Crusader Chronicle

At our Opening School Mass last Tuesday, Fr. Brownholtz talked about hope. He reminded our students that we often focus on hope with a "small h," like when we hope that the Eagles win or when we hope that we will do well on a test. He said that there is also a Hope with a "capital H," which is our Hope in Jesus. That kind of Hope, with a capital "H," is our Hope in Jesus, in salvation, in heaven, and in everything that Jesus offers us.

In today's Gospel, Jesus hears from the Apostles that, after He gives them the important message about His own death and resurrection, they are arguing with each other about which one of them is the greatest. Jesus tells them that whoever wishes to be first will be last, and He redirects their focus by placing a child in their midst. Children in Jesus' day had very little worth in society, and they had no place. Jesus tells the Apostles that they are to receive children and that, in doing so, they will be receiving Him. The Apostles' role is to serve others, especially the poor and lowly.

We can spend our time and focus our hope on earthly achievements, as the Apostles did in this Gospel reading, or we can remind ourselves that Jesus is our Hope, that our focus should be on the things of heaven, on receiving Jesus, and on serving others in His name.

Father in heaven,

may the faith you have given us

in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother,

and the flame of charity enkindled

in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,

reawaken in us the blessed hope

for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us

into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.

May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos

in the sure expectation

of a new heaven and a new earth,

when, with the powers of Evil vanquished,

your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee

reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope,

a yearning for the treasures of heaven.

May that same grace spread

the joy and peace of our Redeemer

throughout the earth.

To you our God, eternally blessed,

be glory and praise for ever.

Amen

Save the Date Middle School Parents ...

Parents with children in Grades 5 through 8 please join us on Wednesday, September 25th for Roster Night. The evening will include going through class schedules, Elective information, representatives from Conwell Egan, Notre Dame, Holy Ghost Prep, Villa Victoria, and Villa Joseph Marie available to answer your questions and more.

The doors will open at 6:00 pm with an introduction starting at 6:30 in the cafeteria.

Saturday, September 28th from 6:00-10:00 pm

Celebrate with fellow SIS parents, adult alumni, and faculty in kicking off our new school year! Featuring BBQ catered by Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse and beer and cider provided by Yardley Beer Company.

This event is taking place in the school parking lot by the blue canopy (in the event of rain, the event will move indoors). Tickets are on sale for $60 per person or $100 per couple.

Beef & Beer Ticket Information

https://forms.gle/2Cg3zEBF6iUUMCpv8

Beef & Beer Raffle & 50/50

See attached form to order Beef & Beer Raffle and 50/50 Tickets

Thank you to the following for donating raffle items and certificates to the Beef & Beer:

Adventure Aquarium

Amy Stewart Skincare (Stewart Family)

Carlucci's (Capuano and Coppola Families)

DeLorenzo's Tomato Pies (Longo Family)

Pita Chip

Seasons 52 (Vetter Family)

Sesame Place

Shady Brook Farm

St. Ignatius CYO

St. Ignatius Home & School Board

St. Ignatius Recycle Club

Emily Tallman (Tallman Family)

Trattoria Rosa Bianca

TreeTrails Adventures

Trenton Thunder

Valet Auto Wash

Wegmans Food Markets

If you have an item or certificate you would like to donate, please contact Mrs. Crozier.

The Recycle Club would like to thank all the families who turned in items.

Your support of our Club generated gift cards to be used throughout the school.

The gift cards have been used for Reading Olympic Books, the Faculty Wish List and Beef & Beer Raffles. Your support is greatly appreciated!

*****A Reminder Regarding Phishing Scams******

We will never request funds via email or text message from Fr. Brownholtz, Fr. Kennedy, Mr. Meade or any of our administrative staff, especially from a third party source. If someone tries to trick you into purchasing any gift cards through an email or text message, it is ALWAYS a scam. Important rule of thumb, when in doubt… ask someone before responding!

