Well here we are at the final issue of the Weekly Words for 2012-13 with a focus on graduation pictures.  Last night we graduated 30 wonderful 8^th graders in a beautiful service in the Cathedral.  I want to congratulate all our graduates and wish them the very best as they move on to high school!  The Class of 2013 has been a wonderful group of kids whom I have enjoyed watching since they were in the 4^th grade, and we will truly miss them!

Thanks to all the parents who assisted with year-end activities and parties.  We are so blessed to have so many involved and supportive parents.   And with that in mind I want those parents who are moving or whose last child is graduating to know that we will miss you as well!  Thanks so much to the 8^th grade parents for their graduation gift of over $8,000 (as of this writing) to be used toward preparation and consultation for a possible future capital campaign to address White House facility needs.  What a wonderful statement of appreciation for our school to assist in us in beginning to address the needs of our youngest and newest learners!

Today we will have our final faculty meeting of the year and then have a luncheon to celebrate and honor our departing teachers.  Please join me in wishing a fond farewell and Godspeed to Sarah Barlow, Kayla Cason, Rebecca Cox, Carrie Macias, Fr. Wayne Carter, Karyn Rimmer, and Sandy Triplett!  Each of them has been important contributors to the life of our school.

This coming week the office will be open from 9 to 3 Tuesday to Friday.  After that, our summer hours will be 9 to 1, Monday to Thursday.

Over the summer we have a variety of facility projects, although none quite so extensive as we have undertaken in the past two summers.  We will be painting four of the Middle School classrooms, as well as changing toilets and doing some painting at the White House.  We are also currently working on plans to replace the intercom/bell system with an eye toward increasing safety and communication capabilities.  And of course we always clean carpets and do general repairs and “deep” cleaning over the summer.  All in all everything should look very nice and fresh for the children when they return next August.

I do hope you all have a wonderful summer!  I look forward to seeing you around during the summer or here at school next August.  Enjoy this time of relaxation and refreshment!

Warmly,

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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By the time you read this letter we will have had the White House Spring Sing and K-4 Graduation, our Final Family Chapel, and K-5 Graduation!  Some of us have begun our summer vacation, and the rest of us only have a few more days!   I want to wish all our White House and K-5 friends and their parents a very happy summer.  I have so enjoyed watching them learn and grow this past year, and I look forward to seeing them all next August.

Middle School final exams begin today, so they will have 11:30 dismissal for the remainder of the year.  Good luck to everyone! Next week we will have our Lower School Awards Assembly Tuesday morning at 8:30 and the Middle School Awards Wednesday at 8:00 (please note the difference in times).  Finally our 8^th grade graduation is at 6:00 Thursday evening.  All parents and students are welcome to attend Graduation, and I especially encourage Middle School students to attend and support the 8^th graders at this special time.

Last week I acknowledged our departing Middle School teachers and introduced our new teachers.  I am delighted that all of our Lower School teachers will be returning.  In the White House we are reluctantly bidding adieu to Miss Kayla and Miss Rebecca, our truly outstanding K-4 aides.  Miss Kayla has additionally taken on responsibilities as school nurse this year.  Miss Rebecca is following her husband, Air Force Chaplain Kristofer Cox, who was transferred earlier this year; and Miss Kayla is making a return to full-time nursing.  Also at the White House Sarah Barlow, who began our Preschool P.E. Program, Rise and Shine, this year is moving to Colorado.  We are so sad to see all these wonderful ladies go, and we wish them the very best!  Miss Coty, who subbed so competently for Miss Carrie’s maternity leave this spring, and Miss Rachel, who has worked in the White House ASM program for the past two years, will be stepping into the aide positions; and Coach Aaron, who has also worked White House ASM for three years as well as K-5 P.E. the past two years, will take over Rise and Shine.

