more quickly than their graded (1^st grade, 4^th grade, etc.) peers and fifth graders have a curriculum that is specifically designed to target their needs to move up to our academy. All the grades in between show higher achievement as well, but the fact that they are not at either of the spectrum tends to ease their transition. With any new program, there has to be a beginning- and that is where we are this year. In future years, with the program already established, these concerns/fears will be assuaged because we will have our own data to support the program, as well as a collective schema associated with the multiage program.

Again, I would never implement a program that I didn’t think was in the best interests of our students. I believe very strongly in this program for a number of reasons: my personal research and studying, watching the program in action in, and talking to a number of educators and presenters that have extensive experience with the program. The only places where multiage has been implemented and then removed are schools that had no choice to regress because of high-stakes testing, and in those cases, it was not for lack of success in the program. I’m not naïve enough to think that there would not be a feeling out process for everyone or that just because we implemented it that we are now better than everyone else. However, I do believe that once that feeling out process is over, and the educational, psychological and social gains are realized, that we will have a program filled with empirical data that only a few schools in the area may be able to match. But (and yes, I did start this sentence with a conjunction), NO school will ever be able match the dedication of our teachers.

News and notes

· The Festival is only a week away so finish selling those raffle tickets! Ride tickets/wrist bands can be bought in the school’s main office. Don’t forget to join the FUN RUN on Sunday, September 18^th. Drew Pennington (dpenn6@wowway.com) has done a wonderful job (as she always does) promoting this event to everyone she bumps into in the hallway or on the street. Let’s reward her hard work by supporting with the largest group of runners in Fun Run history. The registration for the Fun Run includes a T-Shirt that I will allow students to wear on spirit days (and maybe even gym days). If you haven’t registered yet, there are forms in the main office. We also have the parish garage sale in conjunction with the Festival so drop off your items under the tent after weekend Masses, or on Monday-Wednesday from 6-8 pm. If you have questions, please contact Linda Gable-Smith at 248-544-7520

· A final reminder to anyone who has not yet filled out a form for the PTO directory to please to do so ASAP. We saw the first weekly PTO communication on Tuesday via SnapGrades, but the goal is for PTO to have a full database to communicate with parents directly. You fill out the form here https://docs.google.com/a/lasalette-school.org/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEVwSTFEdExUUVVlbHhIMmVBbVJUWEE6MQ or fill out a paper copy in the main office.

· We are looking for a Daisy leader for our younger (K- 1^st grade) Searchlight ladies. If you have a student in one of those classes and would like to keep this great program alive, contact Claudia Saliba at (marketrepclaudia@gmail.com) or leave a note in the PTO mailbox.

· Remember that next week is a short week of school because of the Festival. Thursday is a half-day (11:45 dismissal) and there will be no Latchkey that day, or any half-days. As I discussed at Parent Orientation, it just not feasible for us to run Latchkey on half-days for a number of reasons, so please make plans for next Thursday. We have no school on Friday (Sept. 16^th) or the following Monday (Sept. 19^th) due to setup and cleanup of the midway and tents.

Party like It's 2011-2012

2011-09-01T10:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the 2011-2012 edition of my blog (I need a better name for this weekly masterpiece as “my blog” is soooooo blasé. If anyone has any suggestions, please leave them in the comment section of this blog- sarcastic quips are always appreciated. Extra credit to the student of the parent that wins this totally arbitrary contest)! For all the new parents, I use this in lieu of a weekly newsletter to communicate what is happening at La Salette and my general thoughts and ramblings (and yes, at times, it can be self-serving).

I am extremely excited for this particular school year to finally be upon us. So excited, that I felt the need to begin with a list of the few things that make me happier than school finally being under way:

(In order)
1a. No more Oprah

1b. Jacqueline, Addison (see end of blog), and soon #2 (I believe this is the correct prioritizing, right?)

2. College football beginning this weekend

3. NFL football beginning next weekend

For the sake of comparison, these are things that do not make me exceedingly happy:

(In order)

1a. The addition that is slowly being built on my house

1b. My lack of carpentry skills which prolong the addition’s completion

1c. My lovely wife’s venom (generally directed at me) for the slowly being built addition and my lack of carpentry skills which prolong the addition’s completion.

Now that we’re clear on my feelings, I’ll expand a bit as to why I’m so excited about this school year (for the sake of structure, I’ll keep it numerically based):

(In order)
1. The multiage program at La Salette. Our Searchlights and Lighthouses are in full swing and the teachers worked extremely hard over the summer to make this a reality. As most of us already know, WE are the ONLY school in the diocese that is permitted to run this type of system, and the diocese threw a nice chunk of change ($50K) at La Salette to support this program. This puts us in the most unique position of any school in the diocese because we offer something that NO other school can. We’ve always known that we are special here, but now everyone else knows it as well.

2. Enrollment. Yes, we were pushing for early enrollment because of the number we needed for the AOD grant. And yes, we not only reached, but exceeded that number. In fact, we are only down a couple students from last year, which is quite an accomplishment for two reasons (I know, the lists are now getting excessive): A. The tuition increase impacted all of our families, and hit some harder than others. However, we gained 20(!) new families. Welcome aboard to the following families: [shout-out section] Gee, Britney, Mixon, Magolan, Hirmiz, Oyelade, Stevens, Johnson, Perilli, Novosad, Bowers, Givens, Ramirez, Warren, Green, Smith, Tulida, Peake, Stavole, Ereg and Head! I’d also like to welcome back all of our returning families- your faith in the teachers of La Salette will be rewarded with an exemplary education for your child/ren. B. This marks the smallest decrease in enrollment at La Salette in the past 4 years! This may seem like a strange thing to celebrate, but keep in mind that just about every single school in the AOD has decreased enrollment this year and we stayed just about even.

3. We have positioned ourselves to NOT have to worry about unfounded rumors anymore! The new financial structure puts us in control of our destiny. With your support, we will always be the best place for our students to “Learn, Love, Lead, and Live on.”

Other news and notes:

- Since the students have been so cooperative, I’ve decided to give them tomorrow and Monday off to celebrate Labor Day. I will see everyone back on Tuesday.

- “Back to School Night” is coming up on September 7, at 6:30 pm. Come in and meet with teachers to learn more about what your students have to look forward to this year.

-The Festival is only a couple of weeks away. Remember that by enrolling at La Salette, you are required to sell $75 in raffle tickets for the big Festival raffle. If you have not yet received these tickets, please let me know. If the tickets are not sold, $75 will be added to your tuition. I will have more on the Festival next week.

- Recycling and safety patrol will begin next week.

- Volleyball and Cross-Country are already underway- support our Bronco athletes!

- Any parent that wants to get your family service hours out of the way early are encouraged to hang out with me during lunch/recess. I can offer you stimulating conversation on the topic of your choice (but it would behoove you to choose La Salette in general, sports [not counting soccer], politics, the city of Berkley [minus the 12 Mile intersection], or food).

- The new Roman Missal is coming soon. If you have no idea what this means, don’t worry. I’ll also have more on how this will impact us in the future (nothing bad- deep breaths).

That is all for now.

Enjoy your long weekend!

Mr. Terbrack

PS- Thanks to my 2 year old daughter singing to one of our cats this morning, I wrote this entire blog while singing “Puff the Magic Dragon.”

[More self-serving... but she's so darn cute. And she is showing some Detroit love!]

The Return of ME!

2011-07-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaackkkkkkkkkkkkkk... and with a new font (and larger size for those who need the extra help- in the education business, we call that an "accomodation") for 2011-2012!

I must begin by apologizing. Admittedly, I didn’t plan on taking an 8 week hiatus from the blog. I’m sure my absence conjured up the worst thoughts about La Salette, and/or me. Really, things have just been extremely busy around here and I got out of my normal Friday writing routine. But, that’s in the past. The present is now (is that redundant?), and the future is August- which means back to school. An awful lot has happened around here since we’ve last met and I decided it was time to let everyone in on the excitement.

Let me take you back to June 2^nd – It was lovely late spring day, and all of the little boys and girls ran out of the church as their summer vacation had officially begun. Parents were less enthusiastic because they came to the realization that their little bundles of joy would be home, all day, every day. The teachers and I finished up a little housekeeping on Friday and headed for that sweet serenity of summer vacation- but we never made it. As I’m sure you recall, La Salette is transitioning to a cutting-edge, research based, best practice, new model school for the Archdiocese, multiage age elementary program. And that transition proved to be the roadblock between us and the summer- which is a good thing. Look, I would have loved to have some time off without thinking about school, or returning emails, or making phone calls, or people breathing down my neck about our “numbers” (which are fine, by the way), or meetings every Wednesday about parish finances and other fun topics, but this wasn’t any ordinary summer because we had work to do. In all of my vast years as an administrator, I’ve never had a “summer vacation” with so much company. Usually, I’m all alone in the building, left to my own devices (to be perfectly honest, I brought the “Premium Putting System” up to my office and never even opened the box), but not this summer. Our “Searchlight” teachers (the lower elementary multiage classroom), Mrs. Fabian and Mrs. Barczyk have been in the building nearly every day preparing their classrooms (this is just another glaring example of how hard our teachers work for your students. I didn’t tell them they had to be here, they made the decision on their own and have worked through the heat because they are excited about the program and genuinely care about their students). Mrs. Giasson and Mrs. Labara have also been in much more than normal preparing for our “Lighthouse” students (upper elementary multiage classroom). Mrs. Fabian, Mrs. Barczyk, Mrs. Giasson, Mrs. Boura, and I also spent last week in Chicago at the Midwest Conference on Differentiated Instruction (if you follow me on Twitter you already know this, but did you know it was paid for by the AOD grant?). Additionally, we’ve had two full staff meetings this summer- something that I’ve never done in all my years as principal. The last two months should more appropriately be labeled as “working without students” and less as “summer vacation,” but (if this is possible) in a good way.

I sort of glossed over the newly unveiled names of our multiage program, but I’ll give a quick overview of how we chose those names. First, we wanted names that built on each other- meaning, names that showed some kind of growth from one stage to the next. Secondly, we wanted names that related to us as Catholics. Thirdly, we all sat in a room and couldn’t leave until we figured out names that we could agree on (as an aside, I don’t know how many of you have come up with names for multiage programs, but let me tell you, it’s not as easy as you might think). As you know, we settled on Searchlights and Lighthouses, which show growth from a little flashlight to the largest flashlight I can think of. Just as Jesus is the light of the world, our students will be the light of our school. The short summary: growing from young searchlights trying to find their way in school and their faith, to becoming beacons of light guiding others in school and faith. Understand? Good.

Now from the obligatory money department: Although our registration numbers are pretty good, not all of those registered have chosen a payment plan. As I discussed last year, we can no longer have a myriad of payment plans (in fact, the AOD explicitly told us that we could not), so we are steadfastly sticking with our original three: one lump sum payment, two half-payments, or FACTS. The problem I have now is there a lot of families that have not sent in their FACTS information yet. If you don’t choose a payment plan, if effectively looks like you haven’t even registered yet. I have no idea why this would be an issue this year, but it is. Again, tuition pays staff. If we don’t collect tuition in a timely manner this year, we won’t have staff. To be honest, I have enough on my plate right now and don’t have the time to monitor everyone’s registration and payment plans. Last year was bad enough hounding people down for money, I’d prefer not to start out this year the same way. Please do me a favor (and La Salette and every other family here) and complete your registration by picking a payment plan so I can pay my staff at the end of August. Thanks

As I’ve been saying since last school year, this is going to a banner year for La Salette. The multiage program will set us apart from other schools and will allow us to better educate your children. The Academy had a strong first year and will be even better next year. The teachers and I will never stop looking for ways to improve education at La Salette. We care about your children and we care about you.

Enjoy the last month of vacation!

Mr. Terbrack

PS – Kristi, I want a detailed report of all grammar miscues on my desk by Monday.

How will I fill the void?

2011-05-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

We all knew it was coming. We were told it was happening. We even knew exactly when it would happen. But mental preparation is no match for reality- and I’m not talking about last Saturday’s apocalypse. No, this is something that actually happened and I’m still struggling to get my head around it. We all have different ways of coping with life-changing events. But the first step in the process is always getting over the denial. Here goes:

NO MORE OPRAH! Whooooooooohooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will the void with party time- beginning at 4 pm today (until PTO)! I’ve made no secret about my disdain for Okrah (http://principal.lasalette-school.org/2010/12/its-beginning-to-look-lot-like.html). It’s not that she’s a bad person. And she has done wonderful things for people (at least that’s what I’m told). But I will never understand the general public’s (and primarily female according to statistics, with the exception of a fellow named Steadman) fascination with this woman and her fluctuating weight. I also despise the fact that she made sure everything she ever did was known by everyone in the whole world. I believe it was Jesus that told us that we should not seek recognition for the good things we do (if you don’t believe me, Matthew has my back (6:1), “… alms giving must not be motivated by pride or the desire for recognition. God desires for you to acknowledge Him first. If you give alms for earthly recognition or hopes of rewards, you are not putting God first in your life. You are putting yourself above God in your alms giving and church offerings...”). That’s a legitimate theological reason for not being an Oprahoman. I rest my case. Sadly, although she doesn’t have a talk show anymore, she has an entire network to continue peddling her propaganda.

Also, my wife is pregnant- due in December. Since I don’t use this blog shamelessly for my own horn-tooting I debated for the last month whether I should even announce it on here, but, hey, Oprah’s gone and I'm a bit exhuberant today.!

Now, on to the important business at La Salette…

Today was a great day for me as principal because I got to graduate some little preschool angels. Mrs. Cotton and Mrs. Carr did a wonderful job with the students (as they always do) and the ceremony was very well attended. Preschoolers are great because they actually like me. Whenever I visited them they would run up to me to tell if they had a timeout, or give me a hug, or just tell me about their days. The older kids see me coming and move to other side of the hallway, or get really quiet when I walk into the room, or quickly try to make sure their shirts are tucked in. But alas, we all have our crosses. Congratulations to all the preschool graduates of 2011- I can’t wait to see you all next year in the multiage room!

Don’t forget about the big PTO meeting this evening at 7 pm. Outgoing officers will be honored, and incoming officers will be nominated and elected. This is also the last meeting of the year so we will begin planning for next year. I hope to see everyone tonight.

And when I see everyone tonight I’ll be collecting any registration forms and fees that have not yet been turned in. Although I don’t need to reiterate the importance of getting this information to me today/tonight, I will anyway. We are getting close to the number of registrations that I need to make sure my budget is balanced next year. But close only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades (so I’ve been told), so we are not yet at our goal. This is not the time to dawdle. Our AOD grant is tied to registration, and not getting that grant will leave me with an insolvent proposed budget. You don’t need to be Governor Snyder to realize that insolvent budgets do not work- and will not work here next year. If I don’t have a budget that is solvent, there will be no school. I know there are concerns about the tuition increase. I know there are other reasons people are waffling about registration. To those people, I simply ask, how important is La Salette to you? And if the answer is “very, critically, or infinitely” I ask that you get that form to me as soon as possible.

I mentioned last week about the La Salette Memorial Day ceremony that will be Monday morning at 10 am. This is simply a reminder to support the Berkley American Legion by attending the brief but important ceremony.

Also, as is usually the case on half days, we will not have latchkey services after school next Wednesday or Thursday. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Shameless plug portion of today’s blog:

Our Academy math teacher, Jennifer Van Every, provides math tutoring services during the summer for any parent that is interested (grades 4 and up). You can talk to her at school, or call her directly at 248-953-9887 (please make all prank calls between the hours of midnight – 3 am).

Have a great long weekend!

Mr. Terbrack

Big Brother is Watching Us

2011-05-20T11:05:00.000-07:00

George Orwell’s utopian novel 1984 shares a commonality with La Salette in 2011- someone is closely watching from afar (closely from afar? Paradoxical yet true). In 1984, it was Big Brother. For La Salette, it’s the Archdiocese of Detroit. The AOD has invested $50,000 in our school next year to help kick-start our multiage program, and to help out with expenses. They also have a close eye on our budget numbers for 2011-2012, which specifically means enrollment, to protect their investment. I’ve written for weeks of the need to register for next year by the end of next week. Many have done so- but many also have not. To ensure that we get this grant from the AOD, I need to have an accurate budget projection (a.k.a. specific number of registrations) by Memorial Day weekend (a.k.a. next weekend). If we do not reach our goal (and this means registration forms AND fees) we are at serious risk of losing this very important source of funding. Losing that funding will have serious repercussions on our ability to maintain financial solvency, which will have an even greater impact on our ability to educate our students. It is always difficult to change precedents- and for whatever reason La Salette has had a precedent of registering very late in the summer- but I need everyone’s help in changing that now and in the future. Please do not delay in getting those forms and fees turned in early next week. The sooner we have solid enrollment numbers, the sooner these messages will cease.