St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish will be hosting a Protecting God’s Children training class in the church on Tuesday, October 8th beginning at 7 pm. Pre-registration is recommended. Here is the link to register:

https://www.virtusonline.org/virtus/reg_list2.cfm?theOrgID=18461&theme=0

Walk-ins are welcome the night of the training.

Please pass this information on to any volunteers who may need to complete this training. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Jayne Marcinkowski at jaynem@stignatius.church

Please follow these procedures for PreK drop-off and pick-up:

Upon arrival, please pull into the “Pre-K parking lot” which is directly across from the golf course and to the far left of our campus. The entrance to our parking area looks directly straight back to the yellow door of our Pre-K building. Please pull all the way forward in the designated parking lanes, leaving exit lanes empty and available. Exit lanes are marked with cones to indicate that cars are not allowed to park there. Park your car and walk your child to the Preschool yellow front entrance (“map area”).

For safety purposes, our parking area is a ONE WAY zone. All cars should exit via the

driveway to the farthest end of our campus. No car should ever back-up to exit. There is NO PARKING along the grass leading up to our building nor in the main parking area

in front of the big school. Please pass this information along to anyone who may do

drop-off or pick-up for you.

Parking Lot:

For the safety of ALL, it is imperative to abide by the arrival and dismissal procedures

stated above. All cars must enter, pull all the way forward down the designated parking lanes of the

preschool lot, and exit via the farthest driveway. We appreciate your support with this.

Please see the map below as a visual representation of the guidelines above.

Please see the attached letter below for more information on pre-school, including parking guidelines, drop-off times, and other important information.

A few reminders as we start our new school year:

• Kindergarten through Grade 8 students who arrive at school between 8:00 am and 8:15 am will go to the Gym and wait until they are sent to their homerooms.
• All Kindergarten through Grade 8 students should arrive at school by 8:30 am.
• PreK-4 students must be walked to the PreK building between 8:15 and 8:30 am.
• PreK-3 students must be walked to the PreK building between 8:30 am and 8:45 am.

Please read these procedures for car drop off and car pick up.

Kindergarten through Grade 8 car drop off:

• Please stay in the drop off line and do not drive around the car in front of you.
• Please wait until the car in front of you pulls forward before you pull forward.
• We ask that parents do not get out of the car; if your child needs help, one of the staff members on duty will help your child to exit the car.

Kindergarten through Grade 8 car pick up:

• Please park in one of the parking lanes between the church and the playground.
• Please wait near the lines of cars until your child exits the school building and comes to you.
• When all your children have come to you, please take them to your car and wait.
• Please wait until the school staff member gives the signal for your line of cars to pull out and drive out of the parking lot before starting to drive away.

For Pre-K drop off and pick up:

• Please use the long parking lanes between Reading Ave. and the big field behind the Pre-K building.
• Please leave the lanes with cones at the end of the lane empty for parents to drive out once they have walked their Pre-K students to the Pre-K building.
• Please take extra care as you are driving, parking, and leaving after Pre-K drop off and pick up.

St. Ignatius School provides before and after school care through our CARES program for all students in PreK-3 through Grade 8.

Please read the attached letter from our CARES Director, Mrs. Brenda Goring. New Families needing CARES, please complete the online registration.

Our current seminarians, Matt and Jonathan, have now met all or our students. Matt and Jonathan are visiting classrooms and even teaching lessons on their Thursday visits. We look forward to our time with Matt and Jonathan this year!

Wednesday, September 25 - 8th Grade Archdiocesan High School Placement Test

Wednesday, September 25 - Middle School Roster Night - 6:00 pm

Saturday, September 28 - Beef and Beer - 6:00 pm

Wednesday, October 2 - All Classes attend Mass at 9:00 am

Wednesday, October 2 - Home and School General Assembly - 7:00 pm

Tuesday, October 8 - Grade 8 attends 9:00 Mass

Thursday, October 10 - Grade 7 attends 9:00 Mass

Sunday, October 13 through Tuesday, October 15 - 40 Hours Devotion

Thursday, October 17 - Feast Day of St. Ignatius of Antioch - all classes attend Mass at 9:00 am

We would like to thank Jack Longino, St. Ignatius of Antioch Class of 2023, for choosing St. Ignatius as the beneficiary of Jack's Eagle Scout Project. Jack has been working this summer to renovate the St. Ignatius Gym, a project that benefits not only the school but our CYO Program and our entire parish. Please consider donating to this worthwhile project; see the photo above for more information on how you can support Jack.