In addition to changes on our faculty, the end of the year marks changes on our School Board as well. On Tuesday we thanked Ty Alley, Karin Barro, Brenda Graves, and Creighton Hodges for their three years of service.  In addition, Natalie Bartle served on the School Board during her term as Parent Club President, and Michele Hardtner completed five years of service, having served a full three-year term and then two years as President.  I am personally deeply appreciative of the time and energy each of these committed parents gave to our school through their service on the School Board.  Thanks to each of them!

Next week we will have a Graduation Issue of the Weekly Words, and I will outline some of our summer improvement plans as well as summer hours.

Enjoy this final weekend of the school year!

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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And the year just keeps marching on.  We had our Navy Tie-Striped Shirt Chapel for 5^th and 8^th grades on Tuesday and the 3^rd Grade Taste of Louisiana on Thursday.  White House children are hard at work to prepare for the Spring Sing, and the 1^st grade went to the Tyler Zoo—the year is truly winding down.  Next week we will have the White House Spring Sing and K-4 Graduation, K-5 Graduation, and the final Family Chapel of the year.

Earlier this week you should have gotten Student Information Sheets for White House and Lower School students.  I encourage you to complete these and send them back to school as quickly as possible. The information you provide is used as teachers make class assignments for next year.  Please remember that we absolutely cannot honor requests for specific teachers nor for friends to be in class with, but we do value your input and use it in placement.  Classroom assignment is always complicated, with considerations of teacher and student temperament and learning and teaching styles as well as the dynamics of the peer group in each class.  We know that some students are good friends but not always good classmates.  We know that students need to have some close friends in a class but also need to be stretched socially sometimes to make new friends.  All these and your input are part of this important task.  As in past years, letters from your child’s teacher next year will go home about a week before school begins.

We have been blessed at St. Mark’s with remarkably low turnover in the last two years, but we do have some members of our faculty and staff who will be leaving us, and before the year is out, I want to acknowledge their contributions and that we will miss them as well as mention who will replace them.  I will talk about Middle School this week and White House and Lower School next week.

Mrs. Triplett is retiring as our middle school science teacher, and Fr. Carter’s interim service in middle school math is coming to an end as well.  We wish them the very best in retirement and hope they will still visit us or perhaps substitute on occasion.  In addition, Sra. Rimmer is having a baby next fall and will not return to us in Spanish, but she hopes to continue to teach her drama elective classes in the spring semester.  Taking their places are some very familiar faces.  Mrs. Cathy Williamson, who has helped with Science Olympiad this year and worked for the past several years as one of the staff educators at Sci-Port, will take over science.  Mrs. Natalie Bartle, our outgoing Parents’ Club president who has already done long-term sub positions in middle school math and 5^th grade math and language, takes over full-time in middle school math.  And the Rev. Ely Bulnes, a native Spanish speaker, parent of an SMCS graduate, and current 8^th grade teacher will take over all Spanish for grades 5-8.  Each of these is an exemplary teacher who is already known to our middle school students, and we are excited about their contributions next year.

Enjoy the weekend!

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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The whirl of activity that is May certainly arrived this week.  Whatever division your child was in, you were busy!

In the White House we had a fantastic Cajun Classic field day with lots of fun for all on Tuesday.  I can’t decide whether I thought the Crawfish Boil Relay or Toss Ally the Alligator Back into the Swamp was more fun to watch.  Then on Wednesday our resident Anglophile, Miss Robin, was at it again as the White House Late ASM Friends had a baby shower in honor of the approaching British Royal Baby.  Lower School students presented a brand new and thoroughly delightful May Day program thanks to the ever-creative and talented Dr. Gibbs, but the tradition of 4^th graders leading the program and then dancing the May Pole continues.  Middle School celebrated Spirit Week with a number of dress up days and also held elections for Student Council.  Then we ended the week with our final pep rally of the year yesterday and Field Day this morning!  Particular thanks to Ms. Fontaine for all the work she does to organize Field Day, and thanks to Coach Turner, John Bartle, and the crew of dads who came in to help set everything up this morning!

