Be on the lookout for St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic School’s new billboards on Hwy I-35 and in DeSoto and Duncanville.  Get out those St. Elizabeth yard signs to display in your front yards!!! Registration for the 2010-2011 school year is currently underway for both returning as well as new students. If your child will be continuing his or her education at St. Elizabeth School, please register as soon as possible to reserve a spot and to take advantage of the early registration fee through April 16^th. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns or need assistance. In addition, if you know of any family that might be interested in a quality Catholic education for their child, please direct them to our website at www.saintspride.com and encourage them to call the school office at 214-331-5139 ext. 21 to schedule an informational tour.

Many, many thanks to the entire St. Elizabeth School community for your beautiful display of prayers and support for both the Barrientos family and the Pottinger family during their time of loss. It has truly been touching to watch everyone pull together in times of need to reach out in love and concern for our fellow sisters and brothers. Please continue to keep these families in your prayers during this difficult time.

We wish to congratulate our 8^th graders who received the sacrament of Confirmation on February 14^th and our 2^nd graders who received the sacrament of First Reconciliation on February 27^th. Please keep these students in your prayers as they continue along their journey of Faith.

I’d like to recognize and thank our 8^th grade class, under the leadership of their Homeroom Representative, Maxine Feaster, for the tremendous success of this year’s World’s Finest Chocolate Sale. Through their leadership and EVERYONE’S tremendous participation, much needed funds were raised to help our school with this year’s operational expenses. Thanks to all for a job well done!

I would like to congratulate all of our athletes who have represented St. Elizabeth School so extremely well this year. Ryan Dooley and Orion Salters represented St. Elizabeth School in the DPL All Star Basketball Game. Our 8^th grade girls’ Varsity basketball team made it to the championship round and placed second in their division for the season. Our 8^th grade boys’ Varsity basketball team made a superb showing this year in the Division I League throughout the entire season, wrapping up in the second round of playoff games. WAY TO GO, SAINTS!!!!!

I wish to thank everyone who helped to make this year’s Catholic Schools Week the best ever! It was evident throughout the entire week that the theme was “St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic School: Growing Hearts and Minds.” I appreciate so much the help of our faculty and staff to make the Open House and Family Recognition Spaghetti Dinner a great success. I also appreciate everyone’s team effort in making all of the week’s activities run so smoothly with special thanks to:

• Mrs. Belcher and Mrs. Kuterbach for coordinating the Opening Liturgy on Sunday
• Katy Barrilleaux for her tireless efforts in designing our new fabulous marketing brochure for the Open House
• the Grounds & Facilities Committee for the awesome work they did on Clean-Up Day to get our school ready for Open House
• Marybeth Jones and the FVO for organizing a very lovely Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
• Mrs. Connelly and DineRite for coordinating and sponsoring the Spaghetti dinner
• Mrs. Kuterbach for creating another awesome school video (check out the website)
• Mrs. Price for coordinating the school spelling bees
• Mrs. Robb for coordinating the Science Fair
• Mrs. Shelton and the fifth grade parents for coordinating the Science Night Dinner
• Coach Clack for coordinating the 8th Grade Volleyball Game
• and the many other individuals who stepped up to help whenever and wherever needed!

Our St. E. scholars were all truly outstanding in the Spelling and Science Fair competitions, and it was so rewarding to hear the cheers of students excited about their academic endeavors!

We would like to congratulate our spelling bee winners, Jeffery Cervenka, who represented St. Elizabeth School at the Diocesan Spelling Bee, along with Sydney Swayzer, first runner up! Jeffery placed 3^rd in the Diocesan Bee and went on to place 6th in the Dallas County Spelling Bee as well! Congratulations also to the winners of the Pri-Intermediate Spelling Bee, Giselle Rivera, first place, and runner up, Viviana Chapa!  Keep up the fantastic work!

During the CSW Recognition Assembly, the following individuals were recognized with an engraved paper weight for their outstanding contributions to St. Elizabeth School over the past year(s): Anna Burciaga, Diane Dooley, Jason Gentry, Andy Goza, Todd Salters, Dennis Vrana, and Vanessa Walker. The Volunteer of the Year awards

Congratulations and Kudos!!!!!!