St. Ignatius of Antioch Elementary School has once again been honored by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia as a School of Distinguished Instruction. Schools of Distinguished Instruction are determined by their Terra Nova test scores. This year St. Ignatius was one of only three schools that scored 100% in the "Potential" category, meaning that 100% of the grade levels that took the test scored higher than expected, based on the InView scores. Thank you to our teachers, our parents, and our students for this achievement!

The 2024-2025 St. Ignatius of Antioch Faculty and Staff list is below.

PreK-3: Mrs. Azara

PreK-4: Ms. Tabeek

PreK-4: Mrs. McBeth

PreK aides: Mrs. Garcia, Mrs. Stasse, Ms. Herbine, Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. Beck

Kindergarten: Ms. Dionne

Kindergarten Aides: Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. Garcia, Mrs. Beck

Grade 1: Mrs. Edwards

Grade 2: Mrs. Ficarro

Grade 3A: Mrs. Montemarano

Grade 3B: Miss Lynch

Grade 4: Ms. Schmidt

Middle School: Mrs. Michel, Mr. Weinert, Ms. Hensler, Mr. Spadea, Mrs. Casey

(See below for specific Middle School teaching assignments)

Art: Ms. Murray

Music: Mr. Escandon

STEM: Mr. Seibel

PE: Miss Weight

Spanish: Mrs. Gray

Learning Support: Mrs. Hastings

Librarian: Mrs. Casey

Director of Advancement - Mrs. Crozier

Administrative Assistants - Mrs. Perini, Mrs. Chapuis

Health Room Nurse - Mrs. Kriger, RN (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday); Mrs. Barnette-Eckenrode, RN, CSN (Wednesday); Mrs. Petrillo, RN (Friday)

CARES - Mrs. Goring

Assistant Principal - Mrs. Michel

Principal - Mr. Meade

Mr. Spadea - Grade 5 Homeroom, Grades 6 and 7 ELA, Grades 5 and 8 Religion

Ms. Hensler - Grade 6 Homeroom, Grades 5 through 8 Science, Grade 6 Religion

Mr. Weinert - Grade 7 Homeroom, Grade 8 ELA, Grades 5, 6, and 7 Social Studies, Grade 7 Religion

Mrs. Michel - Grade 8 Homeroom, Grades 5 through 8 Math

Mrs. Casey - Grades 4 through 8 Math Honors, Library

Mrs. McBride - Grade 5 ELA

Mr. Seibel - Grade 8 Social Studies, STEM

Mrs. Gray - Spanish

Ms. Murray - Art

Mr. Escandon - Music

Miss Weight - PE

Please click the link below for the latest 2024-2025 St. Ignatius of Antioch Elementary School Calendar. Our initial calendar was shared with all of our families in May, and the calendar has been updated since then. The attached calendar will continue to be updated as the year progresses and is subject to change.

As we look forward to starting school again soon, we want to remind all families that if you have moved, if you have a new phone number or email address, or if you have any other changes in important contact information, we need to know. Please notify the office of any changes in family or parent email addresses, mailing addresses, or phone numbers. Thank you!

Share your summer adventures with your St. Ignatius Community. Email pictures and places to Mrs. Crozier at hcrozier@sischool.org for others to enjoy on our school Instagram!

Follow us @sischoolofyardley

Thank you to Mrs. Crozier for her great work in keeping our Instagram account up to date!

Congratulations to our September 500 Club Winners .....

The 500 Club winning numbers for September are below!

