And how are the children?

On my very first day at St. Robert in 1999, I had the privilege of participating in a faculty retreat where I was introduced to the the traditional greeting of the Masai people of eastern Africa: And how are the children?  The response, All the children are well, means that peace and safety prevail and the priorities of protecting the young are well in place,

I was immediately inspired by the high societal value that the Masai place on their children's well-being, and this became a lens through which I have continued to view our culture through all these many years.

As the nation mourns the brutal murder of George Floyd and the violence against innocent citizens and police officers around the nation, discussions of racism and violence dominate the national conversation - and our children are watching and listening.  This is a pivotal moment in our shared humanity.  We have to get this right.  If we look at our response through the lens of our children's well-being, I believe we truly can rise from the detritus of this shameful time and become a people of honor in the sight of God.

I have shared some resources to help you start - and continue - these important conversations with your children.  We must acknowledge our shared responsibility to teach our children in developmentally sensitive ways that it's not okay to classify and characterize others in generic groups.  And, most fundamentally, we have a responsibility to explicitly teach them that whether our actions are performed by one against another or hidden in the actions of an angry mob, it's never, ever okay to be dismissive of another, to speak ugly words, or to harm or destroy; not thoughtlessly; not jokingly; not in the exercise of power or even the expression of pain.  It's never okay.  Period.

As a Catholic institution, we denounce violence in any form for any reason.  We honor the right to peaceful protests.  We believe in the dignity of all people.  We celebrate the glorious tapestry of human differences.  We acknowledge our responsibility to welcome and include all members of God's family at our table.  And we believe in the unlimited power of prayer.

But in the end, what will remain is the legacy of our actions.  Words are not enough.  What did we do?  What did you do?  This will be our legacy.

Guided by the gift of Right Judgement, I hold eternal hope that we can create a community where every person is received and loved as a child of God.  Then, peace will prevail.  And then, the children will be well.

For as you judge, so will you be judged,

and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.

Matthew 7:2

Welcome back, welcome home

Welcome to the 2019-20 school year!  The cool winds have truly brought a sense of fall, and with it, a renewed sense hope in all the wonderful things God has in store for us.  As we say farewell to summer, it is my hope that you, like your children, enjoyed the recreation that "makes us new again."

Thanks for sending your children to school with new supplies and the fresh haircuts and uniforms that signal in a concrete way that school is serious business.  But more importantly, thank you for sending them with the good attitudes and respectful demeanors that can only come from home.  Your children are ready to learn and we are off to a wonderful start!

The story of this particular year has begun with an unprecedented level of energy and optimism due in no small part to our expanded cast of characters!  In addition to the new teachers and staff that have already been introduced, please join me in extending the love of our community to all our new 4K families plus our new transfer students:

5K
Campion Camera
Evan Checota
George Gosman
Joseph Haddad
Ana Requejo

1st Grade
Alice Haddad
Benjamin Moriarity

4th Grade
Roger Gosman

5th Grade
Ozzie Colvin
Ian O'Brien
Catalina Perez

7th Grade
Tahlia Khan
Ryver Moore
Nate Patzer

As we come together to write the story of this year of limitless possibilities, may our oneness of purpose and vision be a powerful force for good that will inspire us to accomplish great - and truly good - things.  And so we turn another page and embark on this wonderful adventure called school.

Welcome back.  Welcome home.

Looking forward

As this school year comes to a close, we look forward with anticipation to a year of exciting growth just ahead.  The imminent change wrought by recent staff turnover, in particular, provides us with a unique opportunity to take a systemic view of skills and dispositions that will enhance our collective expertise and our professional culture. 

Additionally, a byproduct of the anticipated salary savings of multiple simultaneous new hires, together with an additional $25,000 commitment from the Home and School Association, will enable us to maintain middle school staffing at the current level rather than reducing by one as originally planned.

Our first new hire for the year is an old friend.  Please join me in welcoming former middle school ELA teacher Marisa Riepenhoff back after a five-year hiatus.  While she was away, Mrs. Riepenhoff completed her Masters in Educational Leadership, led system-wide shifts in curriculum and grading at Messmer schools, and most recently, served as the Vice President of Education at Sharp Literacy (a non-profit that partners with schools to implement research-based shifts in practice) - all while continuing her longtime work providing professional development to teachers through the National Writing Project.  Mrs. Riepenhoff is very excited to return to her professional roots in the classroom where she will serve as our new 5th grade literacy and social studies teacher.   She is a lifelong learner who has "continued to cultivate many of the best practices I first learned at St. Robert."

God has been good in sending us a larger-than-usual pool of qualified candidates for other open positions as well.  Interviewing for primary positions is well underway and we will soon be screening candidates in queue for our middle school positions.  We had a promising interview just today with a very excellent candidate for middle school math.  

It can be unsettling to let go of the known and embrace the unknown.  Our human weakness can sometimes lure us down a path of fear and negativity.  While it's always sad to say farewell to partners in mission, it's an important truth that change is growth-inducing on both an individual and institutional level.   