The Class of 2011 with their esteemed homeroom teacher, Mrs. Van Every

Last night was a wonderful night for our graduating eighth graders (at left) as we recognized all of their accomplishments. Tonight will be their final send off at our 2011 Commencement Ceremony.

Since this is my blog, I’ll take some time here to talk a bit about the graduates (at the ceremony tonight, I will be making “remarks” as I’ve been told this is specifically NOT a “speech”. I take that as a not-so-thinly-veiled reminder that no one is there to hear me speak ad nauseam about anything). When I came to La Salette as a long-term sub for Mrs. Hartzell three years ago, I met Alicia, Marie, Lauren, Joe, Trinity, and Abby for the first time. Poor Ellie had the misfortune of growing up one house away from my parents, and thus having to admit to her classmates that she already knew “Danny” (as I was called in my younger years- you have to be grandfathered in to call me that). Since these kids were a part of my first time back in the halls of La Salette, I feel a special connection to them. I have seen each of them grow personally over the past 3 years into students that I am proud to call my peers as fellow La Salette graduates. I’ve built relationships with all them (relationships that I consider to be respectful and meaningful although they may define the teacher-principal-student relationship a bit differently) that I hope will continue in the future. These students will represent La Salette well wherever life takes them and I’m privileged to have played a small part in their development as a teacher and administrator. The same is true for the final member of our octet, Demetrius, who joined us at the beginning of this school year. I wish we would’ve had the opportunity to know Demetrius longer as he began the year a bit guarded and trepidacious of his new surroundings (justifiably so). Over the course of the year his caring personality really began to shine, especially with the younger kids. I will miss each of the departing graduates and I wish them nothing but success in the future.

In case anyone was unaware, today concludes our last full week of school. We have only two partial weeks left because next weekend is Memorial Day and the following week is our last week. The last full day of school for students is Tuesday, May 30th, while June 1st is a half-day, and June 2nd is a half-day and the final day for students in the 2010-2011 school year. This really brings the end of the year into perspective. Just like a first year teacher, a first year principal is constantly learning, adapting, and improving; all experiences that will make me a better principal next year and in the future. I’ll have more on this topic (I’m sure you’re all eagerly anticipating that work of literary art) in my official end of the year blog post.

I want to again recognize the phenomenal job that Mr. Schulz did with our students this year in music class, evidenced by our two concerts. As I mentioned at the spring concert, he does a remarkable job with only seeing the students once a week. Great job Mr. Schulz!

(Believe me?)

Each year on Memorial Day, Berkley American Legion Post 374 performs a short ceremony and presents the school with a new flag. This year, the ceremony will take place at 10 am. In the past, this very important ceremony has been very poorly attended. Memorial Day is a time to remember all of those who have fought and died for the freedoms that we often take for granted. In fact, the flag pole on Coolidge was given to the school in 1946 by Post 374 and rededicated in 2000. If you are able to take a few minutes out of your day Monday, May 30th, to join us, the veterans who perform the ceremony would greatly appreciate it.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Terbrack

My Wife and I Have Something In Common...

2011-05-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

We both hate it when I'm right about something.

I was preparing my mea culpa. I was ready to feast on crow. I was going to happily admit that I was wrong- and proud of it. But alas, I wasn’t wrong. For the second year in a row the Wings have been ousted from the playoffs by Joe Thornton and the stupid-face San Jose Sharks. I will admit; however, that I thought the Wings would bow in game 5 or 6 and didn’t foresee the series going 7 seven games. At least they put up a fight this year. In defeat there is (supposed to be) strength so hopefully the Wings will again have to learn the hard way- changes will be made in the offseason and the storied tradition will begin again next year.

In many ways, the Red Wings path mirrors that of La Salette School. The Wings have made the playoffs for 20 straight seasons- a professional sports record. La Salette has been a leader in educational excellence for over 60 years. The Wings have been relying on most of the same players for many years and will see some significant changes next year to keep up with the new NHL. La Salette has relied on the same formula for success since its existence. La Salette will see a significant change in its elementary program next year to keep up with changes in education and the world. We can’t afford to sit back and rest on our laurels any longer. We aren’t afraid to make changes or take chances (researched-based, best practice chances) in order to continue to be great. Just as the Wings need to do everything they can to keep their fans in the stands, we will do everything we can to keep our students and parents happy with our school.

That last part leads me to a point that I need to make. I’m fully aware of the impact that the tuition increase will have on families (and as someone who was laid-off for two years from public schools this is not just lip service) and if there was anything I could do to change it, I would. But, the reality right now is that I cannot without a parish subsidy. So what are my options? Close the school and give up? Not my style. And I don’t mean for this to be taken the wrong way, but I don’t think my parents should do that either. You are all here right now because you value all the things that La Salette has to offer. If that’s true, don’t settle for less than the best. Your children are your most precious possessions. You know what La Salette graduates look like in high school, college, and beyond (present blogger included). A Catholic education at La Salette is the best investment you will ever make (equaling the investment of a Brother Rice or Marian education [Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed by Mr. Terbrack are his and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Our Lady of La Salette]). I know the economy is still in the tank. I know that wage increases are not keeping up with inflation. But I also believe that if something is truly important (and what it more important than your kids?) there is a way to make it work. Although your students may not appreciate the sacrifices you make for them right now, they will in the future. Long before I started working here, I realized how much my parents sacrificed to send me (and three siblings at the same time) to La Salette. I also realized how much La Salette personally did for me in terms of education, spirituality, and life preparation. There is the same connection to this school that other students only feel toward their high school alma maters. There is a La Salette difference and sometimes we forget that.

[Final Editor’s note: The preceding is not coming from Mr. Terbrack, the principal, but from Dan Terbrack, lifelong parishioner and very proud alumnus of Our Lady of La Salette, class of ’94]

I’ve said for some time now that I am dependent on our registrations for the upcoming budget and staffing decisions. I need to have my budget submitted before Memorial Day and that means I need a solid projection on my numbers for next year. Please don’t procrastinate in getting your registration and fees in to Pam (by next week please). Yes, tuition will be a challenge- but the alternative is far worse. Have faith in God, faith in our school, and faith in yourselves.

There is a lot of action around here next week:

On Tuesday we have NJHS (National Junior Honor Society) inductions immediately following our school Mass. Later that evening, we have our Spring Concert (remember the incredible job the Mr. Schulz did with the students at Christmas?) followed by an ice-cream social outside (the concert has been on the calendar for a while but the social was added by teachers last week as a thank you for another great year).

Wednesday (afternoon) is Field Day and the 8th graders last day of school.

Thursday night at 6 pm is the 8th grade Honors Dinner.

Friday night at 6:30 is the 8th grade commencement ceremony. Please join me as we send our well prepared graduates off to tackle the challenges of high school.

The next week is full of picnics and field trips as we move towards Memorial Day and the last week of school.

I look forward to celebrating the accomplishments of our athletes with everyone tonight at the Sports Awards Banquet at 7 pm in the gym.

Enjoy Berkley Days and have a great weekend,

Mr. T.

Mailbag!

2011-05-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

For today’s blog, I thought I’d answer some questions that I’ve received over the last few weeks.

Question: How is registration for next year going? –Jim, Seattle

Well Jim, I’m glad you asked. Registration for next year is actually going well, in terms of registration forms filled out. However, not all of those forms have been accompanied by the requisite fee. Without the fees, the forms are not complete, and I cannot officially add those families to the ledger for ’11-’12. As I’ve mentioned in the past, in order to create an accurate budget for the next fiscal year, I need my completed registrations (including fee) before Memorial Day. Without a tuition subsidy from the parish, I have to pay my teachers completely through collected tuition and I need to have a committed number of students before making staff decisions.

Question: I frequently read your blog and have read a lot about this multiage program. How do your teachers feel about this change, and have they begun preparing for it? Megan, Green Bay

Hello Megan. My teachers are very excited about the change. They realize that this is a big undertaking but they are committed to making La Salette the best it can be. I didn’t have to do a lot of selling to the teachers to get them on board. In fact, I asked them to do their own research on multiage education after I presented my thoughts on the subject. They found the same positive studies and research that I found and came to the same conclusion- this approach truly is in the best interests of our students, and that excites them. To answer the second part of your question, yes, they have begun training. Over our Easter break, 7 of my teachers observed and spoke with teachers that have been involved in multiage education for a number of years. That kind of institutional wisdom is invaluable. My teachers took this newfound knowledge and created model multiage lessons and classrooms for our last Open House. The experience of creating lessons and developing a classroom atmosphere was a great introduction to multiage education. We will be planning more of these visits, as well as, registering for some multiage conferences this summer.

Question: Although I wasn’t able to attend the Parent Information Night, I heard that there was talk of an Archdiocesan grant to help your teachers prepare for multiage. Do you have any specifics on that grant? Lynn, Pittsburgh

Well Lynn, to be honest with you, I had heard rumblings about the actual amount before the Parent Information Night- but I didn’t have any official correspondence so I couldn’t announce it. I am pleased to report that I now have that official correspondence and the amount of the grant from the AOD is $20,000. This a clear show of support for La Salette and this program from the AOD.

Question: I used to live in Berkley, but I live in San Jose now. Do you think there is any way the Wings come back from this 3-0 deficit? Phillip, San Jose

Well Phil (if I can call you that), the short answer is no. The percentage that a team comes back from a 3-0 deficit is 1.4%. For whatever reason, the Sharks seem to be the Wings’ kryptonite. They may win tonight, but they will not win the series. I hope I’m wrong.

Question: I’m thinking about flying in to visit the area. Are there any events coming up around La Salette that in the next week or two that I could attend? Mario, Pahokee

What’s up, Mario? How’s that Florida weather treating you? Actually, we have a couple events coming up soon. If you can hop on a plane tonight or tomorrow morning, you’ll be here in plenty of time for tomorrow night’s Auction XII. To whet your palette, you can see the list of available items right here http://www.lasalette-school.org/docs/auction12.pdf. There will be even more items on the “Hot-sheet” that is produced tomorrow night, and you can buy an Auction ticket at the door. I hear Spirit Airlines has a couple of deals right now, so hustle up! As long as you’re here, you might as well stay for a week. That would give you time to attend two great events next Friday. First, you can support the Red Cross by donating some blood during the day. One measly pint of your blood will help save the lives of three other people! To reserve your spot, go online at www.redcrossblood.org. To find our blood drive, enter 'lasalette123' as the sponsor code. Select “click to schedule an appt. to donate”. If this is your first rodeo, you’ll have to create a profile before logging in. After you’ve saved some lives, stick around La Salette for the Sports Awards Banquet later that night to recognize our outstanding athletes and coaches. Sound like a plan?

Question: I read in the Free Press that you had students go to D.C. this week? How was the trip? Sandra, Ann Arbor.

Well, they just arrived home at 6 am this morning, so I don’t have much to report yet. Early reviews are great though. I’ll have more next week.

Question: Is this Sunday Mother’s Day? Dan, Berkley

Yes, I believe it is. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all mothers (but especially mine and my wife) a very happy Mother’s Day. Speaking from personal experience, I wasn’t able to really appreciate everything my mom did for me as youngster until I was a bit older. I know that I would not be the upstanding citizen I am today without her- thanks Mom, I love you. Really, we should probably thank our mothers and fathers everyday instead of the one day a year designated for it.

Question: Your blogs are too lengthy. Do you really think people have the time (or desire) to read all that nonsense? Jacqueline, Berkley

Probably not… but you keep reading anyway!

Better late than never.

2011-04-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

Not so pertinent information:

Good things come to those who wait… generally. Not all of my blog updates are classified as “good things,” but this one did come with a wait of 6 days. I planned on updating last Thursday, but life intervened and I was a bit preoccupied with my little girl last week. Here is a very accurate portrait of how we are spending our daddy-daughter break together:

The claim that my blogs are “self-serving” or “self-involved” may actually be true, and I must have genetically passed those traits on to my daughter. What is she watching so intently on that computer? Herself. She wants to do nothing but watch videos of herself the entire day either on the TV or on a computer. She is quite a self-involved little girl- I guess, like her daddy.

[In hindsight, this whole post is already self-serving. Great. I’ll have to change that]

More pertinent information:

As I mentioned in yesterday’s email, our Open House plans are in full swing. The flier has been posted on the website and can be sent out to anyone via this link http://www.lasalette-school.org/docs/openhousemay3.pdf. Fliers are in the printing process right now that will be stuffed into bulletins Friday morning (if anyone is looking to spend some quality time at La Salette on Friday morning- I’ll figure out the exact time later today- stuffing bulletins with me, it would be greatly appreciated). This Open House will different than previous Open Houses because we will be showing off our new multiage elementary program. That means parents will not be visiting the K-5 rooms individually as in the past. Instead, the teachers will be together in a multiage setting to model what the program will look like next year. Now we can’t totally transform the middle floor yet, because we still have a month of school to go, but it will serve as a little sneak peek of what is to come. Additionally, I have a number of teachers that have chosen to spend part of their break observing multiage classrooms in an effort to be more prepared for our Open House. Again, this is just another example of our teachers going above and beyond for you and your children. Similarly to the last Open House, I’d like parents to be in classrooms with the teachers as well to give that all-important parent perspective on our school and our teachers. I specifically need some help in Mrs. Van Every’s room since she will be in Washington, D.C., with our eighth graders. If you’d like to spend some time in her room, please email me (dan.terbrack@lasalette-school.org) so I can be sure it is covered.

This Sunday at 9:30 is a very special Mass for our 2nd graders as they will be making their First Holy Communions. Please come to Mass to support these students as they receive this Sacrament for the first time. We also have a very special school Mass on Tuesday as second grader Christian Farwell will be baptized and make his First Communion with the entire school congregation. This will be a truly memorable day for Christian and everyone that is able to be a part of it.

The stress of Open House will subside just in time for Saturday’s (May 7th) Auction. Be ready to spend some money, cavort with friends, and support La Salette! I had an absolutely great time at last year’s Auction and I look forward to sharing that with everyone again this year. The Auction Committee has worked tirelessly again and I want to give a shout out to my two Auction liaisons, Linda Gable-Smith and Debbie Fritsch for everything they do to make this night possible.

There is still time to register for 2011-2012, but time is running out. Registrations need to be completed by the end of May so don’t delay (unintentional rhyming)!

Time to pick up Addison from her grandparents’ house.

Enjoy the rest of break!

Mr. Terbrack

Today Makes My Head Hurt

2011-04-15T11:48:00.000-07:00

WOW. But not in a good way. In that way when you feel fine, but there seems to be a constant stream of non-stop, earth-shattering school drama that just grates on your brain. I believe today would make the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most injuries (students and teachers), Name-callings, Chasings, Breakings, Mean friends, Lies, Deceit, Propaganda, Loud Festivals and General Drama in One School Day."[Edit: Since I began writing this post, I've decided to institute a "drum moratorium" for the remainder of the year- ask your students about it] Of course, I'll have to call Guinness to verify this. It is entirely possible that I'm just whining, and we did, in fact, not set a record, or (and probably much more likely) that there is no such record to be found in Guinness and this should be more appropriately labeled a typical Friday in a K-8 school. Furthermore, if there is a school section in Guinness, I may have a better chance to make it as "Shameless Use of a Blog to Whine about an Otherwise Great Job." But I digress.

WOW. In a good way this time, though. I was at a principals' meeting at the Archdiocese of Detroit this week and there is a ton of excitement about our new multiage program. In fact, our program was touted to all principals in attendance as a model that will serve as the standard in education for many other schools in the AOD. As I mentioned at Parent Night, the AOD is not only supporting us with nice words and well-wishes, but with a significant amount of grant money to help jumpstart the program. Sure there will be some questions along the way and some kinks to be worked out, but the excitement surrounding our school in circles other than our community is something that we have not had in quite some time. There will be some media coverage coming out early next week about our program that I will make sure to send out to everyone. Even after a trying day like today, I take solace in the fact that our students will be getting the benefits of this great, research-based, program next year, and that La Salette will get some of the recognition that it deserves for being an outstanding educational institution. I am blessed to be a part of it.

Speaking of our school next year, I have planned our next Open House for Tuesday, May 3rd from 6-8 pm. I looked at Sundays for this Open House, but with First Communion the first Sunday in May, and Mother's Day the next, I thought we'd have a better turnout on the 3rd. This Open House will begin to showcase some of the elements of our multiage program, including some model lessons. I invite all current families to attend as well, and since you're coming, you might as well bring a few friends with you (and don’t forget about our tuition incentive program for recruiting new families). Like our last Open House, I'm counting on our great parents to spread the message of our school. If you need more incentive- the more students we have in the building, the lower the tuition costs will be in the future. (See that, I'm trying to help you!) There will be much more about this Open House next week. I will not convene the All-Stars group this time because we already have a good plan in place from February's Open House, but I will be constantly reminding you to spread the word, and looking for volunteers on the night of the 3rd.