Congratulations to the following winners:

$50: Doreen Holmgren (Ticket #076)

$100: James Pearce (Ticket #032)

$250: Joe Bockin (Ticket #324)

$500: Cathleen Lupisella (Ticket #063)

There are still 64 tickets left for purchase and only 12 chances left to win - one of those may be your lucky number! See below for information on how to buy a ticket and join the 500 Club.

Thank you again to all the faculty, parishioners, friends, relatives and school families who have purchased tickets. We have sold 436 tickets so far; only 64 tickets left for the 2024 drawings! There are three monthly drawings left!

Our next drawing will be in early October so make sure you have your ticket!

There are still 12 chances to win during 2024!!

TICKETS CAN BE PURCHASED BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK:

https://tinyurl.com/SIS500club

l.com/SIS500club

• • 
    

    Look What's Coming Up!

    (Additional Details Below)

    • Middle School (5th-8th) Roster Night Wednesday 9/25 at 6:30 pm
    • Welcome Back Beef and Beer NEXT Saturday 9/28 at 6 pm (Registration Deadline THIS THURSDAY 9/26) https://forms.gle/2Cg3zEBF6iUUMCpv8
    • First General Home and School General Assembly Meeting Wednesday 10/2 at 7 pm
    • Save the Date for the SIS Trunk or Treat! Friday, October 25th Details to Come!
    • Singing and Instrumental Volunteer Opportunity for 7th-12th Grade! Learn more about music, play in an ensemble and accrue community hours. Contact Amy Hail at amyhailqom@gmail.com or Larry Perini at lperini@verizon.net
      

    
    

    Active Registrations

    • CYO Basketball Registration is OPEN for all St. Ignatius registered parishioners! Prek-8th, High School, and Adult Leagues! Register Here: https://stignatiuscyo.sportngin.com/home

    
    

    Volunteer Opportunities (Up-to-date Clearances Required) and Donations

    • Raffle Donations for Beef and Beer: We are still looking for gift cards and event tickets to be used as raffles for the Welcome Back Beef and Beer parent/adult event. If you have any donations, please send them to the school office marked Beef & Beer.
    • Lunch Duty: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0E49A8A723A7F94-50680029-lunchrecess?fbclid=IwY2xjawFKopZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHUKQ6TZ0TO1ePInxGpk0ItZUcdNVUivon2OaLsbUasPrcDsA9KlLD8yvKg_aem_iNCtywKOcEnt8lM4Vte2Wg#/
      • We still need volunteers for the following dates! Thank you!!
      • Tuesday, September 24th (1 volunteer)
      • Tuesday, October 8th (1 volunteer)
      • Wednesday, October 9th (1 volunteer)
      • Thursday, October 10th (2 volunteers)
    • Here is the link for the Volunteer Survey: https://forms.gle/fNnkScN1mgAVWSMi6 PLEASE NOTE: This link is for ALL events through the end of the school year! Sign-up sheets available at Back-To-School Night only included events through the end of 2024, so there are more opportunities to volunteer! Thank you to those who have already expressed interest. Remember, this survey is for expressing interest in learning more about events you may want to help with. You are not committing to anything! Please Contact Becca Kasper (rh.5.pope@gmail.com) with questions.

    Upcoming Event Details:

    Middle School Roster Night: Parents with children in Grades 5 through 8 please join us on Wednesday, September 25th for Roster Night. The evening will include going through class schedules, Elective information, representatives from Conwell Egan, Notre Dame, Holy Ghost Prep and Villa Joseph Marie available to answer your questions and more. The doors will open at 6:00 pm with an introduction starting at 6:30 in the cafeteria.
    