Next week promises to be even busier than this week, if that’s possible.  It’s simply too much for me to list here, but check the school calendar on our website and make sure you have everything on your calendar.  I do hope that all 5^th and 8^th grade parents will be able to attend the Navy Tie-Striped Shirt Chapel next Tuesday a 8:00 a.m.  This is an important event for both grades and signals important transitions in the lives of the students.  Boys and girls of the two grades will attend separate luncheons later in the day to celebrate.  Thanks so much to Ashley Atkins and Cherie Humphrey for hosting and to all the moms who are assisting!

The Development Office and Fiesta Leadership team have been hard at work wrapping up Fiesta 2013 this week.  You can still purchase inclusion party tickets and photos (see following pages), and a few bills are still coming in, but we appear to have cleared over $75,000!  That money will completely fund next year’s Parents’ Club budget, with significant funds remaining for teacher and administration requests for classroom items, professional development opportunities, and other special requests.  Thank you so much to all who helped support our school through Fiesta!  Don’t forget the final Parents’ Club meeting of the year next Friday at 9:00 in the Parish Hall.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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This morning Bishop Owensby joined us in Family Chapel to celebrate the Eucharist for St. Mark’s Day.  Not only was it a pleasure to have our former dean (and parent of a St. Mark’s graduate) with us, but it was a pleasure to have our bishop present to celebrate the feast of our patron saint in the final Eucharist of the year.  As we approach year’s end, I would like to encourage everyone to try to make one more chapel service this year; Chapel is part of what makes St. Mark’s St. Mark’s, and parental attendance is a distinctive and important feature of how we do Chapel.

And now, thank you so much to everyone who attended, donated to, or assisted with Fiesta!  It was such a wonderful night.  In answer to the question as to how much money was made, the simple answer is that I don’t know because we are still getting bills and receipts, and people are still purchasing tickets to inclusion parties.  What I do know is that attendance was great, and a tremendous amount of “social capital” was raised as parents from all divisions of the school had a chance to enjoy each other’s company and support our school in the most festive of settings.  I want to convey personal and communal thanks to some of the key individuals who made it all happen:  Our gracious hosts Karin and Greg Barro; our Fiesta Chair and Co-Chair, Ashley Atkins and Pam Dethloff; and all of the office staff, especially Development Director Jenn Morgan and Admissions Director Sarah Cantwell.  Also we simply must thank Superior Grill (the Barbaree family) and Eagle Distributors (The Nichols/Pavlick families) for their generous sponsorship of this great evening.  Again, thanks to all!

On Tuesday night we held our annual Athletic Banquet, and again we thank Superior Steakhouse and the Barbaree family for providing the food.  The Parish Hall was packed and the evening was long because we had so many students to recognize for participating in school sports, including boys’ and girls’ basketball, cross country, golf, tennis, Jets football, and cheerleading.  Nearly every middle school student, and many 4^th and 5^th graders, have represented our school this year.  Thanks to Coach Turner for organizing the event, to the moms who helped decorate, and to all our wonderful coaches and parents who support SMCS athletics.

As we begin the final month of school, with more and more special events, late nights of t-ball/baseball/softball, and many field trips, some students have a tendency to start summer vacation early.  I have reminded Lower and Middle Schools that we still have lessons, homework, and tests, but you may need to be a bit more vigilant and attentive to your children’s work in these final weeks.  We want to see everyone have a strong finish and do their best all the way to the end of the term.

Next week we will have Field Days in both the White House and Big School.  Remember that due to Field Day activities next Friday is an 11:30 Dismissal Day.

Have a great weekend,

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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Tomorrow is the big day!  After nearly a year of planning, Fiesta, our Annual Parents’ Club gala fundraiser, will take place at the home of Karin and Greg Barro tomorrow evening at 7 o’clock.  Thanks so much to the Barros for being our hosts, and thanks to Fiesta Chair Ashley Atkins and her Volunteer in Chief (and former Parents’ Club President) Pam Dethloff!   Thanks also to our table sponsors, all who donated to Fiesta, and to all of you who participated in the online auction over the past two weeks—I continue to be amazed at the generosity of the St. Mark’s community!