Coming up next week we have the 37th Annual (I may have made that up) Hramiec Run. We still need volunteers next Wednesday to help coordinate the run. The run is an event that all students look forward to every year and if you're available to join us, please do so. I have all my pledges and I'm ready to go. Since I haven't been able to make it to the gym as often as I'd like (just ask my wife - she'll tell you that I haven't gone in almost a year... which may, or may not, be accurate), I'm shooting for 10 laps this year. Incidentally, the class that brings in the most pledges (on average) will get the opportunity (on Field Day) to toss pies at my face. Fantastic.

Tonight is the final Fish Fry for 2011 Lenten Season. As always, the Boosters did a wonderful job this year of providing good food and good company all Fridays during Lent. I'll see everyone there tonight for the last hurrah of 2011.

If you haven't registered yet for 2011-2012 school year, please do so. As I've mentioned numerous times, our new financial structure makes it imperative that I have all current students registered for next year prior to the end of this school year. In fact, if I don't have enough of my students registered by the end of this year to create an accurate budget for 2011-2012, I may not be able to open the school next August. The reason I say that is if I only have 40 kids registered (not necessarily the case, just using it as an example) for next year in a cost-based budget, I won't be able to cover the salaries of the my teachers for next year. If we have no teachers, we obviously have no school. I have a minimum number of students required to cover the cost of salaries that we must reach before the end of the year. Once that number has been met, additional students will only help ease the budget pressure.

That is all for today; enjoy your weekend.

Mr. Terbrack

Don’t call me Montessori- My name is Multiage.

2011-04-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

Before I begin, I want to thank Karen Fabian and Peggy Squires for their comments on Tuesday night. As principal, I can only offer my perspective on the situation. Karen’s perspective as a teacher is critical to the success of the program. Her willingness (and the willingness of the other teachers) to be trained in a new program shows how dedicated to our mission she is. Peggy, as a mother of three La Salette students, has more credibility than Karen or I to talk about the changes in program and tuition because she and Andy make the choice and commitment to send their most prized possessions to us for academic, social, and spiritual achievement because they believe so strongly in our mission. Without the support of my teachers and parents, my presentation would have been meaningless.

Since Tuesday night’s presentation, I’ve heard a number of comments about the new direction of the elementary school (overwhelmingly positive). One comment that I’ve heard a number of times, though, is that we are taking up a Montessori-ish philosophy. While a small portion of that comparison is true, I wanted to take a moment to clarify this conception. First of all, there actually is no trademark or designation that makes something a “Montessori” school. Anyone can open up a school and call it Montessori. Obviously, the name Montessori has some connotations to it, but there is really no structure to be followed. In fact, Montessori schools are based on the absence of structure and freedom in learning. A multiage program is highly structured and based on content that is desired. The children are able to learn that content through discovery and collaboration, but at their own developmentally appropriate pace. The only true similarity between the two programs is the disparity in ages of the students in one room. However, even in this situation, Montessori schools can have much larger disparities than a true multiage classroom. Studies that support the Montessori approach generally do so on the basis of having age spans in the classroom that lead to improved social skills, problem-solving, etc. - the same benefits that our students will receive through our multiage approach. In summation, we take the positives from the Montessori approach and combine them with the rest of the advantages of our multiage program and you get the best of both worlds (not a Hannah Montana reference, although the fact that I know this is part of her theme song is probably a serious indictment on my ability to principal your children… please disregard it as such) - a super education courtesy of La Salette.

Another comment I’ve heard is, “if our IOWA scores are so high, why make changes?” Well, the simple answer is we can always be better. I’ve coached for many years, and no matter what level or sport I was coaching, I always preached getting better every day and never settling for success. This program will show further increases in our IOWA test scores, will help our ability to recruit students, and will place La Salette in a category all its own in the educational landscape. We will be a model for other private schools in terms of our educational philosophy, our financial structure, and our spiritual integration. My goal is for the students of La Salette to have the best possible education framed in the teachings of Christ. In my opinion, the changes for next year are a step in that direction.

While the students are always my number one priority, Opening Day for the Tigers is in the top 5. That is the reason for this special Thursday blog edition. I will be downtown tomorrow helping to usher in the 2011 baseball season in the D. While I will not be in school, you can all be assured that I will be thinking about my little angels the whole time I’m downtown. In the morning while I’m sipping my coffee, and in the afternoon while I’m having a soda, I’ll be pondering what the students are learning about. While I’m yelling for Max Scherzer to strike out Alex Gordon, I’ll really be thinking about the 8th grade presentation of the Stations of the Cross. When I catch Miguel Cabrera’s homerun ball, I’ll be imagining myself playing catch with some kindergartners. And when we’re celebrating after Papa Grande closes the game out, I’ll be visualizing our wonderful fish fry and Andy Squires making his maiden voyage on fryer 3.

A final bit of news as it relates to my NCAA Bracket. When we last met, my bracket was officially busted as I had no teams in the Final Four. As it turns out, neither did anyone else in my pool… and I WON!!! (Since gambling is illegal in the state of Michigan, I’ll say that I won 200 gumdrops)Thank you for your support during the tournament process.

Other serious business…

Report cards are sent home tomorrow as we have officially entered the 4th quarter. As I stated in previous blogs, due to the outstanding tuition, many report cards will be held and SnapGrade access will be cut off (unless we have already spoken and made arrangements). I hope you all understand the severity of this situation. The only serious threat to La Salette is not wondering if “they” will close our school; it’s the threat that our parents will force the school to close because they do not fulfill their tuition obligations.

3rd quarter awards will be given out after Mass next Tuesday. If you can join us, please do so.

Thanks and have great weekend. Play ball!!!!!!

Mr. Terbrack

April Foolin'

2011-04-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Wow... Already April in the D.

I've been debating (with myself) for the last 10 minutes on whether I should play a little April Fool’s Day prank on my readers, but I'm not really that kind of guy [Speaking of pranks, I read this morning that Betty White, 89 years young, is going to be doing a senior citizen prank show in which the seniors prank unsuspecting youngsters... I bet Depends and Super Poligrip are lining up for commercial time]. Instead, I thought I'd simply list my April Fool recipient awards for 2011:

1. Moammar Gadhafi- Duh.

2. John Kuester- Has zero control of his team and is constantly challenged by his players. Pistons are an embarrassment because of him (or Joe for hiring him).

3. Oprah- Why does she have an entire network? See, she is the self-serving one.

4. Glen Beck- Lifetime member of this club.

5. Steve Carell- I will miss Michael Scott and The Office will perish without him.

6. Phil Coke- Great first outing of the year. Time to ditch the mullet.

7. Charlie Sheen- He opens up his tour at the Fox. I'm sure it will be winning.

8. Rick Snyder- I generally try not to be political... but this budget seems to be upsetting EVERYONE. Maybe that's what this state needs but I worry that there won't be anyone left in the state by the time he's finished.

9. NFL Owners and NFLPA (currently dissolved) - I get it- You're all rich and want to be richer. I just want to watch football.

10. Me- Nobody likes a hypocrite. I'm sure my wife could give some legitimate reasons for me to be on this list.

Oh, I almost forgot, there's a lot going at La Salette too!

First, as I SnapGraded yesterday, there will be a very important "Parent Information Night" for the upcoming school year on Tuesday, April 5th, at 6:30. In case you missed the email, here it is again:

I proudly invite all of you to attend our 2011-2012 “Parent Information Night” next Tuesday, April 5th, at 6:30 pm in the gym. To begin the evening, Susan Leslie (Associate Superintendent from the Archdiocese of Detroit) will give a presentation on the outstanding IOWA scores that our students consistently produce. Next, I will discuss some exciting changes taking place at La Salette next year that I cannot wait to tell everyone about. The evening will conclude with a presentation about the current budget and next year’s budget, along with some new ideas to keep La Salette financially strong in the future. As with everything we do here at La Salette, the best interests of the students are first and foremost, and the changes next year will give our students an advantage that other schools cannot compete with. It is very important that you attend, if possible. Our mission remains unchanged and we will continue to be the best place for students to Lea rn, Love, Lead, and Live On.

I'm not just blowing smoke because I'm the principal here. What I am going to present could be the best thing that has happened to La Salette since Iris Hramiec (and it has nothing to do with me)! Please, please, please try to attend this meeting (sans the children).

Next up, our very own Nick Uhlarik is continuing his media blitz in the wake of his Grand Award: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/03/30/54th-metro-detroit-science-fair-announces-awards/ He is scheduled to appear on Conan next Monday and Letterman on Tuesday. Oprah has called, but I said he's not interested.

Speaking of Iris Hramiec, her annual run will be taking place April 20th. Start stretching. This year, we will return to our roots by running in the parking lot. Last year, I only did 8 laps. This year I'm going for double digits. Information will be out very soon so commence the buttering-up for pledges (I am hearing rumors that there may be another opportunity to throw a pie in my face. I can’t confirm or deny or the rumor)

There is a "Parent Information Night" coming up next Tuesday at 6:30 pm in the gym. We will be discussing all things related to the next school year... and some very exciting changes!

I'm going golfing tomorrow morning. If I have pneumonia next week it's my own fault.

Finally, next week's blog will be out Thursday. I will not be in school next Friday because of Tiger Fever.

See everyone at the Fish Fry!

Have a great weekend,

Mr. T.

Tuesday Surprise

2011-03-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

Readers,

I've received a ton of hate mail and angry phone calls this week expressing outrage because I didn't post a blog last Friday. I apologize for that mistake. In an attempt to appease the populace, I'm going for two blogs this week. However, be careful what you wish for...

The Good

Congratulations to Nick Uhlarik (6th Grade) for winning a Grand Award for his science fair project “Only 1000 Miles to Go” at Cobo Hall. Neither I nor Mrs. Boura could recall the last time a La Salette student won the top prize in his category (zoology). This is a tremendous achievement for Nick, his family, and La Salette. [Nick told me that he would like to thank the anonymous donor that let him borrow a fan that was critical to the success of his project. Although it is anonymous for my purposes, if you ask him who was so hospitable, he'll probably tell you]. Another of our students, Mikayla Johnson (6th grade) won a First Place Award at Cobo. Congratulations to Mikayla for her hard work.

We also had 4 winners from a Knights of Columbus poster contest about drug and alcohol awareness. Each won a $25 gift certificate and will be participating in a statewide competition. They are: Marie Carey (8th grade), Lexie Thomas (7th grade), Amelia Green (3rd grade), and Adriana Prakken (6th grade). Congratulations to these winners and good luck at the state competition!

The Bad

My bracket is shot. None of my teams made the Final Four (thank you Kansas).

The Frustrating

I have tried to diplomatically demonstrate my frustration with outstanding tuition a number of times. Now, I'm simply going to show you how distressing the situation really is. By March 31st (two days) ALL tuition obligations for this school year should have been paid. Now I realize that there are going to be a few outliers for a variety of reasons. However, we don't have a few outliers- we have a ton. These are the accurate tuition numbers from today: $121,337.70 in outstanding tuition for the current school year. That represents a 22% shortfall in our budget. That represents 37% of our TOTAL school population. I don't fancy myself as a bill collector. I wasn't hired to be a collections agent. I was hired to run this school and to educate your children to the absolute best of my ability with our wonderful teachers through the message of Christ. We are dependent on your tuition to pay our staff. With the current outstanding tuition, we may not be able to pay our teachers- the same teachers who go above and beyond the call of duty every single day for your children. The decision to give your children the advantages that La Salette provides is not without cost. If we could do this for free, we would. But, please, think about our teachers and staff- they are the ones who will be suffering if this money doesn't start coming in. Additionally, report cards come out next Friday (April 8th). I will be forced to hold a tremendous amount of report cards (and cut off SnapGrade access) if tuition does not come in. The next step would be to keep students out of class and turn the information of over to a collections agency. I'm not so naive to think that there aren't some extenuating circumstances that make it extremely difficult to keep your tuition current-I understand that. I'm asking for a good faith attempt to improve our economic standing as soon as possible. I sincerely appreciate your attention in this matter and I thank everyone that has fulfilled their obligation to La Salette this year.

That's it for Tuesday...stay tuned for some Friday fun.

Mr. T

March Madness

2011-03-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday readers,

As everyone should know by now, we have been focusing on stewardship this month in preparation for this Sunday's children's Mass at 9:30. Prior to this month, many of our students didn't really understand the concept of stewardship as it relates to the Church. Now, the students have a much better understanding of what it means to be a good steward of the gifts that God has given each of us. Stewardship generally focuses on three areas: time, talent, and treasure. Even in our busy lives, we can find time to help those around us- especially in our faith community. We don't all have to help out in the same ways because we all have different talents. For example, some of us like working with children and we can help teach them about the message of Jesus. Some us can cook/bake and we can donate those wares to bake sales, to those in need, to those grieving, etc. The treasure part is often easier to understand, but more difficult to do. Parting with our hard-earned money forces us to make serious decisions. Should I go out to eat this week, or should I put it in the collection basket? Should I buy that new _______________ or could I live without it and instead donate that money to those who really need it? Believe me, I'm not being hypocrite. I need to ask myself those questions much more than I currently do. I probably didn't need to buy a video game this week (yeah, that's right, I did. I'm a principal, councilmember, dad, and increasingly old man and I still play video games) and could've given that money to La Salette instead (wow...Catholic guilt even works in hindsight!). These are the tough questions that we all need to ask ourselves. We have a responsibility to take care of the Church and to take care of those around us. Our students have a done a great job of learning about stewardship, and at Mass this week, the poster boards that they have created to demonstrate that understanding will be on full display. I hope to see all of my students at Mass this weekend. We can all learn lessons from our most prized possessions: our children.

Since the NCAA Tournament is now in full swing, I thought I'd continue the theme of stewardship as it relates to basketball. The Spartans of Michigan State were not very good stewards of the basketball last night. Twice being down by more than 20 points did not fully demonstrate their talents. Ironically enough, I picked them to win last night (that’s what I get for trusting in Sparty). Conversely, the Wolverines were great stewards of their gifts. The used their talents to win by 30 points and advanced to the next round of the tourney and a possible date with Duke (I have Duke winning that game, by the way). For those that were wondering, my bracket is pretty good shape right now.

Back to Mass this Sunday. I'm very proud that one of our recent graduates, Jordan Woods (class of '10) will be speaking at Mass to talk about his experiences at La Salette and his decision to be baptized last year. Jordan is a great ambassador for our school and our faith and I look forward to hearing him speak about both this weekend. Jordan is just another example of why La Salette is such a special place to learn and grow. Please join me in supporting him this weekend at the Children's Mass.

Additionally...

The weather is finally breaking! In fact, much to wife's delight, I even took down my Christmas lights on Wednesday! It's time break out the golf shovels and get ready for Tigers' Opening Day.

Don't forget about the Fish Fry tonight. Our Boosters put on a great fry every Friday during Lent. Although I missed last week, I'll be there tonight taking up residence in front of a fryer.

We are halfway through our week of birthdays. Mrs. Miller's was on the 17th and Mrs. Beaujean's is tomorrow (their ages have been withheld). Next week, we have Mrs. Lockett (the 22nd) and Mrs. Van Every (the 23rd).

There is a PTO meeting next Thursday (the 24th) to begin planning for the end of the year. Remember, parents that attend get a casual day for their children on Friday.

Speaking of Friday, next Friday is our Spring Fun Picture day. I'm not exactly sure what that is, but it sounds interesting.

That's all for now- see you at the fish fry tonight and Mass on Sunday!

Mr. Terbrack

Back to the Future: Part II

2011-03-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

Hello readers,

March is here and April is on the way. The Tigers are in Lakeland. It rains, it snows, it sleets, it’s warm, it’s cold and the weather prognosticators look like Sarah Palin answering questions from Katie Couric (too political? Come on, even the most ardent Tea-Partier would agree that she had a less than stellar showing). March is the time tuition obligations are to be paid, and for me, March is a time to look towards next year’s school budget.

As I mentioned last December, my biggest challenge this year has proven to be collecting tuition (if you forgot, you can read my time on the soapbox here http://principal.lasalette-school.org/2010/12/as-i-think-about-future-of-la-salette.html). Again, I realize that this is a difficult issue to broach, but I’m a firm believer in transparency and letting everyone know where we stand. With the current amount of outstanding tuition, I cannot accurately create a budget for next year, and I’ll explain why. (The numbers I’m using are not the actual numbers- I’m just creating a scenario that is easy to understand) If we have 50 registered students, paying $2500 per year, I should expect to take in $125,000. That money would then be used to pay salaries, benefits, etc. However, if of those 50 students only 35 fulfill their obligation that leaves me $37,500 in the red and searching for places to cut. I want to emphasize that the vast majority of tuition pays our wonderful teachers’ salaries. Without tuition, we have no teachers. I’m not saying that people aren’t going to fulfill their obligation, but from my standpoint, I cannot create a sound budget if I don’t have the numbers to back it up [Again, the previous numbers are fictitious].The school needs to act as enterprise fund, meaning we are not dependent upon, nor should we expect, a parish subsidy. In my experience with the city of Berkley’s budget and now my experience with the school’s this year, I cannot in good conscience come up with a budget that is not soundly balanced, or that is balanced based on wishes and magical leprechauns. The second phase of this would be registrations for next year. The sooner I get firm numbers from registrations, the sooner I can begin evaluating how to best allocate our resources. If you’re not sure how to register for next year, stop by and see Mrs. Lockett.