    
    

    Welcome Back Beef and Beer Saturday, September 28th at 6 pm. Celebrate with fellow SIS parents, adult alumni, and faculty in kicking off our new school year! Featuring BBQ catered by Sweet Lucy's Smokehouse and beer provided by Yardley Beer Company. This event is taking place in the school parking lot by the blue canopy (in the event of rain, the event will move indoors). Tickets are on sale for $60 per person or $100 per couple. (Registration Deadline 9/26) https://forms.gle/2Cg3zEBF6iUUMCpv8
    

    Take a chance at winning the pot in our 50/50 raffle or leaving with one of our incredible raffle baskets! Can't come but want a chance to support and possibly win?? No problem! Using the registration link above you can still purchase 50/50 raffle tickets without attending. You will be contacted if you win!

    HSA General Assembly Meeting Wednesday, October 2nd at 7 pm. Our first general assembly meeting of the year will be held in the school cafeteria. Please enter the school by the blue canopy. All in attendance will earn their child(ren) a free dress-down day. We encourage everyone to join us!

    Important Information

    Singing and Instrumental Volunteer Opportunity First Light is the St. Ignatius music ensemble that provides music for the 9:30am Mass. We are looking to include students from 7th to 12th grade who sing or play a musical instrument in our ensemble. This is a terrific opportunity to learn more about music, play in an ensemble and accrue community hours. Participation is flexible from weekly, monthly, quarterly or seasonal. Please contact Amy Hail at amyhailqom@gmail.com or Larry Perini at lperini@verizon.net, or simply come by after a 9:30am Mass for more information.

    
    

    
    

    
    

    Beef and Beer For those purchasing Beef and Beer tickets AND/OR purchasing 50/50 raffle tickets, please make sure to fill out the registration form linked below. For those paying with PayPal, after filling out the registration form, follow the link to Paypal, select BEEF AND BEER from the pull-down menu, and click add fees. If you are paying with a check, please send in your payment made out to St. Ignatius Home and School Attention JR Longino c/o Charlie Longino 8th Grade. You will receive an email response confirmation after submitting the Google Form. An additional email confirmation will be sent prior to the event. If you did not receive the confirmation email after completing the registration form, please contact Andrea Rozo (andrea.v.rozo@gmail.com) for assistance. Register here: https://forms.gle/2Cg3zEBF6iUUMCpv8

    
    

    
    

    Volunteer Clearances: Please visit http://www.stignatius.church/safe.html for information on submitting clearances!
    For upcoming events, information, school calendar, and registration forms/ links please visit the HSA school website (https://www.sischool.org/home-school and https://www.sischool.org/hs-forms-and-links)
    
    

    SCRIP Program Save money on SIS tuition using the shop with scrip program! 75% of the rebates you earn go back to you as a credit on next year’s tuition bill. The other 25% funds the scrip program expenses. Go to www.shopwithscrip.com to sign up for an account. St. Ignatius’ enrollment code is C26FCDC63135. The best payment method is presto pay which enables you to receive your ecards and reloadable gift cards immediately. Download the Raise Right app on your phone to purchase ecards while you are away or even shopping in the store! All physical card orders must be placed by 5 pm the previous Sunday. Any questions, please contact Nicole Kloc (nicolekloc@gmail.com), Coordinator.
    

    
    

    THANK YOU!!!

    
    

    Thank you for participating in the pretzel snack and pizza lunch fundraisers! We hope your child or children enjoy it and that you enjoy the break from packing lunches on Wednesdays! Thank you to Kelly Capuano, Giulia Monaco, and Mrs. Crozier for organizing the program and making sure all participants receive their snack/lunch! Thank you to all the parent volunteers for assisting in pretzel and pizza pick-up and distribution! Thank you to Villa Rosa and the Langhorne Philly Pretzel Factory for supporting our fundraisers!

Please use the link below for you and your family to sign up for the Family Adoration Hour.

Annmarie Flanagan is retiring from PREP at the end of June. After that she will continue with RCIA (now called OCIA). If you or someone you know (maybe your spouse) would be interested in becoming Catholic or just thinking about it, please tell him/her to call Annmarie on her cell --- 215-370-5701. The person does not have to be definite about it.