The money raised at Fiesta supports the school in a variety of ways.  For the last several years the Parents’ Club budget has included at least $15,000 to assist the school in buying new textbooks.  This year we are planning to replace our math texts in K-5 through 5^th grade, and our 3^rd -5^th grade reading and language arts texts.  In both subjects we are looking for three things:  1) increased academic rigor and incorporation of 21^st century learning objectives (critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and global awareness), 2) increased options for technology use (parent and teacher websites, apps for tablets, SMART Board lesson planning, etc.), and 3) increased options for differentiated education so that we have built-in opportunities for additional challenges for our strongest students and re-teaching/reinforcement opportunities for students who have not mastered a concept yet.

In order to determine the very best curricular materials for your children, we are sending two teams of teachers to conferences which are taking place now.  One group of teachers is attending the National Council of Teachers of Math conference in Denver, and another group is attending the International Reading Association conference in San Antonio.  This is a superb opportunity for our classroom teachers to learn about all the latest methods, view the latest materials, and interact with colleagues from around the country who are using or adopting materials in these subjects also.  Thanks so much to the Parents’ Club for helping to fund these professional development trips.  I assure you that your children will benefit greatly from this opportunity, even if the unusual circumstance of both conferences occurring at the same time does mean that we have an unusually high number of substitutes in our classrooms today and that several teachers will be out of town for Fiesta this year!

I do look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow night.  It will be a wonderful party for the best of causes—your children!  See you there!

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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I know that many of you have been to the Fiesta Online Auction, but if you haven’t been yet, it’s time to check it out and start bidding!  It’s open through next Wednesday, but I expect things to heat up as we move into the weekend.  Spread the good word to your friends and family members that this is a wonderful way to support your children and their teachers, so remember:  Bid high and bid often!

Our 8^th graders were taking LEAP tests again this week and are glad to have all that behind them now.  They will be traveling on their class trip to South Louisiana next week with stops at Avery Island, the World War II Museum, the French Market, and the new and old state capitols, just to name a few.  Safe travels and thanks to Ms. Fontaine for all her efforts to organize the trip!

While the 8^th grade is away, the rest of the school will be enjoying trips to the Star Lab.  Several years ago the Parents’ Club purchased the Star Lab—a sort of mini-planetarium—for our students to use as part of their studies of space and the solar system.  It has been a wonderful resource, and I appreciate the efforts Mrs. Ziober and Mrs. Triplett have made to train themselves and to maintain the system.

As we move into the final weeks of the school year, I need to ask your assistance.  Please bear in mind that Miss Jenny and Mrs. Whitehead have a tremendous amount of work to do at the front desk.  There are two important ways in which you can help them.  First, please take extra time in the morning to make sure you have everything that needs to go to school, including lunches.  Delivering lunches to students involves interrupting classroom lessons, keeps the office staff from other tasks, and seems to be happening more and more often.  Please, try to bring fast food lunches only in emergencies when lunch was unexpectedly forgotten.  Secondly, while we love having parents at school and are glad that you feel welcome, do please remember that classes go until 3 o’clock and the office staff has work to do.   As we move in to spring weather, please gather and socialize outside when possible if you are at school waiting to pick up your children.

I am including a Tentative Calendar for 2012-13 in the Weekly Words.  It does not include all special events, but it has the “starts and stops” that many of you need for planning purposes.  A more detailed calendar will be sent out at the end of school this year and with our summer mailings.  In general our calendar matches the public schools and Catholic schools in terms of start of school, Christmas Vacation, and Spring Break.  Our fall and winter breaks do not match.

Have a great weekend.  I am looking forward to seeing you all at Fiesta next weekend!

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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I hope you all had a wonderful Spring Break and a happy Easter!  The children all seemed relaxed, rested, and ready to be back in school this week.