So what exactly am I getting at? We cannot ignore our obligation to Our Lady of La Salette School and Academy. This is not a personal attack directed towards anyone. I was hired to take care of our school and financial solvency is a huge component. I’ve spent my life espousing the virtues of Our Lady of La Salette, just like many of you have or currently are. Everyone reading this blog believes in the spiritual and academic foundation that our school provides. I’d gladly put the education that a child receives at La Salette against any other school’s (public or private) and you would too; otherwise you would not be here. However, without the necessary evil of tuition, none of that matters. We are a family, and every member of the family has to contribute their obligation to keep us together.

Last summer, I took aim at improving our 6th-8th grades with the formation of our academy. In its first year, the academy has been successful in prepping our kids for life (a.k.a. the academy tagline). But we can always get better. I’m very excited to announce that this summer my focus will be on improving our elementary program based on the needs of our students and rooted in scientific research and best practices (much more on this at a later date… I just want to build the suspense)

In other news…

The Fish Fry returns tonight! Although I will not be present to take my spot on Fryer 2 (I’ll be in Cleveland with my hockey team), the food will be great. Please join us every Friday during Lent.

Come join our students and chaperones from Expedition: Yellowstone on Sunday (5 pm) for a spaghetti dinner and slideshow. It’s a great time to hear their stories and to check out their photos.

Next week is a big week. Not only will the NCAA Tournament begin, but we also have St. Patrick’s Day and the kickoff to a weeklong birthday celebration. Mrs. Miller’s birthday is on St. Paddy’s Day, Mrs. Beaujean’s birthday is the 19th, Mrs. Lockett’s birthday is the 22nd, and Mrs. Van Every’s birthday is the 23rd. If you see any of these folks in the next week couple weeks, wish them a happy birthday.

We also have the CLT Children’s Mass coming up March 20th at 9:30 (also youth participation). The students will all be creating posters to hang around the church and I hope everyone can make it to Mass.

Friday the 25th is Spring Fun Picture Day, so begin planning your ensemble.

Tigers' Opening Day is April 8th.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. Terbrack

Just like riding a bike.

2011-03-05T10:01:00.000-08:00

Howdy readers,

I hope I remember how to do this. Since it has been such a long time since we last met, I thought I'd begin with a brief recap:

We had an open house on February 15th. End of recap.

Since that open house, we've had 5 new families register to join our family. Ironically, only two of those registrations came as a direct result of the open house, with the other three coming after viewing our website or hearing about us in the parish. We also had three students take advantage of our free trial offer this week (one from open house). Additionally, I've given tours to three other families this week. To me, those numbers represent fairly significant interest in our school. With this being the case, it's very important that all current families register for next year as soon as possible to guarantee their spots in our very in-demand school. We will begin planning for our spring open house in the near future so enjoy this little respite from my pleas for your help (by "near future" I mean next week).

On to new business...

Our Yellowstoners (yeah, I said that) returned last Saturday from a great week of exploration, education, and excitement (I always enjoy alliteration). "But wait Mr. Terbrack," you may ask, "I thought they were supposed to return late Friday night?" Well, that is true. They were supposed to return Friday, but by a stroke of good luck, their bus wouldn't start and they got to enjoy an extra night of adventure for free! God was truly smiling down on those 14 students and 6 chaperones. [Edit: There may be a bit more to that story but I'll let you ask one of the students or chaperones about it] If you're interested in hearing and seeing more about Expedition: Yellowstone 2011, join us Sunday, March 13th at 5:00 for a spaghetti dinner.

The Bronco basketball teams also wrapped up their seasons over break. Our varsity boys and girls both participated in the CYO playoffs. The girls went into the game extremely shorthanded due to Yellowstonegate, sickness, and injury and lost in a very competitive game. The boys drew archrival Shrine in the first round. The boys trailed by as many as 9 points in the fourth quarter but never gave up. In fact, they led the near the end of the game and an absolutely terrible call allowed Shrine to hit a free throw with a few seconds left to force OT. Undaunted, the Broncos persevered and sent the Shriners home unhappy. Next up was the host team, St. Thecla.

[photo courtesy of Curtis Smith]

Although this game was played at St. Thecla against St. Thecla, it seemed like a home game for us. Our fans were out in full force. The Broncos came out ready to play and controlled the game throughout. However, it was Thecla that was able to rally late and force OT. Unfortunately, the tables turned and the Broncos couldn't hit the shots late and lost a heartbreaker. Still, it was a great season for all of our basketball and cheerleading squads.

Tonight is Mardi Gras and Vegas Night in the gym. At 7:30 as part of the Mardi Gras celebration, Father Connell will pull the winning ticket for the Big Cash Raffle. If you have not yet purchased your tickets, you have up to 7:30 to buy them. I hope to see everyone there tonight.

Other than that, Lent begins next week. We will have our Lenten soup lunch on Ash Wedneday and the Booster's will have their first fish fry on Friday.

Have a great rest of the weekend,

Mr. T.

Relief: You know how to spell it

2011-02-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

And it's not R-O-L-A-I-D-S. It's o-p-e-n-h-o-u-s-e-i-s-o-v-e-r.

I almost wrote a special edition of the blog Wednesday morning but I didn't want to set a twice-a-week precedent. There were two reasons for this near blog: first, by most accounts the open house was a success (more on this later), and second, for the first time in two months I didn't have to think about planning the open house. This was the sweet relief that I (and I'm sure most of you parents) was waiting for.

I took a bit of flak for some of comments I made in the last couple blogs about my reliance on parents and a feeling of helplessness as we drew closer to open house (this is nothing new for me. Whether it's at school with parents and teachers, at the city with my colleagues and constituents, or coaching with the kids and the parents, I take a lot of flak. In fact, I probably need a flak jacket. Rimshot please). I'm not sure if it's possible to over-plan for something but if you would've asked me that question Monday I would've said yes. (Looking back, I now say the answer is no. There were some things that I didn't plan for.) I was on open house overload and I just wanted it to be over. I decided the only thing left to do was pray.

At 5:45 on Tuesday, I became a bit anxious. I was worried the only people that would attend were my wife and daughter. At 6:05, my fears were assuaged by the number of families already in the building. After that, things went very well. Since this is my blog, everything is from my perspective and it seems that the school revolves around me. I want to make it very clear right now: Open House was a success. And it was not because of me. We had more families attend Tuesday night's Open House than any other open house in the past 3 years (all the data I had) because of the hard work of our parents. I want to thank all of the parents that were involved throughout the open house process. There are too many to name here (as I also take some flak for the length of my posts...see, it never stops), but from the All-Stars during the planning process to all of the parents that were here in support of the school on Tuesday evening, I sincerely thank you.

Here is a bit more analysis from Open House: 57% of our guests attended because of "word of mouth"- meaning somebody, somewhere said something to them about La Salette. That's why I was so adamant in asking my parents to spread the word. This method will unquestioningly produce the best results. 33% of our guests attended thanks to Al Gore. That internet thing he invented paid huge dividends. Our website brought people in, our open house being listed on various online directories brought people in (e.g. Patch.com), and email blasts brought people in (as an aside, no one listed that they attended because of the Facebook. Now I didn't ask specifically what part of the internet shepherded these folks to La Salette, so it is possible that the Facebook was involved, but for now, I remain firmly off the Facebook bandwagon.) The remaining 10% said they were parishioners or Berkley residents that saw the open house signs on Coolidge. 0% said they came because of a print ad. This is such a common misconception. Print ads are by far the mostly costly marketing avenue and, at least for us, produce the worst results. We did run a few print ads, though. One was in the Oakland Press which has a rather larger subscription base. These ads don't sell our school. People sell our school. Relationships sell our school. Our parents sold our school.

[Note: I am not discounting the effort of our teachers. They also played a major role in the success of our Open House in preparing their classrooms, materials, and curriculum. Our teachers are wonderful and I thanked them in an internal communication]

I want everyone to enjoy next week. Take some time and relax.

When we come back, it will be time to begin planning for our spring open house. Yippee!!!!

In other news…

-As a special mid-winter break treat, I'm sending home registration information for next year. What a perfect time to fill out some paperwork. The sooner you register, the sooner you can rest easy knowing that you are giving your child/ren the foundation for success in all aspects of life. I'll assume everyone will be registered by Monday, February 28th (discounted registration fee!).

- 6th and 7th graders, along with Mrs. Boura and Mrs. Fabian will be at Yellowstone next week. Keep these students and teachers in your prayers so that they have the best experience possible. Enjoy the trip!

-We also have our monthly Youth Participation Mass this Sunday at 9:30. With many students going to Yellowstone, we’ll need some more participation. I’d like athletes to help during the offertory. As always for a Youth Participation Mass, I’d like everyone to wear their uniforms to show the parish how strong we are.

- Finally, as many of you already know, Julie and Isaac (5th grade) Walker will be leaving for Florida on Saturday after basketball. They will be gone through the end of the year. I will certainly miss both of them as Julie is extremely active in many parent organizations and is a great ambassador for our school and parish. Isaac is a great kid who will be successful in everything he does. I wish both of you luck (but I hope to see you again next school year). Please keep them in your prayers as well.

Have a great break!

Mr. T.

Surprise, surprise...

2011-02-11T12:06:00.000-08:00

In what I'm sure is a major shock to everyone; this post is exclusively about Tuesday's open house. Nothing in here should be new information. I just want to make sure that everyone is on the same page.

THE PLANNING PHASE

Over the past month, we've held many meetings specifically about the open house, with staff, Team, and parent organizations. I'm thankful for the dedicated few that attended most of these meetings. I am, however; a bit disconcerted that more parents did not get involved in this very important planning process. We dissected the various parts of the open house by forming subcommittees tasked with determining how to best present our school in each respective phase. The areas covered by the subcommittees were marketing, event, execution, and hospitality/building decor. I'll briefly discuss the outcomes from each of these groups.

MARKETING

Marketing has always been a tricky proposition. The general feeling has been a need to advertise in local papers and magazines. However, these types of ads require revenue that is often not available. Additionally, our results from these types of ads have been poor at best. We did run one print ad through the Oakland Press because it made sense economically. The problem with print ads is that they are all very similar, and they tend to grouped with similar institutions. Of course we point out things that make us unique, but that's the same thing every other school in those sections do. In lieu of strict print advertising, a couple of our parents worked diligently to get our open house on digital calendars, websites, and blogs, as well as, email blasts and Facebook (aka the bane of my existence unless droves of parents come in and say they heard about us from Facebook in which I will consider changing my tune). We also had fliers posted in local businesses.

What has proven to be the most effective method in the past is word of mouth, and that is where we have focused our marketing efforts. I have asked every parent at our school (a number of times) to be our sales force by spreading our message in your own neighborhoods. This method works because neighbors already share a common connection and the message is much more likely to be received in this manner rather than by someone who has no connection to the area. To assist our parents, we produced a high quality flier that includes all pertinent La Salette information, as well as testimonials from current parents. I also asked all of our families to get at least one other family to our open house. I'm not naive enough to think that means all these new families will register, but it does greatly enhance our chances to reach our enrollment goal for 2011-2012. Ultimately, the success of this open house is dependent on our parents.

Additionally, thanks to the Boosters, La Salette was a presenting sponsor at Berkley's wildly successful Winterfest last weekend. Our logo was on the official Winterfest shirts and we had a booth at the event with our fliers. This was the first step in reestablishing a presence in the city of Berkley.

EVENT

After much deliberation, it was decided that having an "event" tied to this particular open house was not the way to go. I was concerned (along with others) that such an event may draw in a lot of people, but not our target audience. We would have expended a lot of energy preparing an event that would have been well received but short on results. Instead, we decided to use the cafeteria space as a gathering area at the end of the guided tours (discussed later). In the gathering area, we will have representation and poster boards showing the various parent organizations, student organizations, parish organizations, and extracurricular activities. We will also have our hospitality in the cafeteria so our guests can snack while they are walking around looking the various organizations and activities. We will also have the winning science fair projects on display.

EXECUTION

This subcommittee was tasked with the actual open house execution. It was decided that there will be guided tours on a specific route. These tours will be given by an alumnus currently in high school and a current student. The tours will go through the building ultimately ending in the cafeteria. Each teacher will be in her classroom with various materials, resources and projects on display. The teachers will also have their newly created and actual curriculum maps (meaning what they've actually taught this year instead of what they hoped to cover) available for guests to look at. Additionally, there needs to be a minimum of one current parent in each classroom to answer the questions that only a parent can honestly answer. Father Connell will be on hand to greet our guests as they arrive. I will also be greeting, as well as floating around the building shaking as many hands and kissing as many babies as possible. Parents will be given an informational packet containing all pertinent information at the beginning of the tour. At the end of the tour, they will be forcibly restrained and not allowed leave the cafeteria until they have registered for next year (this part may have to be slightly modified).

HOSPITALITY/DECOR

The hospitality subcommittee was directed to appeal to our guests stomachs. We want our guests to enjoy tasty treats and beverages while they are perusing the organizations and activities in the cafeteria. An email was sent out to all parents asking for some donations by grade level for the smorgasbord (and another one today). There are also plans for balloons, ribbons, etc. In addition, the Dad's Club has volunteered (or was volunteered) for their annual pre-open house clean up this Sunday from 10 am - 2 pm. This should be a fun time had by all. Of course, this is a great way to earn service hours and help out the school.

THE TIME FOR PLANNING IS OVER

The success of our open house now rests solely with our parents. If the message of La Salette does not get out to our target audience, we will not succeed. With all of the developments coming out of Southfield (the district deciding that the per-pupil foundation grant will no longer follow school of choice students), there has never been a better opportunity for our parents in that city to spread the word. I don't like the feeling of limbo, but that's where I am now. In fact, I thought I had my first gray hair today, but then it fell out. As principal, I can talk to everyone on the street espousing the virtues of our school but it doesn't have the same force because I'm paid to do it. The parents that make the decision to spend their hard-earned income on Catholic education at La Salette are the most persuasive representatives we have. I am relying on you to help grow the school.

I look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday evening.

Mr. Terbrack

Catholic Schools Week- The Aftermath

2011-02-04T12:49:00.000-08:00

[WARNING: This blog contains egregious whining. Please do not read if you have just eaten. Also, you probably shouldn’t swim for at least a half-hour. If you would like to avoid the whining, please skip down to Chapter 2.]

Chapter 1: Cry for me Argentina

Wow. I am so happy that today is over (yes, I know, self-serving). The ironic part: last week’s post was filled with excitement and anticipation for Catholic Schools Week. I headed in to Catholic Schools Week like a kid that just took off his training wheels- lots of confidence until I crashed into the neighbor’s car and flipped over my handlebars.

For students and the average bystander, this week was a raucous success, especially when factoring in the surprise addition of a snow-day. For me and the teachers, this week was highly stressful (including the snow-day because now I have to work the Academy vs. Staff basketball game in next week). I guess I shouldn’t speak for my teachers, but I’m at least assuming that it was stressful for them as well. And it was completely unnecessary stress. This week was supposed to be about fun and celebration.

Now don’t get it twisted (as the kids would say), I’m not the Catholic Schools Week Grinch. I enjoy a good movie day as much as the next guy. I just thought all of these events took care of themselves. In reality, they do- at least from my perspective. And when I say “took care of themselves,” I really mean, “the teachers took care of them.” I didn’t even do all that much. The teachers planned most of the events and executed them perfectly. I just had to show up, shake some hands, kiss some babies, and smile for a few photos [edit- I also got roped into doing a little Britney Spears karaoke thanks to Luke Bowker and Joseph Smith]- all activities in my wheelhouse. Yet, here I am whining anyway. It just seemed like there was always something that had to be done. And that’s not even including Mission Fair. Thank you so much to all of the parents that helped out with the fair- we couldn’t have done it without you!

I’m not a psychologist. I don’t know why the interplay of my id, ego, and superego are wreaking havoc on my ability to think rationally. I could blame Oedipus. I could blame my dreams (too much Freud in my undergrad days). Instead, I shall blame Catholic Schools Week for my angst. I wonder if my teachers and principals felt the same way about CSW when I was a youngster. All I want now is a return to normalcy (thank you Warren G. Harding).