2009-2010
TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Susan Johnson

2009-2010
VOLUNTEERS OF THE YEAR

Katy Barrilleaux

Phillip Davis-Hale (In Memoriam)

Mary Beth Jones

Susan Vrana

I would like to wish everyone a safe and relaxing Spring Break next week, March 15-19. School will resume on Monday, March 22.  As we prepare for the upcoming Holy Easter Season, let us continue to pray of one another and for the needs of our community.

God bless

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Already, December has started out to be an exciting month and is flying by!  Among other things, we have the following events going on in December:

• The Destination Book Fair
• the 8^th grade trip to The Pines
• the Fall Sports Pep Rally
• the 1^st Grade Field Trip to the Arboretum
• the PK, K, 2^nd, 3^rd , & 4^th Grade Visits to Nursing Homes
• the Annual School Christmas Program
• the Jesse Tree Celebration
• the Christmas Parties.

This year’s Christmas vacation will be from December 21 – January 1 with a NOON DISMISSAL on Friday, December 18^th.  Classes will resume on Monday, January 4^th.

Please be sure to attend our school Christmas program on Thursday, December 17^th, at 7:00 pm.  Your children along with Mrs. Kuterbach have been preparing diligently to provide you with an experience sure to get you into the holiday spirit!

In case of inclement weather, you will be notified by phone through our new parent notification system, School Reach.  Postings will also be listed on the following:

• the school website (www.stelizabethofh.org and www.saintspride.com)
• Channel 8 TV
• Channel 5 TV

Hopefully, inclement weather will not be an issue this year, God willing.

On behalf of the entire school community, I wish to thank Mr. David Cardoza who has planted rye grass on the area surrounding our newly landscaped baseball field!  He has also graciously offered to donate 9 yards of dirt to replace that which has eroded around that area.  Please be sure to tell him “Thank You!” when you see him!

Many thanks to all of our parent volunteers for your tireless dedication & commitment this year in helping the teachers in their efforts to educate your children!  All of your work in assisting with the fundraising efforts of the school has truly been TERRIFIC!!!  We continue to look forward to Catholic Schools Week, the Spring Book Fairs, the World’s Finest Candy Sale, the Spring Silent Auction, Young Authors’ Day, the Spring Arts Fest, and the other events that not only help the school but also do so much to build God’s kingdom here at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic School!

In closing, I want to wish all of you a blessed Advent and a very holy holiday season!  May the Christ Child of love and peace enter your hearts!  God bless!

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I am also thankful for the wonderful work done by all of our families to make this year’s Booster-thon and Halloween Carnival huge successes. I especially wish to acknowledge the outstanding leadership of our carnival chairpersons, Marybeth Jones, Anna Burciaga, and Bea Brown, as well as our Advisory Council chairpersons, Michele Mills and Dana Choate, and the incredible contributions made by Katy Barrilleaux and Andy Goza in marketing and facilities improvements.

Many, many thanks, as well, to Boy Scout Troop 788, scouts and their families, who so generously gave of their Sunday to plant shrubs and other landscaping along the car pick up line and also to the NJHS members for their generous donation and sponsorship of the area. Our scouts also did a terrific job cleaning out the area underneath the stage in the cafeteria.

I’d like to extend a very heartfelt thanks to our scouts in Pack 788: Benjamin Jones, Antonio Barrientos, Logan Edelmann, Dylan Choate, Michael Green, Julian Reyes, Demetrius Hinojosa Rowland, Roberto Burciaga, their parents, and Webelos II Leader, Demetrius Rowland for their participation in a Veterans Day event to honor veterans residing at the Windsor Senior Living Center in North Dallas. These scouts presented a first-class, very dignified and patriotic opening and closing flag ceremony for this 3-hour dinner event on November 10th, where they heard the personal stories of former military men and women who valiantly served our country.

Please join me in congratulating our assistant principal, Rachel Robb! She was chosen as a Teacher of the Month to be recognized on a large LCD screen billboard for the Access Self-Storage Company on the west side of Hwy. 67 just past Kiest Blvd. Please drive by and see her beautiful picture and the name of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic School displayed!