St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish has a parish-wide subscription to FORMED, a Catholic website with diverse Catholic movies, audio books, podcasts, shows, and more. You have free access to the content. Simply go to formed.org/signup, type in St. Ignatius of Antioch, look for the Yardley address on Reading Ave., click NEXT, type your name and preferred email address, and you will have access to the vast amount of content on FORMED.

This Year of Parish Revival is about falling deeper in love with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus and following him more closely. Mirroring this internal journey with an external one is a beautiful way to connect body and soul in the pursuit of Christ.

The National Eucharistic Pilgrimage is not one event or a road trip—it is an exciting opportunity for American Catholics everywhere to physically embody our nation’s journey of Eucharistic Revival. Whether you are on the shores of Hawaii or in the mountains of Alaska, needing to stay close to home or deployed overseas, you are invited to be a part of this journey.

Visit: https://www.eucharisticpilgrimage.org/plan-your-own-pilgrimage

Different questions were asked at the last General Assembly Meeting regarding teacher certification and teacher professional development.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia and St. Ignatius of Antioch advertise for and seek certified teachers for all subject areas. In individual cases, teachers are hired due to need, certain qualifications, and experience, with the expectation that those teachers are already or will be pursuing certification.

Teachers who are already certified are required to pursue continuing education through Act 48, a State of Pennsylvania professional development law. Act 48 requires that teacher certification is kept active by the completion of 180 hours of Act 48 approved professional development every five years.

Act 48 Professional Development hours can be earned through college credits or other Act 48 approved professional development courses or programs. Teachers often attend or participate in professional development during the summer months, but professional development opportunities are offered in various settings throughout the calendar year.

The Office of Catholic Education of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is a state-approved provider of Act 48 Professional Development. Each school year, the Archdiocese offers regional professional development sessions, in addition to professional development opportunities for specific disciplines. The Archdiocesan Induction program, outlined in an earlier Crusader Chronicle and included in the "Repeating School Information" at the end of this school newsletter, is also part of the Archdiocesan Act 48 Professional Development. St. Ignatius of Antioch Elementary School participates in both Archdiocesan Professional Development and the Archdiocesan Induction Program.

Teacher attendance at Professional Development sessions and programs can be funded by the parish (with prior approval), by colleges or universities, by Federal Title II funds, or by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

At the General Assembly Meeting on Tuesday, March 19, Greg Lucidi, the St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish Business Manager, led a presentation and discussion of the budget for the coming 2024-2025 school year. The attached document was distributed as a hard copy at the General Assembly Meeting, so we wanted to share it with those parents who could not attend the meeting.

Three topics that were raised in the questions for the last General Assembly meeting, along with a response to each topic, are:

1. Religion Bee - we plan to participate in the Archdiocesan Religion Bee in the 2024-2025 school year.

2. Lunch Program - we have looked at several lunch programs since YAY! Lunch stopped service at St. Ignatius of Antioch. Some programs are not financially viable and some do not offer enough variety or enough healthy lunch choices or enough child-friendly choices. We are looking into the idea of starting with one or two local restaurants that would offer lunch service items for our students in the 2024-2025 school year, with the intention of expanding to more restaurants in the future. This is an ongoing topic of discussion with the Home and School Board.

3. First and Second Academic Honors - the possible return of a program of academic honors for our middle school students is also a topic of discussion at Home and School Board meetings. We are looking at the requirements of the Archdiocese for such a program, as well as the structure of similar programs at area Catholic elementary schools.

Questions were asked about the evaluation of teachers at both the January General Assembly and the March General Assembly.

New teachers in Archdiocesan Catholic schools are required to participate in the Teacher Induction Program. This is a state-mandated program that is coordinated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and it is composed of three meetings/trainings during the first year of teaching. Teachers who are in their second or third year of teaching may also be required to participate in the Induction Program if they did not complete Induction previously. Experienced teachers who are new to Catholic schools may participate in Induction voluntarily.

New teachers are assigned a mentor. Mentor teachers are chosen by their level of experience and are often chosen to mentor a new teacher who is teaching the same grade level or in the same range of grade level. Mentor teachers work with the new teacher for the first year and then continue mentorship as needed in the second year.

