Dear St. Patrick families,

Tonight is our annual Christmas program for grades kindergarten through fifth grade. It will be held at the Kent Roosevelt High School auditorium at 7 PM. One thing I ask for every year is, if possible, to remain for the fifth grade performance. There is an intermission between the program and the fifth grade play which usually results in a mass exodus. I know for some families it is a late night, but the fifth grade would appreciate your support by remaining for their play.

We recently had our Pizza Hut Limo Lunch from our candy sale. Those students who were chosen included: Jaxon Bailey, Leah Trautman, Camyrn McLaughlin, Jacob Smith, Leah Stanley and Alivia Havanas. Eric Thompson was our top seller and chose a St. Patrick hoodie from Imagine That as his prize. Thank you to everyone who participated in the candy sale.

A note from Angela Davis. Thank you to everyone who has purchased a prayer garden brick. We are in the process of working with the company who will be engraving the bricks. They said they should be done after the new year. We will display the bricks in the back of the church then the office for two weeks. Bricks are still available for purchase. Thank you and God bless everyone for your support.

The ACME receipt program will be ending in early January and the last dated receipt taken will be Dec. 30, 2017. The receipts should be turned into the school no later than Jan. 5th, 2018.

The Campbell Soup label program will also be ending in December. Please turn in those labels as soon as possible for school credit.

Wednesday, Dec. 6th, is the feast of St. Nicholas. It is a special holiday tradition first brought to America by Dutch settlers. This day honors St. Nicholas, a real person who became the patron saint of children because of his acts of kindness and charity. In hopes that St. Nicholas will visit St. Patrick, we will celebrate “Slipper Day”. Students are invited to wear slippers all day, while leaving their shoes in the hallways, in hopes that St. Nicholas will leave them a treat, as he did for the children in Holland. If a student does not have slippers, they may bring another pair of shoes to leave in the halls in anticipation of St. Nicholas’ visit.

Friday, Dec. 8th, is the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This is a holy day of obligation. The primary grades will attend Mass at 9 AM and the middle school will attend Mass at 12:10 PM.
We recently completed our second lockdown drill for this year, under the watchful eye of the Kent Police Dept. Our students and teachers followed all directions, and also successfully completed a partial evacuation of the school. As usual, our drill went off without a hitch. We were also commended by the police department for the manner in which we conduct ourselves during the drill.

Thank you all for making our after school car pick up run more smoothly. Be sure all cars follow the line around the church even if you pull up and don’t see a line on Depeyster. Do not attempt to cut the line of cars pulling across Depeyster. Once one car stops and waits, the problem starts again. Please share dismissal information with anyone who is picking up your child after school.

To also help things along for the morning drop off and avoid any tragedies here, let’s be sure the following is occurring. All cars should be in a single file line. Cars that pull up alongside another car only invite trouble. Students should exit on the driver’s side whenever possible. If they must exit on the passenger side, be sure they go around the front of the car so that they are always in your line of sight. A student should never run back to the car after it begins to pull away. If you need to stop in the building or escort your child inside, please park along the wall near the playground and proceed with caution. Do not park against the building. This will only cause other problems when you leave. If we all follow this procedure, our morning drop off should run smoothly.

Our constant change in the weather dictates that students should be properly dressed for waiting for the bus and outside recess.

Have a great weekend! And, as always ….. GO PANTHERS!