Let's step back and be grateful for the possibilities before us as we strategically build a power team to advance our mission into the next decade.

Until we meet again

The nature of the school year almost invariably brings personnel changes in the spring and summer months. Despite that dozens of staff have come and gone during my tenure at St. Robert (38 by my count!), we have been curiously blessed for many years with very small turnover in any one given year.  This year will be different, however, as multiple personal, family, and professional factors have coincided to create a larger than usual number of changes at one time.  

And so, it is with bittersweet emotion that we will say farewell to these beloved members of our staff at the close of this school year:

• Kristen Byers, 4K, 2 years

• Jennifer Luna, 2nd grade, 22 years

• Jan Ebel, 3rd grade, 4 years

• Ann Schroeder, 5th grade, 3 years

• Andrew Brehm, 7th/8th grade ELA and Religion, 4 years

• Meg Kinateder, Middle School Math, 2 years

• Alexandra Hoslet, Administrative Assistant, 1 year

Each of our departing colleagues has left his or her unique mark on our culture; and each leaves big shoes to fill as they move on to pursue a variety of next steps both within and outside of the profession.  

We are blessed that our paths converged in this time and place for a little while - or a long while - to do God's work; and blessed that our individual pathways will diverge under the guidance of God's loving hand.  

Please join me in extending profound appreciation to Kristen, Jennifer, Jan, Ann, Andy, Meg, and Zan for their immeasurable gifts to the service of our children and the mission of Catholic education.  If you are able, you are invited to join us at Mass this Friday where we will acknowledge their service and wish them well in their next endeavors. 

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back. 
May the sun shine warm upon your face; 
the rains fall soft upon your fields 
and until we meet again, 
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

(traditional Gaelic blessing)

Living gratefully

Today we said farewell to "the face of St. Robert School," our receptionist, Mr. Berg.  With every arrival and departure - of colleagues, families, students - I am reminded of the sheer number of people that have touched my life in my nearly 20-year tenure at this institution.  Only seven of our current 34 staff members were on the team when I joined in 1999.  Many more have come and gone along the way, and I'm not quite sure how to even estimate the hundreds of children who have passed through these doors in the span of those years.

I am grateful for every single one; the ones I easily loved and the ones that challenged me; the spirited and the pensive; the creative and the analytical; those with burdens and those with answers.  Gratitude for all of them and the encounters we shared is what sustains me and gives my life meaning and joy.

As we prepared to send your children off to their holiday celebrations today, I invited them to consider making gratitude a way of daily life rather than just a ritual for special occasions. The formula is a simple one, though it takes a bit of discipline to get started.  It begins with being fully present to every person, place, and experience of the day.  That might be the hardest part.  Focus!  Put down the digital devices.  Turn off the noise.  Look.  Listen.  Notice.  Then, allow yourself to feel.  Grateful.  Really.  You will be amazed at how observation and attentiveness gets you there without much conscious effort.  Finally, express it.  What we say becomes real, even tangible.  It begins to defines us and finally becomes us.

Notice, feel, say.  These simple habits can lead to a truly grateful way of life, which, I think, cultivates a happy, healthy, fulfilled life.  And so it is my Thanksgiving wish that God will bless each of you with the abundance of a grateful spirit to sustain you all the days of your life.

Safe travels, safe returns, and a happy, healthy Thanksgiving.

We are ONE, version 2018

Looking out at the faces gathered with anticipation in the warm gym on Monday gave me an overwhelming sense of enthusiasm for the adventure - and potential - that lies just ahead.  If we define our school by its people, the good-byes and hellos just behind us have given us a fresh face and a new identity.  From among these many distinct voices and hearts and minds, we have actively begun the work of forging one community of purpose.

In addition to 25 new 4K students, we welcomed new students in most grade levels this year - 18 in all - with seven in the middle school alone!  Several of our new students are also new to the Milwaukee area, and I am very grateful for the warm welcome you have extended to them.  We have room for more, so please don't stop your ambassadorship!

In addition to moving Ann Schroeder to the fifth grade team, we welcomed three new members to our staff

• Reading: Mrs. Klawans
• Middle School Math Long-term substitute:  Mr. Rohlinger
• Administrative Assistant:  Ms. Hoslet

And we have just negotiated a partnership with the Conservatory of Music to provide us with a new music and choir teacher who will be introduced soon!

Our new students and staff members come to us with their own stories and passions and will follow their own distinct pathways into the future, but for this moment in time and space, we are ONE.  And together we will accomplish much that is good and holy.  

Let us give thanks, for God has indeed been good to us!

We thank you for a safe and comfortable school where everyone is known and loved.

We thank you for inspiring teachers who guide us and learn alongside us.

We thank you for a rainbow of friends with many gifts and many stories.

We thank you for learning tools that bring the whole world to our classrooms

We thank you for fresh rooms and shiny floors; for new pencils and new shoes; for hopscotch and kickball and new friends and new beginnings...