New teachers are formally observed at least twice a year. In addition, new teachers or teachers who are completing a teacher certification process may be observed by college or university personnel. Experienced teachers are formally observed at least once each school year. The Archdiocese asks principals to utilize the Danielson Framework as the preferred instrument for formal observations.

Informal observations and walk-through observations are done more frequently.

This is a repeat message; the original message below was sent through Option C on February 2, 2024.

At the Home and School General Assembly Meeting on Tuesday, January 30, 2024, some parents asked questions about the Archdiocesan Curriculum.

The link to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Office of Catholic Education Elementary School Curriculum webpage is below:

https://www.aopcatholicschools.org/elementary/curriculum?post_category_id=37

You will find links on this page to the curriculum guidelines for Kindergarten through Grade 8, as well as the curriculum for Special or Enrichment Classes. Within each grade level, you will find curriculum guidelines for content areas.

Please take time to peruse these pages to learn about the curriculum in Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese.

A question that was raised at the January General Assembly Meeting was in regards to report cards and the availability for teachers to write comments. As some of you may have noticed, the report card format was changed from the 2022-2023 school year. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia controls the format of the report card, and a committee from the Archdiocese updated and finalized the 2023-2024 report card format in the summer of 2023. Currently, there is no part of the current report card format that allows for teacher comments.

One other change that you may have noticed is in the "Personal, Social Growth, Conduct", "Effort and Study Skills", and "Listening and Speaking" sections of the report card for Grades 1 through 8. The "+" mark and the "x" mark are clearly defined for the different specific areas under the three above headings, but a blank space with no mark is not defined. If a teacher leaves the space blank, without a "+" or "x', that indicates that the student is developing appropriately in that specific area - in other words, it is not an area that needs improvement, and it is not a strength either.

Another question that was asked at the General Assembly Meeting on January 30 was in regards specifically to the Journeys series, which is utilized at St. Ignatius in Kindergarten through Grade 4 classrooms. The questions that were asked were in regards to the replacement of that series due to the Journeys series being discontinued in the future.

The Journeys series will be discontinued in June of 2025. We plan to continue to use Journeys in the 2024-2025 school year. A small group of our St. Ignatius teachers are previewing other series in order to choose a replacement for the future.

The publisher of the Journeys series, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has a new reading series, which is already in use in some schools and which has been approved by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. We are looking at that new Houghton Mifflin Harcourt series as one of the options.

At the last General Assembly meeting, some parents asked about the choice of textbooks in Archdiocesan Elementary Schools. This is the Archdiocesan policy for textbook choices:

"As a service to the elementary schools of the Archdiocese, programs and textbooks are reviewed and evaluated each year by the respective curriculum committees, and recommendations are made to the Office of Catholic Education. Approval of programs and textbooks is made by the Office of Catholic Education through the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment and related Staff Development for PK-8.

The publication of Programs Approved for Use is published on the AOP Elementary Website. This resource aids administrators and faculties in the selection of the program and textbooks which best meet the needs of the individual school. Administrators are encouraged to involve the faculty in textbook selection. Program continuity is essential in the selection of textbooks and materials.

Administrators are responsible to consult the faculty to update programs and textbooks on a rotating basis. The recommended cycle for renewing curriculum resources is six years. Schools that wish to select programs or textbooks other than those reviewed and approved by the curriculum committees should seek further information and approval from the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment and related Staff Development for PK-8. No pilot programs should be engaged in without the approval of the Office of Catholic Education.

School administrators should consult the guidelines when ordering programs, textbooks, and materials prior to completing state-funded instructional materials orders."

In addition to the above, administrators consult each other, and teachers also consult other teachers, for recommendations of textbook series. As we approach the 2024-2025 school year, we are looking specifically at a series to replace Journeys, which is being phased out. We have looked at the series that are currently recommended by the Archdiocese and are taking into account the advice of teachers and administrators at other schools.