Before I forget, there was something wonderful that came out of Catholic Schools Week. I found out that Target sells adult-sized feety pajamas, or blanket sleepers- you know, the kind that zips all the way up. My daughter wears one every night and looks super comfortable. I will get one of those. I may even wear it to school. I’m very excited!

Phew. That was cathartic.

[The whining is over]

Chapter 2: Business in the front

But unlike the popular French hairstyle, le mullet, there is no party in the back (at least not until after open house). Open house planning is moving right along. We have some excellent fliers (thanks to Peggy Squires), and we had a nice presence at the Berkley Winterfest. However, that darned snow-day forced me to cancel the All-Stars meeting that was supposed to take place that night. Since next week is the final week before the open house, I am calling a meeting for this Tuesday, at 7 pm. The bat signal is back out. We MUST be prepared for this open house, especially since all of you are bringing at least one new family to visit that night. On top that, you are all promoting our school in your local neighborhoods, so we should be absolutely slammed on February 15th (I will not whine about being busy that night!). If you haven’t picked up fliers yet to distribute to neighbors; stop by and pick some up. I am counting on my parents to make this open house a success. At Sunday’s meeting, we will finalize our plans and focus on getting the word out. Open house. Open house. Open house. I can’t say it enough.

If you’re looking for some service hours, next Thursday (February 10th) is a great time to get some. We need judges for the science fair. Stop in anytime between 8 am and 4 pm to judge some projects (we will provide you with everything you need). The students have worked incredibly hard on these projects and we will have some tough decisions for awards. Incidentally, awards will be handed out on Friday, February 11th.

In case you haven’t heard, we will be having an open house on Tuesday, February 15th, from 6 pm – 8pm. I’m asking all of my current families to get at least one additional family to attend the event. If that additional family registers at La Salette (that day or in the future), you will receive a $100 tuition reduction next school year!

Winter break is quickly approaching. We will be off February 21-25. I will miss all of my little darlings that week.

Stay tuned for information regarding the La Salette Big Cash Raffle. Tickets will be on sale soon. Tickets will cost $20, and only 5000 will be sold. First prize is 40%. I’m no mathematician, but if all the tickets are sold, first prize should win about $40,000. 2nd and 3rd place will win 5%, which would be about $5,000. The drawing will be held on Saturday, March 5th at 7:30 pm at our Mardi Gras party. Good luck!

And finally, we are having an open house on February 15th from 6-8 pm. Help grow our La Salette family!

Have a swell weekend,

Mr. T.

Party time!!!!!

2011-01-28T11:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's already that time again.

Next week we will begin our week-long celebration of Catholic Schools. The teachers have been planning for weeks and have an action packed slate of events for the students. In case you haven’t seen the schedule yet, here it is:

Monday: Catholic Schools Week Kick-Off (Attire: mix and match)

- At 9 am, we’ll have representatives from the two groups we will be benefiting this year for a presentation on what they do and how our support will help them in their respective missions. These groups are the Southeast Oakland Shelter (SOS) and St. Vincent de Paul.

- After the presentation, we will have a “make and take” science assembly organized by Mrs. Boura.

- During lunch, we will be selling nachos and cheese for $1 to begin raising money for our charities.

Tuesday: Grandparents/VIP Day (Attire: uniforms for Mass)

- Grandparents and other VIPs are welcome to spend some time at La Salette. These grandparents and VIPs will be welcomed in the morning with light refreshments at 8 am.

- At 8:45 we will celebrate Mass together. *** IMPORTANT CHANGE: We will not have second quarter awards after this Mass because of a funeral. Awards will be now be following Mass on February 8th***

- At 10:30, the Student Council will be sponsoring Bingo for everyone in the cafeteria.

- For lunch, grandparents/VIPs will have the option of eating lunch with the students in the cafeteria or taking your child out to lunch.

Wednesday: Spirit Day (Attire: La Salette gear)

- The students will have a choice of a few different movies to watch at 10 am.

- The day will be highlighted by an Academy vs. Staff basketball game at 2 pm. The staff won last year and has no plans of relinquishing their crown (and yes, my lack of basketball skills will be on full display).

Thursday: Spelling Bee and Read-a-Thon (Attire: for at least 100 pennies, students can wear their pajamas (I will not be participating in this). The class that brings in the most pennies will win a casual day)

- Mass downtown with the Archbishop for four students (one each from grades 5-8)

- St. Blaise blessing of throats

- Winners from the classroom spelling bees will compete in the school-wide bee. Grades 1-4 at 9:30 and 5-8 at 10:30.

- Afternoon Read-a-Thon beginning at 2 pm. This year’s event will be a bit different as we will watch some performances from favorite books first, followed by buddy reading, and topped off with a free read. Students may bring a pillow and blanket to cozy up with a good book.

Friday: “Kids Who Care Mission Fair” (Attire: class color shirts and jeans)

- We will take an all school picture in the morning courtesy of Mr. Jim Saliba.

- Mission Fair in the afternoon benefitting SOS and SDvP, featuring games, prizes, food, etc.! Students can purchase tickets from their teachers- 30 tickets for $3 or 65 tickets for $5.

That’s next week. This Saturday we have an opportunity to show our La Salette pride at the 1st annual (I hope) Berkley Winterfest. Thanks to the Boosters, La Salette is a presenting sponsor of the event. The Winterfest takes place all day at the community center packed with exciting events and activities for the whole family, like: craft shows, a petting farm, snowman building contest, chili cook-off, recycling and fire demonstrations, children’s crafts and activities, broomball, kickball, medieval combat demonstration, snow-shoeing, bonfire with s’mores, open skating with former Red Wing Petr Klima, and much more. The event runs from 9 am – 9 pm so put on some La Salette wear and have a blast! La Salette will also have a booth with open house information, so stop by for a visit.

Also (as I’m sure all the parents know already), the Science Fair is right around the corner. Projects will be displayed February 10th for judging and awards will be bestowed upon the winners Friday, February 11th.

Finally, open house preparations are in full swing. There is a meeting of the marketing committee Sunday evening at 7 pm for anyone interested and the All-Stars will reconvene on Wednesday, February 2nd at 7 pm to finalize the plans.

Have a great weekend!

Mr. Terbrack

The end of an era.

2011-01-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

Not really. I just thought that would be a more catchy and mysterious title. Really, it's just the end of the first semester. My first semester as principal is over. History. Donzo. In the books. ____________( Insert your own euphemism here).

Unless I’m watching sports and disagree with a call from the head coach, I try not to engage in any revisionist history. Hindsight will always be 20/20. I’d rather look forward instead of back. However, I am a firm believer in learning from the past. I’ve learned a ton this past semester (as I hope the students have as well). I’ve gotten much better at signing my name to purchase orders, maintenance requests, and, definitely, service hours. I can schedule a meeting, or duck a salesman, as well as anyone in the business. I feel I’m beginning to hit my stride using the PA system. I have almost memorized which doors my keys open, and I can make my way through the building in the dark. I learned that if I wanted coffee brewed a certain way (extra strong) I should do it myself (or ask Pam to). I learned that first impressions are important and when you’re office looks like a bomb shelter (blank cinderblock walls, furniture from 1961, boxes and crates, etc.) people enter warily (I use this apprehension to my advantage). I’ve learned that my teachers like to eat at staff meetings. I now know how to cancel school on a snow day. And much, much more.

More importantly though, all of my preconceived notions about La Salette from my time here as a student have proven to be true. This school would not be here right now if it were not for the support of our parish and our parents. I’ve probably said it a hundred times already, and I’ll keep saying it: our parents make this school special. We are not just a school- we truly are a community. But, even our dedicated parents might not realize how much support the school actually has from parishioners that would otherwise not have any connection. As principal, I have the honor and privilege of representing the school at various parish meetings and at Mass on weekends. People come up to me all the time asking how we’re doing and wishing us the best. While there are many parishioners that are vocal in support of the school, there is one in particular that I’d like to thank right now: Mr. (Ed) Szykula. Yes, it’s true, he did send two daughters through La Salette (classes of ’97 and ’01), and it is also true that he coached me when I played baseball here. However, he hasn’t had a child here in 10 years. It would have been completely understandable for Mr. Szykula to lose his connection with the school when his youngest daughter (Shelby, whom I believe I still owe some babysitting money to) graduated and to just focus on the parish at large. But that has not been the case. Whenever anyone (including myself) from the school has needed his expertise, advice, or creative services, he has been there. He was involved with the creation of our logo, and the tag line “Learn, Love, Lead, Live On.” He has been part of committees and clubs, all of which resulted in a substantial time commitment. He is loyal to the school, but that loyalty is not blind. His thoughts are pragmatic and his vision is practical. He knows what the school is and what it can be. Sure, I may be a bit biased because I’ve known him for a long time and he has been a role model for me (despite his affiliation to MSU), but I would guess that this is not the first time many of you are hearing his name. And if it is, ask some people about Mr. Szykula and I’m sure they will echo my sentiments. And he is just one example of a parishioner that truly cares about the school. Our parishioners are vital to our success and I thank Ed (he claims I’m old enough to call him that now) and all the parishioners for their support.

It’s just about time for the school to head down to the gym for our big homecoming pepper-ally (at least that what Scarlet Van Every calls it)!!!!! We will be recognizing all of our winter sports teams and getting fired up for tomorrow’s homecoming games. The Boosters have done a great job decorating the gym and I’m sure tomorrow will be a great day for the Broncos. I regret that I don’t have a lot of time on the weekends to get to basketball games, but I will be there all day tomorrow, and I hope to see as many of you as possible!

Remember that report cards come out next Friday! To ensure that you receive your son/daughter’s card, please check to make sure your tuition is current.

January 31st marks the beginning of Catholic Schools Week. Our teachers have been busily planning what will be a great week of celebration for our students and all Catholic Schools.

The La Salette All-Stars (PTO, School Committee, Boosters and Dad’s Club) met this past Wednesday to prepare for the February open house. If you were unable to attend, there will be another meeting on February 2nd. Thank you to everyone that attended. Plans are coming along nicely.

Have a great weekend, and Go Broncos!

Mr. T.

Bat Signal

2011-01-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

Readers,

I really planned on this week’s edition being more creative than it actually is going to be. Maybe it’s writers block. Maybe it’s lethargy. Maybe I’m just mailing this one in. Maybe it’s old age beginning to sink in. Whatever is currently sapping my creative juices, I will battle through it because that’s how much I love La Salette. (I wasn’t even trying to be self-serving there… must be my nature.)

Instead of having any new thoughts this week, I’m going to rehash some things that I’d like to reinforce: La Salette is the best place to get an education. I firmly believe this. Morale is very high, and a vast majority of the parents that I talk to are very happy with the education that their children are receiving. The main reasons for the success of La Salette are our wonderful parents, and our staff. That being said, we know we face some challenges, specifically collecting tuition and increasing enrollment. Those two challenges are my focuses, and I’ll be discussing each one in a bit more detail. I’m going to briefly touch on each these again:

1. I’ve officially put up the Bat signal. I’m calling all PTO, School Committee, Booster, and Dad’s Club members to assemble on Wednesday, January 19th at 7 pm in the cafeteria (this meeting will take the place of the regularly scheduled School Committee and PTO meetings for next week). The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss anything and everything related to the February 15th open house. There are a lot of great ideas out there and we need to make sure that Team La Salette (which this group of all-stars will heretofore be called) is on the same page. The current plans involve an event or two, marketing to a target audience, bringing alumni back (current high school students to speak with parents), on-site registration, the La Salette Loyalty plan ($100 tuition discount for any current family that gets a new family to register), and many others. With Team La Salette on board, I anticipate this open house being a huge success (incidentally, PTO refers to all of our parents, so if you haven’t been able to attend a meeting yet, you are still welcome to attend next Wednesday). Big-time players respond in big-time situations, and that’s what this open house is.

2. Next Friday signals the end of the first semester. Report cards will be withheld for students that are not current with their tuition (at least half of the full tuition balance paid). Additionally, letters will be sent home for tuition accounts with exceedingly high past-due balances. These letters will state that the student(s) cannot return to school until tuition is caught up.

On to some positive news for La Salette, it was brought to my attention that La Salette students are showing their wares- at least at Bishop Foley. La Salette graduates currently represent the top student in the 9th, 10th, and 11th grade classes at Bishop Foley (and in the top 5 in 12th grade). Additionally, there is a core group of 11th graders that left La Salette together, and stick together. They support each other, they perform well academically, and they have begun to realize what all of you already know: La Salette undoubtedly was instrumental in preparing these students for high school, and life. These are some of the students that will be at the open house helping to show off our school. There are many stories like this and it is something that truly makes us special.

-I told the students if they behaved Thursday and Friday I would give them Monday off. In reality, the day off Monday is to honor one of the leaders not just of civil rights, but of this country. Not many people in the history of the US have been, or will be, honored with their own day. Please take some time on Monday to discuss with your children what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for. We will be doing a school wide project to honor Dr. King but it’s important for students to hear about him from their parents as well. Celebrate the life of Dr. King and strive to keep his Dream alive.

-Don’t forget Homecoming is Saturday the 22nd, and we will have a pep rally on Friday the 21st.

-Youth participation mass is Sunday at 9:30. La Salette School was well represented last time, but we can do better. Proudly wear that uniform to show the parish how strong we are.

That’s all for now. Have a great weekend.

Mr. T.

The return of the Blog

2011-01-07T10:24:00.000-08:00

My loyal readers,

Welcome to 2011. Every time a new year is ushered in, hope springs eternal. Resolutions are made, with the best of intentions, but usually don’t last. Everyone waxes poetic about the promise of a fresh start. But waxing doesn’t last all year. I’m not going to wax anything (at least not in this post). The difference between me and the general resolution-maker is that I truly believe 2011 will be a great year for La Salette, not simply hope that it will. I think we have gained a lot of momentum towards the end of 2010 and I see no reason for that to end. In fact, we need to capitalize on that momentum and high morale.

So - just like that, it’s time to get down to business. It seems that I’ve become increasingly helpless (I know that doesn’t sound very promising). Every time I open my mouth, whether it’s at a meeting or just to parents I run into around school, I seem to be asking for help. Not surprisingly, I’m doing it again. In order for La Salette to remain successful, it will take a group (i.e. everyone- teachers, students, staff, parents, etc.) effort. None of us can be selfish. We can’t keep La Salette a secret any longer. We need to expand our family. We need others to realize what you already know: La Salette is the best place to educate and prepare your child for high school. On February 15th, we will be holding our biggest open house event of the year. I’ve already gotten all of our parent organizations on board (PTO, Boosters, School Committee, Dad’s Club) to plan and execute the event. What I need from everyone else is for you to open up that rolodex and get prospective students and parents to this event. Yes, we’ll be marketing for the event. But as our current clients, you are the best salesforce we have. If every family in the school was able to get one family to the event, it would be a major success. That doesn’t mean everyone that attends the open house will register, but it will greatly improve our chances. Ultimately, the more students that we get to come to La Salette, the better our programs will be. In an attempt to spur your participation, I’ve put the “LaSalette Loyalty” plan in place. I’ve mentioned it before, but it has been slightly tweaked: Any current La Salette family that gets a new student to register, will receive a $100 tuition reduction in January of 2012. The current family and the new family will have a picture taken together that will be posted in the main stairwell, a picture in the parish bulletin, and a special place on our website. I’m also planning a special reception for all those families at the beginning of next school year. This initiative cannot be successful without your help.

I’m going to digress for a moment here to explain my rationale. Are we desperate for students right now? Nope. However, our population is trending in the wrong direction. This results in increased operating costs, wasted resources, and higher tuition. We need to reverse this trend immediately. We need to sustain what we have, and to do that, we need to bring in new families. That’s why I’ve decided to make this appeal now. Without being too self-serving here, the last thing that I would ever want is for La Salette to not move forward under my watch. The status quo is unacceptable to me. I will not rest on the laurels of past success. Just like I tell my 12 year old hockey players, no matter how good you think you are, you can always get better- strive to get better every single day. I’m trying to follow that same principle.

There will be more information about our open house in the next couple of weeks, but I wanted to give everyone a little heads-up so you can think specifically about the families you’d like to invite to this event.

With that, here is some news around our school:

-Homecoming for our basketball teams will be January 22nd. We will have a pep rally on Friday the 21st to get everyone fired up. Students are allowed to wear spirit wear that day, and athletes are encouraged to wear their jerseys. Let’s all show our support by coming out to root on our Broncos. (The box tops casual day will be moved to the following Friday, January 28th).

-This Sunday at 1 pm we will be having a fundraiser at Hartfield Lanes. There have been a number of announcements and SnapGrades about the event but here is another one. If you haven’t pre-registered, don’t worry, you can register at the door. There will be raffles, prizes, and other fun activities. The proceeds of this event will support the academy field trips and the parish general fund. I hope to see everyone there (for the record, I may be the worst bowler in the history of bowling. And that includes Wii bowling).

- Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Fabian are looking for pictures for the yearbook. If you have any photos that you think would look great, please send them to Katie.c.miller@lasalette-school.org. Thanks!

- Reminder that there is no school on Monday, January 17th in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

-Catholic Schools Week begins Monday, January 31st. There will be more information to follow, but we are looking for donations of old toys for the Mission Fair. Please have your students bring their old toys in to Mrs. Van Every’s room.

Enjoy your weekend,

Mr. T.

Final Blog of the year???

2010-12-17T08:13:00.000-08:00

I hate to disappoint my loyal blog readers (I think we should come up with a name for the group and maybe some t-shirts), but this will (probably- I may surprise everyone over break with a post-Christmas present) be my final blog of 2010. I’m a bit despondent over the fact that no one approached me for a “Best of 2010” show about my blog (with guest appearances from my readers (all 4 of them) discussing their favorite and least favorite blogs of the year) but I guess that gives me something else to aspire to in 2011. I must admit, Lovie Wheeler absolutely made my day by being the first person in the history of my blog to leave a comment (NOTE: only positive/happy/gracious/ comments are allowed) last week. And I didn’t even solicit for it! I’ve been secretly waiting for some kind of dialogue to begin in the comment section- not necessarily about me personally, but conversation about the topic. Londyn will be coming home with something special for you, Lovie!

I would like to thank everyone for attending last night’s Christmas program. Mr. Schulz did a great job preparing our students. As a “special” teacher, he only sees the students once a week. As you may have surmised, this is not enough time to rehearse and prepare for a program- especially when music is on Tuesday and there was no school on Tuesday because of ice. Mr. Schulz came in Wednesday and Thursday to practice with students all on his own. Our teachers were gracious enough to switch around their schedules as well to accommodate the practice. Yet again, this is a prime example of why this is such a great place. Everyone came together and set aside personal agendas for the good of the school. There is no better moment in my brief tenure as principal than last night’s grand finale. That typifies who we are and what we do. The entire school (including our teachers) singing together was a memory that few places could ever replicate. (As an aside, if anyone has a picture of that event, or video, would you please send a copy to me? I’d like to get it up on our website, and I’d like to hang one in my office- only the second picture to adorn my pristine walls). Last night was the perfect way to end the year. I am so privileged and proud to be a part of La Salette.

[In case you haven’t noticed, I’m really trying to work the dash in a little more in my writing]

Now, if you don’t mind, back to the self-serving portion of my blog. I have been inundated with back-channel approaches (much like Jim Harbaugh, and also quite a bit different) to get a “shout-out” (as the kids say) on my blog. I appreciate the requests (and keep them coming). I will do my best to work everyone in. I’m not a guy that likes to hoard the spotlight (contrary to moderately popular belief, and here is an example). I will be sneaking out a bit early today (don’t tell the boss) to visit my favorite brother-in-law in Chicago. We have a long standing tradition of taking my daughter (16 months) to Chicago every December to visit Uncle Eddie (which Addison CAN say). I was informed that Ed wanted to do something spectacular during our visit in the hopes that he may make the blog. Well guess what, Ed, you’ve already made it! Enjoy your newfound celebrity status. But remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Oh, my sister Kristi (which Addison CANNOT quite say) will also be there (she is the one who repeatedly calls this forum self-serving).

I sincerely hope everyone has a very merry Christmas and happy New Year! Also, you can look forward to the first post of next year, which will feature my list of New Year’s resolutions, highjighted by my desire to avoidtypos and mist words in my blog (if you have any constructive ideas for those resolutions, feel free to post a comment)/

Goodbye 2010… Welcome 2011 (which I have creatively and affectionately titled, “The Year of Our Lady of La Salette”)!

Mr. Terbrack

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

Waking up to a fresh coat of snow on December 10th really puts me in the Christmas spirit. I guess it's time to start holiday shopping, decking some halls, and hanging some lights on my house (as good La Salette supporters, we have already purchased our tree from the lot). This certainly is my favorite time of the year (yes, even better than summer vacation). I still remember when I was just a pup and my brothers and sisters and I would gather around one of the advent wreaths we made at school to read the designated prayer for the night followed by all of us in unison responding "Come, Lord Jesus, come." To me, the anticipation and preparation is the best part of the season. It's always the same pattern every year: Thanksgiving, followed by the beginning of Advent, then decorating, shopping, wrapping, and a splash of merry-making. Heck, I might even enjoy all that more than opening gifts on Christmas Day (notice I said "might," which is a word that allows me to not give a definitive answer thusly meaning there is some ambiguity afoot). So what is my point with all this? First, I really need to finish my Christmas list for Santa (I could probably SnapGrade it out as well). Secondly, I guess I really don't have one. I don't want to pigeonhole myself into always having to make some kind of point with this blog... that's a lot of pressure. I'm just happy it's Christmas season!

But, alas, I do have some business to tend to. Jen Van Every (8th grade teacher and resident queen bee) and I attended a conference last week on bullying. Bullying is the hot-button topic around schools these days. Now at La Salette we certainly do not have any problems with the conventional "bully" stealing anyone's lunch money. In fact, the more I read and hear about it, the less I even like the term "bully (I think I prefer the term "conflictionally challenged." And yes, I made that up). Our issues are much more about conflict-resolution, and much less about physical intimidation. Students don't know how to deal with another student that has upset them. As far as I'm concerned, there are three people/inanimate objects to blame: Facebook, text messaging, and Oprah. If I haven't told you this yet, when I am king of the world, the first thing I will do is destroy Facebook. I hate it. I realize that social media is very important now for marketing, and blah, blah, blah, but Facebook makes the job of a teacher or parent MUCH more difficult. These kids are on it (and my wife) ALL the time. I saw my 16 month old daughter posting a picture of her and Santa on her wall yesterday. Facebook is destroying our ability to communicate interpersonally. People don't have to talk to each other anymore. All they have to do is write something on a “wall” (in the old days we did that in a bathroom stall). Oh yeah, and I haven't even gotten into all of the cyber-bullying that is occurring because of this God-forsaken website. Much like the Facebook, text messaging is contributing to the rise in conflict. Again, there is no personal communication. So when there actually is conflict, students don't know how to handle it without using acronyms or punctuation to make some kind of face :(. As an aside, Facebook and text-messaging have totally destroyed ur child's ability 2 spell. When I am king, I will not; however, abolish text-messaging because it is useful for me. [As king, I believe you have the power to make whatever decisions you want with no concern for hypocrisy (for a complete list of things I would outlaw, follow me on Twitter- see, I told you there is no concern for hypocrisy)] Lastly, I blame Oprah. I'm sorry, but I just don't like the lady. Contrary to what she may believe, the world is not all about her...

[To my sister in Chicago: Now that was self-serving]

Well, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I can return to the topic at hand: bullying/conflictional (probably Oprah's fault I made up a word) challenges. The only way to effectively teach children how to deal with conflict, in my most humble opinion, is to integrate it into the curriculum. Having speakers come in to talk is great, but produces very short-term results. I want a program on conflict-management to be taught as part of our religion curriculum, beginning with preschoolers (the Academy has emphasized it this year, but I believe all students need it). If students are taught these very important skills during their formative years, they will have the capacity to resolve their own problems peacefully. My immediate problem now is there are a ton of these types of programs available. What I need is an ad-hoc committee comprised of a couple teachers and some parents to look at some of the various programs to see which would fit our needs the best. Since I assume by now you're all sick of me, Katie Miller will be leading this task force (that moniker makes it sound soooooooo official). In the spirit of text messaging, I've come up with an acronym for this group of people: B.P.T.F.C.C. (Bullying Prevention Task Force for the Conflictionally Challenged). In all reality though, this is a very serious issue that we need to handle proactively, instead of reactively. If I did nothing, and I simply continued to punish (reactionary) students who didn't know how to (or don't have the skills to) handle conflict, I would not be getting to the root of the problem. If this task force sounds like something you would be interested in being a part of, please send me an email and I will pass your name along to Katie. I would like this to be done by the summer so it can be integrated into next year's curriculum. I thank you for time and assistance in improving our school.

Check out these important events coming up soon:

-Breakfast with Santa!!!! Saturday from 9-noon. Do I need to say more?

-Come out and support our basketball teams this Saturday at home, beginning at 9 am. Games will continue throughout the day. We welcome St. Mary's of Royal Oak and St. Clement of Center Line to the jungle.

-After you've eaten with Santa on Saturday, work off those calories by ice skating with him on Sunday! From 4-6, Santa will be skating around the Berkley Ice Arena to get in shape for his big night. Admission is two cans of food for those in need. If you forget to mention something to him on Saturday, you'll have another shot on Sunday.

-Next Thursday is our school Christmas concert, beginning at 6:30 pm in the church. Our music teacher, Mr. Schulz, has been diligently preparing our little angels for the show. It will be a great night for everyone!

I believe that is all for now!

Mr. T.

As I think about the future of La Salette...

2010-12-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

PREFACE: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are the property of Dan Terbrack and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of anyone else.

I think you all know how much I care of about this school and parish, and that has prompted this week's edition of my blog. There is no malice directed towards anyone in particular. To be frank, I've been thinking about this for a while and may be taking a calculated risk in evening broaching the subject of tuition, but I am going to do it anyway because I think it needs to be said. Again, this is not directed at anyone in particular, but is simply a large obstacle that stands in the way of this school and parish. So, without any further ado...

In the month of December, we are focusing on the virtue of honesty. When I took this job, I was well aware of the challenges that I would face. However, I was looking at declining enrollment, curricular changes that needed to be made, and a myriad of the other changes before I realized that none of those would be my most pressing obstacle. That obstacle is collecting tuition.

I know that we are in the midst of the holiday season and in the midst of the worst recession to face this state since the 1930s. I know that it is not easy to pay thousands of dollars to send your children here. I know my parents struggled to send my family here and I will never be able to thank them enough for the sacrifices they had to make in order to do that. However, we are reaching a critical stage in terms of cash flow (that cash flow, by the way, pays our teachers and staff). The intent here is not to scare anybody; it is simply to inform you. I also realize that there are extenuating circumstances in some cases and it is not possible to pay. That is not what I am referencing here. As a private school, we are dependent on tuition. We get no funding from the state. It is my goal to make this place an enterprise fund, meaning that it is 100% self-sufficient, and that we do not need to rely on the parish to supplement us. It is no secret that parish membership and contributions are also down, which limits the ability of the parish to supplement the school anyway. I am not looking at this as a place to make money. But our mission involves providing the best possible education, and that means having excellent teachers and supplements. The choice to send your child to this school means there is an inherent cost. If we could operate this school without having tuition, that would be perfect. However, we cannot. Private schools are now shifting from an educational paradigm to a business paradigm. Most private schools now have business managers and staffs who deal exclusively with tuition collection. Not that I'm trying to shirk any responsibilities, but if I have to spend my time hunting down tuition, I am not able to perform the actual job of a principal, which is making sure my teachers have the leadership and support to focus on your children. I have been, and will continue to make personal calls regarding tuition, but that takes away from the time I have to accomplish other duties. So what am I actually trying accomplish with this blog? I guess it's just a friendly (and I do hope it is perceived that way) reminder to please remember your tuition responsibilities and deadlines, whether you choose to pay cash or check, utilize FACTS, or pay on a plan that suits your needs. If you are having problems with tuition, please contact me so we can figure out a way to handle the situation together. I want La Salette to be here long after I'm gone. I don't want a dearth of committed tuition to be the reason we cannot open our doors. I love La Salette, and I know you all do as well, so let's do our part to take care of it.

Hopefully I haven't lost all of my readers because here are some of the great things happening around La Salette:

- Tomorrow is the Berkley Holiday Parade and it will be a great time for all involved. As I've mentioned, this is great time to showcase our school pride in our community. Since I will be walking in the parade with the other council members, I won't be with our delegation. I need your help to represent our wonderful school and parish.

- Next Saturday is Breakfast with Santa, which is another opportunity to showcase our school and parish. Please come out to visit with friends, elves, and of course, Santa.

- We have received yet another donation to our media center (formerly library). While I personally have had little to do with it, I am most proud of the transformation that has occurred in the media center this year. Last week, a media center computer was donated. This special computer allows us to transform the 42" TV that was donated earlier in the year into a highly technological educational tool. We now have the capability to stream live TV (as well record it), Internet TV, access endless educational offerings including videos and podcasts, and many other functions in one place. I'm beginning to train our teachers on this cutting edge technology so we can most effectively leverage it. I'm hoping that we will have such a demand for this technology that teachers will have to begin scheduling times to use it. We also recently had a commercial copy machine donated to the center, which aids all the teachers on the top floor. Combining that with the dedicated teachers that I spoke of in my last blog, and we are left with a true media center. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that all of the donations for the center have come from two donors. While both would like to remain anonymous (I will respect that wish), I still cannot thank them enough for their donations to Our Lady of La Salette.

That is all for this week and hopefully I’ll see you at the parade,

Mr. T.

Our Teachers...

2010-11-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday all,

I fancie myself as a bit of a gramer/speeelling hound but I'm seeing the need for a copy edit4or. I can edit other people's writTng, but apparently not mine owns" Reast assured, I am alwayss mad!e a ware of these mistakkkes thanks in large pirt to my mother and wive I apolagize in advaNces for any erors in syntax

As a private school, we ask for an awful lot from a lot of people. We are always looking for volunteers to chaperone field trips, help out with class parties, attend a myriad of meetings for important organizations, and on many other occasions. However, I do not think that there is any competition in who really volunteers the most at Our Lady of La Salette: our teachers. Now before you say, "but they're not volunteers, they're paid to be there," let me explain a bit further. True, the teachers are paid to teach and perform the duties germane to the job. Even in that narrow definition, our teachers are not compensated in any manner close to what they actually do. But it goes much further than that. For our teachers, this is more than just a job. They truly care about Our Lady of La Salette and the students and parents that comprise it.

A glaring example of this care was last Friday. The students were off after conferences, and the teachers were in for a planning day. After our staff meeting in the morning, Mrs. Cotton, Mrs. Barczyk, Ms. LaBara, Mrs. Fabian, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Beaujean, Mrs. Giasson, Mrs. Boura, Mrs. Van Every, and Mrs. Jaski (media specialist) volunteered their personal planning time to improve our school. These teachers declared war on our library. They cleaned the entire room. They rearranged furniture. They removed old card catalog cases that had been there since well before my time. They cleaned out closets. They dusted. They vacuumed. They decorated. They removed an old, decrepit whiteboard from the wall. They rearranged locations for 4 computers and one large laser printer. They created a new setup for the DVD player and VCR under the mounted TV. They turned our old library into a functional media center. And no one asked them to do it. They decided that it would be beneficial to our school, so they worked together to accomplish it. Many other people would've simply said, "No, that's not my job. I have things that I need to take care of anyway," or "Isn't that someone else's job?" or "I was hoping to leave early today." I could not have been any more proud of my staff, or any more proud to be a part of La Salette, than I was last Friday.

[Edit: The media center also received another donation today. A parish family was able to secure a donation from a business of a gently used commercial copier/printer. This makes copying and printing much more convenient for those in the media center, the media specialist, and all teachers on the third floor. Thanks for the donation!]

Please understand that this is NOT simply part of their job. Neither is all the after school time they put it. I worked in public schools for a long time and I never came across a group of teachers that would do as much for their school as our teachers do. There is just a different mentality at La Salette. I've said many times that pastors and principals may come and go, but the one constant is the quality of the teachers we have. I know that we may take all they do for granted sometimes. And I know that we have a teacher appreciation week once a year. But the next you see a teacher, please thank them for all that they do. The teachers are certainly a major part of the reason that La Salette is the best place to learn, love, lead, and live on.

In other news...

This Sunday at 9:30 is our second youth participation mass of the year. Students will be greeters, lectors, and the gift bearers. I would like all school students to attend mass in their uniforms to show of our school pride.

IOWA Test results were sent home this Wednesday. I will be preparing a presentation analyzing the results for the next PTO meeting. In the meantime, if you have questions about your child's tests and what they actually mean, please get into contact with me to set up a time to discuss them.

Our winter sports are officially underway, with the 5th grade boys kicking the season off last night with a victory over St. Isaac. Many of the teams will be competing this weekend in Thanksgiving Tournaments.

We are still focusing on "Generosity" in the month of November. Today, many students are in casual clothes because they donated an extra $2 to the Great Turkey Race. Also today, and Monday, we are having a canned/boxed food drive to benefit St. Vincent de Paul. The class that brings in the most donations will be allowed to wear casual clothes this Wednesday.

Kristina Kased, a proud La Salette alum, gave a study skills presentation to students in K-8 yesterday. There were two sessions (K-4, and 5-8) packed with tips and strategies to improve our study skills.

Coming up next week...

Monday will be a casual gym attire day for the students of parents that attended PTO last night.

Tuesday is the last day of the Great Turkey Race and SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING at 7 pm in the cafeteria.