This year’s Parent/Teacher Conference Day is scheduled for Friday, November 13, from 7:30 am – 12:00 noon and again from 1-4 pm. There will be a discussion for 7th grade parents from 8 – 9 am. Parents of students in grades PK-5 may call Mrs. Walkley in the school office to schedule an appointment with the grade level homeroom teachers. Parents of students in grades 6-8 may conference with the individual teachers on a first come/first serve basis. Parents who are unable to make a conference for that day may schedule an appointment directly with any individual teacher through email. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call the school office.

All parents of students in grades 1-8 are invited to attend a special meeting on Thursday, November 19, at 7 pm, where we will give you an overview of how to interpret the results of the recent standardized achievement test, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and the Cognitive Abilities Test. We hope that we will have received the students’ test results by that time.

Included in this newsletter are the results of the Parent Satisfaction Survey that was sent out prior to the beginning of this school year. We greatly appreciate those of you who took the time to complete and return this survey. We were very pleased with the overwhelming number of positive comments about St. Elizabeth of Hungary School, its faculty and staff, and the high quality of Catholic education that your children are receiving here. We are also appreciative of the suggestions for improvement that we received as well. We began last year to address many of your suggestions and have continued this year in making improvements based on your input. Another survey will be sent out in February, and we would love to get 100% response.

We are looking forward to the Feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary on November 17th. On that day we will be singing Happy Feast Day to our patron saint with cake at all the lunchtimes. On Friday, November 20, we will honor St. Elizabeth of Hungary during our Children’s Liturgy with a procession of saints. On Friday afternoon, we will hold our annual “Saints: To Tell the Truth Game” in the school gym. Please be sure to read Mrs. Belcher’s column for more information regarding Saints’ activities during the month of November.

Many thanks for your continued support of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic School this year! Let us continue to pray for one another and for the needs of our community.

God bless!

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I am sure that by now you have seen the outstanding work done by our Grounds and Facilities committee to make improvements to our field.  A number of families including Josh Choate, Russell Jones, Sandy & David Walkley, and Coach Clack have contributed to this effort under the direction of Susan and Dennis Vrana and Jacinto and Pati Reyes who contributed both the time and the cost to make this a reality.  I would also like to thank Phil and MJ Barrilleaux who donated the “Field of Dreams” sign for this project.  There are many more projects planned for our “field of dreams” and we know that many more of you will want to become involved in this very worthwhile endeavor to make St. Elizabeth School’s environment as well as athletic facilities state of the art!!!

The Family Volunteer Organization has been hard at work planning this year’s Halloween Carnival.  This is always an exciting event that everyone looks forward to and enjoys.  This year it will be held on Saturday, October 31.  Please be on the look-out for flyers sent through the communication envelope and through Renweb emails for more information.

Our faculty and staff have embraced the new Diocesan curriculum with great enthusiasm and expertise!!!  We are even being invited to share our success with other Diocesan schools in an effort to share our resources and talents with others.  We are developing communities of learning amongst the teachers here at St. Elizabeth School as well as with other schools within the Diocese.  A number of our faculty attended the Thinkfinity Workshop and Diocesan Teacher Tech camp this summer and have brought back many resources to share and ideas to implement in the classrooms.  I would like to thank Michele Green for all the work she has done to develop an Art instructional program for our students.  She will be sending out information in the near future inviting students to join an after-school Art Club.  We will also be participating in the Dallas Museum of Art Go Van Gogh School Outreach Program.  We plan to have them come out to work with the K-8 students twice during this school year, hopefully once in the fall semester and once in the spring.

Our students in grades 1-8 will be taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) the week of October 12.  This standards-based test will provide a snapshot of the type of learner each student is as well as how students perform academically at the beginning of the school year.  It is a diagnostic instrument that will help our teachers make decisions as they plan for instruction throughout the school year.  It is a norm referenced test, not a criterion referenced test such as the TAKS test.  The ITBS is not a test that we can “teach to.”  Rather it is a test designed to measure overall knowledge and higher order thinking skills.  The teachers will be able to share information with you when they visit with you during the Parent Teacher Conference Day on November 13.  Please arrange for your child to be present at school and on time during the testing week in October unless s/he is ill.  Also, please make sure that your child gets a good night sleep the night before and eats a nutritious breakfast each morning.

Again, I would like to thank all of our faculty and staff, students, and parents for everything you do each day to make St. Elizabeth’s such an outstanding school.  Let us please continue to pray for one another and for the needs of our community

God bless.

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