I am writing this week while en route to a meeting of the Southwestern Episcopal Schools Association (SAES) Board of Trustees.  SAES consists of 115 schools in six states, so I appreciate the opportunity to interact with and learn from other heads of schools in our region.  Some of our time will be spent in planning for the Biennial Conference for all SAES teachers and administrators next November.  In June, our entire preschool faculty will attend the SAES early childhood educators’ workshop with an emphasis on math thanks to generous support from the Parents’ Club.  I am appreciative of the opportunities SAES provides for professional development and school improvement and proud to serve on its board.

Before I left town, I saw part of a rehearsal of our 2^nd grade play, Seeds’ Needs, and I am certainly looking forward to seeing the performance Friday morning.  I am, as always, amazed at the terrific work Mr. Fair does with our students and am deeply appreciative of the time he and the 2^nd grade teachers have put into this production.

Although Fiesta Chair Ashley Atkins has been hard at work all year to prepare for our annual gala fundraiser, she and her team have gone into overdrive this past week.  The silent auction goes “live” on Sunday, so be sure to check out all the wonderful items this year.  If you have somehow forgotten to put Fiesta on your calendar for April 20, mark it now and start working on a babysitter—you don’t want to miss it!

Our spring sports season is now well underway, and our school golf and tennis teams have been doing terrifically!  I want to extend a heartfelt thanks to our volunteer parent coaches—Renee Deupree for tennis and Kraig Wood for golf—for the time and effort they have put in to helping our teams to be so successful.  And congratulations to all our golfers and tennis players for representing our school in such a positive way through good play and fine sportsmanship!  I also want to thank all the parents who coach the various “unofficial” baseball, soccer, and softball teams of the spring season. It is wonderful for our students to be able to play these sports as groups of school friends, and I enjoy seeing them practice on our fields.

Wishing you all a great weekend,

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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As you can imagine, spirits have been high this week as the students waited for Spring Break.  I am happy to report that as eager as everyone is for the break, they have also been working hard and having fun at school and generally kept from beginning their break before school actually gets out!

Last Saturday the School Board, along with several members of the faculty and staff, participated in a Strategic Planning Session at the beautiful Caddo Lake cabin of Marshall and Cindy Jones, parents of Katherine, ’11.  Our facilitator, SAES Executive Director Connie Wootton, began by having us look at the 12 “Vital Signs” of strong schools in SAES, as determined by a group of former school heads and consultants.  Examples of these signs include professional development for faculty and technological resources.  We discussed each vital sign and how St. Mark’s would rate for that particular item.  We then looked at the Report of the Visiting Team for Accreditation last year and the recommendations they made for us, as well as the steps already taken to address those recommendations.  From all those we were able to identify the general areas where our new strategic plan needed to focus and to begin discussing ideas in those areas.  Over the next two months a smaller committee will use the discussions from the retreat as the basis of a formal document to guide the work of the board for the next three to five year period.

The survey that many of you took was also discussed during our retreat, and the results will be used by the strategic planning committee and the full board in the weeks and months ahead.  Connie Wootton commented that the results were extremely positive and that she had never seen a school in which so many parents both choose and remained at a school because of the “Christian environment” (64% and 78% respectively).  To offer just a few other survey highlights:  81% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the academic program as a reason to remain at the school, and 77% noted that their children’s happiness is a reason they stay at St. Mark’s.  The quality of the faculty and the personal attention for each child were ranked as the two most outstanding attributes.  Respondents suggest that efforts to strengthen the school focus on curriculum/instruction (with many parents commenting that they are very satisfied in this area and just want to make sure we retain what we have), technology, and fine arts and sports offerings.  Regarding facility, there was wide consensus on addressing the needs of the White House, as well as significant interest in lunchroom space.  We had good numbers of participants with children in each of the three divisions of the school, so I feel confident that the survey generally reflects the sentiments of the parent body as a whole.  Thanks again to all who participated!

I do hope everyone has a terrific Spring Break and a very happy Easter!  Remember that we are out of school on Easter Monday, so we will see you all on Tuesday, April 2!

Warmly,

Chris Carter, D.Min.

Head of School

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