Wednesday will be a casual day for the class that donates the most items to St. Vincent de Paul, and a half-day of school. There will be NO LATCHKEY next Wednesday.

Thursday and Friday- No School for Thanksgiving!

Running my mouth (fingers) for Friday, November 12

2010-11-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

It's Friday morning, November 12th. Do you know where your children are?

I don't, because they're not here! After a long night of conferences, the teachers get a bit of a respite today with staff meetings, but no students. Speaking of conferences, I think they went rather well (my rationale: I didn't get called to anyone's room, didn't have to call the police, and haven't had any student transfers this morning). I wish I would've mentioned this last week, but I would like all students to attend the conferences. That doesn't mean that he or she needs to be in there the whole time, but I think it is more powerful for the student when he or she is a part of the process. I certainly believe that more change will be affected if the parents, teacher, and student have a group discussion. If the tone is all positive, what child wouldn't want to be part of a rave session extolling all of his/her positive virtues? At any rate, I was very happy with the turnout (even though they are mandatory conferences) and feel the night was extremely productive.

Next week is very important for our school, but this time that is not directed towards the students. There are three very important parent meetings, beginning on Monday at 7pm in the cafeteria. This a mandatory meeting for the parents of all fall athletes facilitated by the Boosters. Maybe new Booster's president Dan Pennington will be on hand to address the crowd???

On Tuesday, at 7 pm in the cafeteria, will be the second School Committee meeting of the year. As I mentioned in a SnapGrade this week, I was a bit disappointed in the turn out for the first meeting. I would sincerely like to thank those that did attend, and hope that they will also return. I won't pontificate too much here on the importance of the SC (because I've already done that and it hasn't proven effective), but I will reiterate that this is the advisory group for the school. The SC is my advisory board, just as public schools have an elected school board. This is the only group that can have a direct impact on what happen in the school. The SC is made up of subcommittees that focus on specific areas: technology, marketing, advancement, and academics. I liken membership in the School Committee to voting: if someone is not happy with as aspect of the government or has ideas on how to improve things, but they do not vote to express their opinion, then their complaints are invalid and their ideas are never heard. That may be a very simplistic comparison, and I don't mean it to be offensive, but as a Catholic school, a major disadvantage that we have is a lack of infrastructure. We overcome that perceived deficiency by having involved parents and parishioners that take on those important roles. If you haven't figured it out yet, the SC is very important to me and is critical for the success of La Salette down the road. We need strong infrastructure in place to be able to grow and adapt to changing educational demands (I suppose that was a bit more pontificating than I planned but sometimes I can't turn it off).

Lastly, on Thursday at 7 pm in the cafeteria is the PTO meeting. The PTO is a very strong organization that continues to support the parents, teachers, and students of Our Lady of La Salette. If you haven't heard, the Morley Candy Sale has been extended an extra week! Remember, this is the PTO's main fundraiser until the Hramiec Run next spring, so please show them our support and generosity.

Additional news and notes:

- I'd like to thank Katie Locano (mother of Khalia in 1st grade) for all of her work in setting up the Bagger Dave's no-cook night this past Monday. While I was confined to my couch and unable attend, I sent some more important people in my place: my parents and siblings, my wife, my daughter, and my wife's parents all stood in for me! I heard it went well. Thanks Katie!

- The Iowa and CogAT test results are in. Teachers received them this morning and I received them electronically on Tuesday. We will pouring through this data in the next couple of weeks and I'll be preparing a presentation for PTO and SC. You will be receiving your student's scores this Wednesday. It is very easy to see that the longer a student attends our school, the higher their scores are.

- The Great Turkey Race is still on to support the Detroit Rescue Mission. Every $2 donated buys dinner for someone less fortunate. The class that donates the most dinners wins a special prize from me: I will take them to my house and will allow them to clean up my yard!!!!!!!! Ok, fine. I won't. But I will take them to Taco Bell for lunch.

This may be my shortest blog ever!

I look forward to seeing everyone next week,

Mr. T.

Self-indulgent ramblings for November 5th

2010-11-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hello loyal blog readers,

I'd like to begin with a little tribute to Sparky Anderson. I grew up in the 80's when Sparky was the manager, and although I was relatively young, I remember Sparky. It wasn't until after Sparky retired from managing that I came to read more about him, and see him give interviews, or hear him talk to anyone and everyone, and so on. Sure Sparky was a great baseball mind, but he was so much more than that. After reading the papers that past couple days and hearing all the interviews, it was remarkable to me how many looked up to Sparky, not as a manager, but as a person. Everyone talks about genuine he was, and how he respected everyone, and through those traits he was able to wrangle some strong personalities (Pete Rose, Kirk Gibson, etc.) and to earn their respect. Gibby and Pete Rose especially have gushed about Anderson and how they felt about him as person and how much he will be missed. I feel like I truly know Sparky after hearing everyone reiterate the sentiments. He truly had a positive impact on the lives of everyone he came into contact with. We would all be lucky to be the kind of person George (Sparky) Anderson was.

Sparky's passing got me thinking about people who have had a significant impact on my life, in terms of shaping me as a person. While I'm a bit hesitant to create any sort of a list because I don’t want to leave anyone out (nor do I think you need my entire life story) I'll narrow it down to three: (I'm already cheating because the first one is actually three people) The people that have had the biggest impact on my life as a whole have been my parents, and my Grandma Terbrack. It was until I was getting ready to graduate from college that I truly began to appreciate how much my parents did for me and my siblings. They worked tirelessly to put all 6 of us through Catholic schools. They taught me respect (although I certainly didn't always show it), the value of hard-work (again, which I didn't always believe in), and the importance of family. I certainly wouldn't be where I am today (wherever that may be) without their influence. Along with them, was my Grandma Terbrack. She truly lived her Catholic faith through attending mass, generously giving to all, and the one hundred-something foster kids she loved and took care of. Like Sparky, she was able to wrangle the many personalities of my family and to keep everyone together. She died just over a year ago and I miss her just as much today as I did then. Aside from my immediate family, there are a couple of other people that I want to mention. I was lucky enough to attend Brother Rice High School and to share a lot of time with Al Fracassa. I have never been around a person that commanded as much respect from high school aged students. He, like Sparky, is much more than a football coach. He is a life coach. He teaches his players how to act on and off the field. He coaches football in the context of life, and continuously focuses on making men, not just athletes. He leads by example, and all of his players will tell you the same. The last person I'll mention is Dale GoodCourage. I went to school here with Dale's sons, but he was also a longtime baseball coach of mine (I hope everyone is noticing the impact that coaches have on their players). He is a big man with a bigger heart. He also taught me that life was about more than baseball, and that to be successful in anything, you must have enthusiasm. When I played here at La Salette, our team would chant before every game, "Nothing great happens without enthusiasm." That chant resonated so much with me that I used it when I coached high school baseball for a number of years. He is also responsible for my run for city council. It was his lead that I followed into office, and his belief in me that prompted me to run. I thank these people for the impact they have had on my life, just like all those that are thanking Sparky for his. I hope you all takes some time to thank the people that have been instrumental in your lives.

Now, on to some school news....

The virtue for the month of November is generosity. With Thanksgiving coming up, it is important to be generous to those that are less fortunate. The school kicked off "The Great Turkey Race" last week to benefit the Detroit Rescue Mission. The class that buys the most dinners ($2 per dinner) will win a special reward from me.

The results are in from the student council elections: Historian is Emma Beaudoin, Secretary is Trinity Jones, Treasurer is Luke Bowker, Publicist is Kendall Hall, Vice President is Michael (Mac) McTyre, and President is Abby Youmans. Congratulations to all of these students, and all who ran for demonstrating the leadership qualities that we preach here at La Salette.

The Morley Candy Sale fundraiser ends this Monday, so get those orders in to support the PTO.

Additionally, we will have a "No Cook Night" at Bagger Dave's in Berkley this Monday. A portion of the proceeds will be donated back to Our Lady of La Salette. You need a coupon in order to make sure the money comes back, so print one out from the SnapGrades message I sent, or pick one up in the office.

Lastly, today marks the end of a great 1st quarter. There is so much pride in our school, and I am honored to play a part in all of your children's lives.

Have a great weekend,

Mr. T.

Election Day is almost here!

2010-10-29T05:42:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, in my spare time I dabble a bit in the exciting world of politics. For any political aficionado, this coming Tuesday is Christmas come early- Election Day! With that in mind, I thought I'd spend a little of my time here discussing some important races that will be decided on Tuesday. I will not; however, use my position of authority to endorse any candidate or political party. Instead, I'll supply a little background information about the candidates. The best kind of voter is an informed voter (and one that votes for me).

Publicist: Kendall Hall (6th grade) vs. Autumn Washington (7th grade)

The battle to control the media is extremely tight. Both candidates made it through the primary without having to dip much into the war chest. Kendall feels his creativity sets him apart from Autumn. On the campaign trail he has stumped about creating a student council blog to keep the students informed. Autumn counters that she is trustworthy and responsible, and those are traits that voters need to have in their officials. She has been keeping it old school on her campaign, telling the voters that she will be pounding the pavement (tile) upstairs and down to inform students of important events.

Historian: Emma Beaudoin (7th grade) vs. Ashton Garwood (7th grade)

This is an interesting race as members of the same party vie for the coveted position of historian. Historian is one of the most powerful offices, but many don't realize that. The historian has the power to make the present the past, and to shape this past for future students. Both candidates feel they are excellent photographers; surely an important skill for a historian. Emma claims she will focus on the physical history of the school and events, while Ashton aims for more of a social history by getting opinions of people and groups about these school events.

Treasurer: Luke Bowker (7th grade) vs. Nicholas Uhlarik (6th Grade)

This is the first race in which see an incumbent being challenged. Luke Bowker has decided to seek another term as Student Council Treasurer. He is campaigning heavily on his experience and high math acumen (two grades higher in math class), hoping that will earn him another term. Newcomer Nick Uhlarik is relying on innovative methods to sweep Bowker from office. He has repeatedly told voters at rallies that he is good with software and would use graphs and charts to better display the student council's financial reports, making the information more accessible to voters. This race is currently deadlocked, and both the 6th and 7th graders have been pouring resources into this district to swing the balance of power.

Secretary: Trinity Jones (8th grade) vs. Kordell Smith (7th grade)

This is the only race in the school that has gotten personal. Kordell Smith, after taking a brief hiatus from La Salette, has returned and is looking to establish his role as a leader. Trinity Jones is representing the old guard and is expecting the traditional La Salette base to back her. Kordell feels that his opponent has been using her name recognition to garner votes instead of her platform. He feels that his ability to listen and take notes, combined with an earlier stint in office, should propel him victory. Trinity claims that Kordell's accusations are baseless and that she is simply more qualified for the job. Not only is she organized, a good writer, and a good note-taker, but she has connections with her membership in NJHS that could benefit the voters.

Vice President: Joseph Smith (7th grade) vs. Michael McTyre (7th grade)

Former allies, Joseph and Michael have decided to take the fight to each other. Joseph has the advatage when it comes to time, telling voters that he can be trusted to keep the president on time with his/her schedule. He also feels that he is extremely trustworthy and will work well with the president. Mac feels that his experience in congress (6th grade rep. last year) has given valuable experience that a vice president needs. He also feels that he is more in-tune with the voters since he's been at La Salette since 1st grade. He has innovative ideas that he would like to bring to the council, such as the "highest class math scores get a pizza party."

President: Joe Wonsil vs. Abby Youmans

These two 8th graders both bring a fresh perspective to student council. Neither is a career politician, and both are looking to fix a broken system that is marred by partisan squabbles. Joe feels his charisma and leadership ability will be a breath of fresh air. Joe attended a National Youth Leadership seminar and attends Bishop Foley for math. He feels that fundraising is a top priority at La Salette. Abby brings a down home, family values atmosphere to the race. She quietly leads by example, and is focusing on the younger voters. She speaks softly, and sparingly, but her words are sincere. The students of La Salette can be confident that whomever wins this race will represent their interests very well.

In other news…

8th graders Joe Wonsil, Abby Youmans, Alicia Moore, Trinity Jones, Marie Carey and Ellie Pennington participated in the Scholastic Olympics this past Wednesday at Brother Rice (Brother Rice also won the Prep Bowl last Sunday by defeating a team from Orchard Lake… St. Something or other) and Marian High School. Congratulations to these students for representing our school against some of the best in the region!

Tonight is Trunk or Treat and I hope to see everyone there. Jen Van Every, Mary Carey, Claudia Saliba, Julie Walker, Corey Veltri, Sonya Hopson, two anyonymous members of the same family, and others have been working diligently to make this night a success. Please thank them when you see them this evening.

The League of Women Voters sponsored a candidate’s morning at La Salette for our student council races. I’d like to thank League member Karen Fabian for preparing voter guides and moderating the forum.

No school on Monday so students can recover from their Halloween hangovers (and Holy Day of Obligation All Saints Day).

Have a spooky All Hallow's Eve,

Mr. T.

Free money for everyone who reads this!

2010-10-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for tricking you... there is no free money. I'm just trying to increase my readership.

Today’s installment will focus on the School Committee. I realize that I already SnapGraded a presentation around to everyone, and that the presentation is posted on our website (please check it out if you haven’t already), but I felt it was necessary to come at it one more time. There are a couple of very important points that I need to make sure everyone is aware of regarding this committee.

The first point reinforces something that I’ve already said numerous times: Our Lady of La Salette’s success is a result of the time and effort dedicated by our parents (for the purposes of “buttering you up,” I will leave the teachers out of this example). It is obvious that we do not have the state funded resources of a public school. On the surface, that would seem like we are at a distinct disadvantage, and to a small extent, we are. However, we have a spirit of community and volunteerism that is unmatched, and unheard of, in any public school. I would put our of amount parent involvement up against any other school, public or private. This involvement is our identity. Our Lady of La Salette needs this support on our School Committee.

The School Committee, as the presentation explains, is an advisory board. The private school “school committee” performs similar functions that a “school board” does in public schools. This is very different from the other parent organizations, such as Boosters (athletics) and PTO (supplemental activities), because there can be a direct impact on the education of your children in terms of long-range planning, evaluation of programs, researching new methods, combatting challenges, etc. Our School Committee is divided into 5 separate subcommittees, each with a very narrow focus: Academic, Marketing (which was extremely active and effective this past summer), Technology, Advancement, and Executive (I’m not going to explain each one again here, since I’ve already referenced the presentation twice). What I need is your expertise. Now I know that some of you may be hesitant because you’re already so busy, and believe me, I understand and appreciate that. One of my goals is to have these subcommittees meet in a variety of ways, including email, message boards, video conferencing, etc. that will cut down the time commitment. I’m looking for 5 people on each of these committees. Please attend this Tuesday’s first general meeting (7 pm in the cafeteria) to learn more about our School Committee.

In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, the School Committee presentation is posted on our website. I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday evening at 7 pm.

In other news, we will be kicking off our candy sale next week. Also, and perhaps more importantly to our students, Trunk or Treat is next Friday!

I am actually leaving school in a few minutes to head to Traverse City. My 12 year old travel hockey players have a tournament there this weekend and our first game is at 4:45 tonight… hopefully we’ll bring home some hardware.

That’s all for now, have a great weekend!

Mr. T.

Awfully quiet around here...

2010-10-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

I never realized how much noise could be generated by preschool- 3rd grade. With those students out of the building today on field trips (with great weather!), it's eerily quiet. I didn't have to open anybody's fruit cup, clean up any spills, or mediate any playground crimes today. On the one hand it was refreshing, but I have to admit, I kind of miss those little buggers.

With this being such a slow day, one might surmise that I would have ample time to write a lengthy blog post. However, the last two were already a bit a long, and I'm aware that parents also have attention spans, so I've decided to shorten this one up a bit. While I may amuse myself with my ramblings (in fact I was told that last week's post was "self-indulgent" by one of my loyal followers, a.k.a. my loving sister in Chicago), your busy schedules may not permit you to be as amused. That doesn't mean I won't get long-winded again next week though, so enjoy the respite!

With that in mind, I figured I'd just give you a nice update on some of the happenings here at La Salette:

- The Iowa Tests have wrapped up (with the exception of a few makeups) and we will be sending those off to be scored. Next week we will return to business as usual.

- Our varsity volleyball team has its first CYO playoff game tomorrow (Saturday) at 9 am at St. Thecla. The school is at Groesbeck and Little Mack. WHEN we win our first game, we will play again that afternoon. Please come out to support these girls, even if you don't have an athlete on the team. Coach Beaudoin has done a great job with them all season, and I know they will be ready to play tomorrow.

- This Sunday's Mass (9:30) is our first Youth Participation Mass of the year. Nick Uhlarik (6th grade) and Abby Youmans (8th) will be the special guest lectors. We'd like as many students as possible at that Mass, and, as a special treat, I'd like the kids to wear their uniforms so the parish can see what wonderful students we have.