Help us to live and work each day in the glory of God

AMEN

Tick, tock...turn

Earlier this summer, I noticed that the clock in my office had stopped working.  I replaced the battery without effect, so took it home for my husband to investigate.  After cleaning the contacts and trying a different battery, he declared that there was no way to repair it.  The cherished memento of fifteen years at St. Robert would likely have to be relegated to life as a fancy paperweight.  I moved it to my dresser at home while contemplating how to proceed.  Then, ever so mysteriously, it simply resumed ticking in the middle of one night.  It's back in my office now, in a new location where I can keep a closer eye on it - and where the rhythm of the tick brings a new kind of mindfulness to my work.

The "Mysterious Incident of the Clock in the Night" has become a bit of a metaphor for the seasons of life: a time to rest, a time to work; a time to scatter and a time to gather.  On a personal note, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel this summer.  My husband and I took a road trip to the Rocky Mountains, giving us a cherished week to reconnect with each other and immerse ourselves in the grandeur of God's presence.  I felt so small, so awed - and so restored.  I hope that you, too, have had moments to appreciate sunshine and gentle breezes and to make some new family memories - whether at home or away - as you begin to bring a new school year into focus.

And focus we must.  As the school year ahead comes more clearly into view, the projects of summer increase to an almost dizzying cadence.  This summer, our work in the school office has centered heavily on five work streams:  enrollment and marketing, facility maintenance and improvements, curriculum enhancements, personnel shifts - and as always - bringing financial closure to the year just completed.

This summer, our marketing efforts have been directed not only at active recruitment, but also heavily on finishing the content development for our soon-to-launch new school website.  A year and a half in the making, we are both nervous and excited to see how our words and images will align with our developer's vision.  We are hopeful that this contemporary new tool will more efficiently serve our current stakeholders, in addition to attracting a growing community of school families to St. Robert through improved search engine optimization as well as an updated look, message, and functionality.

Facility upgrades are almost always on our summer task list and this year has been no different.  We're excited to welcome you back to first floor classrooms refreshed by contemporary new flooring and carpeting.  We're also grateful to have been awarded a $20,000 grant by the State of Wisconsin toward a planned update of our phone and PA systems.  After weeks of cabling and network mapping, our new phone system is due to go online next week Monday through Wednesday.  Thanks for your patience as we make this massive transition that will serve us all more reliably.  We have also been invited to apply for a second round of state safety grants, which, if granted, would allow us to upgrade our classroom door locks to ADA- and lockdown-compliant standards.  Stay tuned!

Summer is always an important time to focus deeply on curriculum work.  The year ahead will see us take important next steps in the development of our literacy curriculum.  With a major investment from our School Society endowment fund, we have been able to retain two literacy consultants (K-2nd grade and 3rd-5th grade) who will guide us in full implementation of Readers' and Writers' Workshops, the industry standards of excellence in literacy education.  We started the summer with two days of professional learning and are in the process of making a significant investment in books and resources to support more personalized and scaffolded reading development.   Additionally, we are privileged to be among the first schools to launch a beautiful new Theology of the Body program across grade levels that will supplement our religion curriculum in cultivating a rich understanding of God's plan for humanity and developing a school culture that confidently upholds the dignity of every person.  Also in the area of curriculum, we are excited to roll out our first Project Lead the Way (PLTW) course in robotics.  And finally, the nine schools in our Archdiocesan deanery (North Shore and Ozaukee County region) are hard at work on a continuous improvement plan and collaborative professional learning that will begin to bring our schools into closer alignment on the journey toward best practice initiatives.

The nature of the school year almost invariably brings personnel changes during the summer months as well.  Early this summer, we bid an unexpected farewell to our general music teacher, Thea Janisch, who has accepted a position in her hometown of Stoughton, and just recently, to our reading specialist, Sara Lasic, who has stepped away for personal reasons.  We are currently close to closure in the searches for their replacements and hope to be able to announce new team members in our next communication.  We thank Thea and Sara for their contributions to our mission and wish them well in their next endeavors.  Also in the personnel arena, former first grade teacher Ann Schroeder will be bringing her expertise in literacy to fifth grade, and we are pleased (and relieved) to welcome Alexandra Hoslet to our office team just in time to update the data bases for the new school year and help us put together our first fully digitized back-to-school packet!  Ms. Hoslet replaces Administrative Assistant Emily Tanski, who left us in October.  She will gradually assume additional responsibilities in the area of communications (newsletter, website, social media, coordination with event chairs, etc.).  Be sure to introduce yourself next time you're in the office!

Finally - as always - summer is heavily colored by tasks related to financial closure of the year just ended.  Thanks to all of you who have cleared your accounts, allowing us to invest responsibly in personnel and resources for the year ahead.

The ferris wheel at State Fair is about to turn, and so too must we.  My clock reminds me that we are fortified by times of respite, just as we are energized by the purpose and rhythm of a return to work. May these last precious weeks of summer bring you fulfillment and rest and may you return your children to us a little taller, a little wiser, and ready to write the script of a new year of learning and growth.