- We are known for many things here at La Salette, but we need to add popular to that list! Two La Salette alums are on the homecoming court at Bishop Foley High School: Emma Wonsil as duchess (representing the sophomore class) and Sarah Uhlarik is the queen! Congratulations to those former students. Way to represent the Broncos!

- Trunk or Treat is coming up on October 29th so start planning those scary trunks.

- We will have conferences on November 11th from 1-3 pm and 6-8 pm. Please come in to sign up for a time to meet with the teachers.

That's all for today... have a great weekend.

Mr. T.

State of the School

2010-10-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

"...the principal shall from time to time give to the parents information regarding the State of the School" (Our Lady of La Salette Constitution, Article 2, Section 3)

Parents, teachers, students, friends, relatives, and concerned citizens, it is my distinct honor to present you with this address on the state of our school. It has been a little over a month since the students returned from summer vacation, and my 1st term as principal officially began. Thanks to the help of my transition team, I was able to hit the ground running with a number of executive orders throughout the summer aimed at improving our school. Later in this address, I will discuss a few of these decisions. And although I came into this position energized and passionate, I am not too naive to realize the gravity of the time we live in. There are many challenges facing Our Lady of La Salette Parish and I am prepared to meet these challenges head-on. We cannot control the economy. We cannot control the educational institutions around us. We cannot control the state or the Archdiocese. We cannot control what the bloggers, Facebookers, or Tweeters say. But, we can control what happens at Our Lady of La Salette School and Academy, and what happens here is something truly special. Our students are given gifts that will stay with them throughout their lives: a great educational base, preparation for high school, college and a career, independent thought, self-confidence, respect, responsibility, faith in God, and a deep-rooted personal spirituality. These gifts will never change, and with that in mind, I tell you that the state of our school is strong, and will continue to strengthen. There is no better place to Learn, Love, Lead, or Live on. (At this point everyone should be standing up and applauding... it’s tradition).

One of the first changes implemented was the formation of the Our Lady of La Salette Academy. Anyone who as ever tried to change something knows of the inherent obstacles. The same is true of the Academy. This change was as more about changing the culture of our middle school and less about overhauling our curriculum. We have always provided a strong curricular base for our students. However, our students seemed to functioned much more like a traditional "middle school" (a program that is essentially an extension of the elementary school in terms of function, attitude, expectations) instead of functioning as a "junior high" (a substantial shift in paradigm for the students that focuses on being prepared for high school academically, personally, and socially in terms of function, attitude, and expectations). To this point, I see our first year as an academy as successful. However; we are far from perfect. This year has already proven as a learning experience. There are aspects of the Academy that will be altered in the future to better prepare our students for success in the world that they will live in. Many high schools are beginning to shift from a general skills model, to a specific career pathway model. While we do not need this drastic of a shift, we do need to make sure that our 8th graders begin thinking about their long-term futures. In the era of a global economy, coupled with "Waiting for Superman" and a clear need for educational reform, it is imperative that we do not confine ourselves to archaic educational philosophies. Change for the sake of change is meaningless. Change that is sought, studied, and quantified is necessary. I focus on the latter. (You should probably all be standing again)

There were other changes that were less scrutinized in the media, but nonetheless important. CNN didn't care that "Leadership Standards" replaced discipline policies, or that the conventional detention is no longer, replaced by "Service Hours." MSNBC failed to cover the new software that was purchased to allow our teachers to effectively map their curriculums, showing objectives, standards, assessments and activities to give a true portrait of what we do at La Salette. Nor did they say that this software would ultimately allow us to put this curriculum online for all to see.

Often times, changes that are not made prove to be the most important. Not even Fox News (half of you are probably standing, half of you are probably booing), covered the one constant about this place: the sense of community and belonging that is fostered by our parents, parishioners, and staff. The time and care our excellent teachers give your students is unparalleled (all standing again). Our teachers routinely go above and beyond the call of duty, and well above and beyond their (lack of) compensation.

You, the parents, are our consumers. Educating and preparing your children for life is our sole objective. I, along with my staff, will constantly strive to improve in achieving the mission of Our Lady of La Salette; that is my promise. We cannot succeed without support. Our success is dependent on the support of our parents and the support of our parish. A very wise man once said, "... a house divided against itself cannot stand..." and there may be no more relevant time for that quote than now. There is great energy at our school and morale is very high. The challenge is to continue this positive energy and to sustain it... for the future leaders of this great country.

Thank you all for listening, and God bless Our Lady of La Salette School and Academy (all standing again... because you agree... and because it's over).

-Mr. Terbrack

Coming soon: Iowa Testing

2010-10-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that today is October 1st already. Even more difficult to fathom is the fact that we just completed our first full week of school. Between Labor Day and Festival, we missed a few Mondays and Fridays early on. The good news? We don't have a single day off in October! That's probably better news for the parents than it is for the students, and probably the teachers as well.

Next week, we begin the very important Iowa Test of Basic Skills (grades 1-8), Cognitive Abilities Test (1,3,5, and 7), and an Archdiocesan religion test. These tests are critically important for our school and your students. For the school, these tests reinforce that we are accomplishing our mission. The Iowa Test, unlike the state of Michigan assessment (MEAP) is a norm referenced test. That means we are comparing our students to other students across the country that take the same test. The MEAP test is a content based test that only measures the specific content that the state wants tested. It is not based on norms. In fact, the state of Michigan has recently joined a consortium of other states to form the Common Core Standards Initiative (http://www.corestandards.org). These will be the new standards that all public schools in Michigan use by the year 2014 (we have already implemented the first two subjects released by Common Core, Math and Language Arts into our curriculums). Furthermore, Common Core States are currently studying different standardized tests to use as their core assessment and one of the leading tests is the Iowa. If the state does go to the Iowa in 2014, La Salette will be in a great position to benefit from this because we already show strong Iowa Test scores, which will allow us to show an “apples to apples” comparison of our school to local public schools. As of now, our Iowa scores clearly show that the longer a student is at La Salette, the higher the scores are. I'm not going to go into a detailed report of our scores now, because I want this year's scores first. The Archdiocese of Detroit provides us a free online analyzing service that allows us to scrutinize our scores. I plan on presenting the results of this year's Iowas at a PTO meeting (probably in December). This free service allows us to break the Iowa down to its components to see what our strengths as a school are, and where we need to improve. This test is a great barometer of the success of La Salette, but it is also very useful in our continued efforts to improve.

The test is also very important for the students, but not for the reasons you might assume. Too often, parents get hung up on standardized test scores and dismiss the rest of the school year. Sure students get a score, and, yes, this does yield some meaningful information. However, test scores cannot be looked at in a vacuum. There may have been mitigating circumstances on one of the days- maybe a student wasn't feeling well, maybe something happened the night before and the student did not get a good night's sleep, etc- that impacted the scores. The point that I want to emphasize, especially for the younger students, is that we are teaching your children a very, very important skill that they will need as they grow older. Standardized test-taking is a skill. Students need to learn how to take these tests. They need to be familiar with filling in ovals and choosing the best answers. In my life, I've taken a number of high-stakes (which is NOT what I consider the Iowa to be) standardized tests. The first one was the high school placement test. I wanted to go to Brother Rice, and I knew that I needed a certain score to get into that school. Luckily, I had taken many standardized tests in my time here at La Salette and I was prepared to take the test. I knew that the proper amount of rest the night before was important. I knew that I needed a good breakfast before the test to perform. I was aware that I was going to get some breaks between the tests on testing day. I knew there would be someone in the room telling me how much time I had left. I knew that had to use a number-two pencil and completely darken the circles. Next up in my high-stakes career was the ACT/SAT to get into college. The same lessons I learned at La Salette applied to this test as well. In college (Fire up Chips!), I took a number of these tests, but none more important than my teacher certification tests. All the teachers at La Salette had to take these. Doctors take them. Lawyers take them. Many professions require that they are taken as prerequisite. I would venture to guess that many of you (the lucky ones that read this at least) already know this from your own experience. Share some of those experiences with your kids. Not to make them nervous, or to stress how they score, but to make them feel more comfortable knowing you've been there, and that this is a skill that will benefit them later in life. I've instructed my staff to focus on these tests over the next two weeks and to not overburden the students with extra work. Their brains will be tired and they need some time to relax after school to watch TV, play video games, listen to music... even do chores around the house (manual labor is not too taxing on the brain, just don't tell them that I endorsed it). Please make sure that they eat a good breakfast before testing and that they go to bed a little earlier to ensure a good night's sleep.

I will now kindly step down from my rather high soapbox to make sure you're aware of some important events this weekend: PTO will be sponsoring hospitality after all of the masses, so stop by and say hi. 11:30 mass on Sunday will be an Athlete's mass. Any athlete currently playing a fall sport is encouraged to attend to receive a little extra help from the Big Man upstairs (I think "Big Man" is liturgically correct). Sunday will also be parent recognition day between the JV and varsity volleyball games (JV at 1 pm, and varsity at 2 pm respectively). It is difficult to get your kids to practices and games and it’s important that you get recognized for your efforts. Come out and cheer on the Broncos and our great parents!

Have a great weekend!

Mr. T.

P.S. Thanks to my new followers! I'm up to 12... which is already more than my Twitter followers...

La Salette: A lifelong connection

2010-09-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

It's always sad when the Festival ends and we know we have to wait another entire year for it to return. However, the Festival was a huge success and everyone had a lot of fun, from the students and parents, to the parishioners and alumni. Speaking of alumni, I had the pleasure of meeting many Our Lady of La Salette graduates on Saturday night as alumni from the across the region gathered in the beer tent. Each put on a nametag displaying their names (and maiden names) and year graduated from La Salette. I'm proud to say that we had alumni spanning 5 generations (50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's). That demonstrates just how special a La Salette education is. It is something that you have with you forever; it is your identity. Many people simply associate the term alumni with high schools and colleges. And for many elementary and middle schools, there is no connection to students that have left. That is certainly not the case here. Even before I came back to La Salette as a teacher, I couldn't pass by La Salette without feeling a strong sense of belonging and nostalgia, and everyone I speak to feels the same way. I also have a strong connection to my high school, Brother Rice, and I believe it is for the same reasons. There is something inherently special about a Catholic school; a sense of togetherness, community, and care that cannot be replicated in public schools. And it's more than just our friends and family; it's the presence of Jesus in our lives every single day helping us and guiding us on the journey of life. I'm not generally known for pontificating, but I see the same feelings in our current students that see in our alumni. The connection to La Salette only grows stronger when students leave here. Case in point: Jordan Woods and Khalil Hall, two graduates from last year, routinely make visits to the school. And true, they both have siblings here, but they don't just come to pick them up. They stop by teacher's rooms to chat, they look at the changes that are taking place, and I can see them begin to appreciate the foundation that they received from La Salette.

Continuing with alumni theme, one of our proud alums and current teacher, Mrs. Katie Miller (formerly Matuszak) '99, has been nominated as someone who has made a "significant influence on the development and life" of one or more students at Bishop Foley High School. This week she was presented with a rose and an award from the director of admissions at Foley. Congratulations Katie!

Looking ahead, our volleyball teams both compete this Saturday against Holy Family at La Salette. The undefeated JV team plays at 9 am, and the 3-1 varsity team plays at 10 am. Come out and support our Broncos! Our cross country team will also be competing on Saturday, in Monroe, as Luke Bowker looks to continue to his early season dominance.

Next week is our first full week of school. Have a great weekend!

Mr. T.

Festival!!!!

2010-09-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

This short school week seemed much longer to some as the excitement of the Festival built each day. Students took every chance they could this week to monitor the progress in the parking lot as new rides appeared each day, culminating with the big tents going up yesterday. Yes, the Festival has finally arrived. This will be a great weekend for Our Lady of La Salette. There's a lot to look forward to at the Festival besides the rides and games: lots of food and beverages, Vegas Night and Texas Hold 'Em in the Landry Center, Alumni Night in the main tent, and hundreds of your closest friends. I look forward to seeing everyone there!

Although this was a short week, it was a very important one for our school. This week, we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of La Salette. At mass Tuesday we prayed a special prayer called the Novena, which is a 9 day prayer and meditation process. Many of the classes discussed the story behind Our Lady of La Salette, which culminated in an all school assembly today just before dismissal. During the assembly, Mrs. Boura's class performed the story of La Salette for the rest of the school. The story of La Salette (1846) is about two shepherd children, Maximin and Melanie, who saw an apparition of Mary at La Salette, France. Mary told the students to go back to their village and to tell people to change their improper behaviors and lack of faith in order to be saved. The students went back and did as Mary instructed them to do. They faced some opposition as not everyone immediately believed the children. After some discussion by bishops and the Pope, a shrine to Mary and a church were built at the site of the apparition (1852). Mrs. Boura's class has some additional help in their play as James Heath (2nd grade) played Maximin and Ada Squires (2nd grade) played Melanie. After the play, we heard some petitions to Mary from Mrs. Giasson's 5th grade class, prayed the Hail Mary, and sang our parish anthem, "O Mary Queen of La Salette."

Thank you to Mrs. Boura for arranging the assembly.

Have a great long weekend!

Mr. Terbrack

Thursday, Sept. 9

2010-09-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm still debating whether or not to send a printed newsletter, a SnapGrade newsletter, or simply use this for weekly communication. I'm sticking with the blog for now though.

With Labor Day on Monday we had another short, but busy week. We welcomed 5 new students this week, and I gave a number of additional tours. It seems that once the public schools began, parents realized that Our Lady of La Salette was the right place for their children. I believe this trend will only continue. All of the little wrinkles seem to have ironed themselves out this year and we are running quite smoothly. I've been able to visit each of the classrooms numerous times, and have been quite impressed with how engaged the students are so early into the school year. The weather has also been extremely cooperative this week, with cooler temps and a nice breeze. It was so nice today that we had our first fire drill. We managed to get out of the building in just over two minutes, which is a little on the high side. I made a few changes to exit routes that hopefully will get us down to the 90 second range.

Looking ahead, we have a shorter week next because it's Festival time! The students have a half-day Thursday, no school Friday, and no school the following Monday while the Festival is taken down. We will be hosting an Open House the Sunday of Festival weekend and would love to have some parents on hand. It’s one thing for myself and my teachers to promote the school, but there’s a whole other dimension added when it’s parents selling to other parents. It just seems a little more genuine that way. After Festival, we’re only one week away from October already! I will have the October schedule ready next week, and posted on our website.

Morale has been outstanding so far, let's keep it up!

Learn, love, lead, live on!

Mr. Terbrack

One week down!

2010-09-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

One eventful week in the books! I do apologize for anything that seemed confusing this week (i.e. the latchkey location, latchkey hours, uniform issues, etc.). Overall, I was very pleased with my first official week as principal, and I owe that to the teachers, parents, and students. The parents have been very supportive, the teachers were excellent in enforcing new policies and procedures, and the students were quite cooperative. I truly think this is going to be a great year for all of Our Lady of La Salette (school and parish).

I've spent a lot of time recently updating our SnapGrades database. We had some old students and families in there that were continuing to recieve the announcements, but wanted to be off the list. The teachers have their classes loaded now, so I can delete the old users. As I've mentioned a couple of times now, I plan on using SnapGrades as my main vehicle of communication. In fact, I did not do a newsletter this week, but will do one in the future, likely via SnapGrades.

Looking ahead, we have four days of school next week, 3.5 the following week (Festival setup), and 4 the week after that (Festival takedown), which should give us ample time to ease the students back into school mode.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Mr. T.

Day one in the books!

2010-08-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

The first day is always an exciting one. Adjusting to a new grade level, new friends, old friends, new teachers, new principals, etc. keeps the adrenaline pumping. Today marked the first official day for the Our Lady of La Salette Academy. These lucky students got to meet with me for a few minutes so I could discuss the goals and expectations that I have for them. After that, they did a nice team-building exercise in which they had to create something to prevent an egg from breaking following a 5 foot drop. All of the Academy kids were mixed together to promote a more cohesive bond. Aside from that, I was able to visit each class. I was amazed at how engaged students already were, and how well they took to new procedures (i.e. walking in the hallway). I hope the rest of the year is just as smooth.

Tomorrow is "Back to School/Meet the Teacher Night" at 6 and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!

Mr. T

Only two more weeks!

2010-08-09T06:16:00.000-07:00

It seems like the school year just ended, but it's already August. Everything is just about in place for the upcoming school year, including policies and handbooks, and our new middle school language arts teacher, Erin McGuigan. I was downtown last week and I will be again this Tuesday and Wednesday for some riveting meetings. On a happy note, Pam returned to work last week to keep me company. It was awfully quite around here in July when I was the only one in the building.

In two weeks the teachers report back, and in three weeks the students return! It's going to be a great year for everyone associated with Our Lady of La Salette!

-Mr. T

P.S. My baby turned one last week!