“Just Do It”, one of the world’s most recognizable slogans, meant to encourage everyone to abandon excuses and engage. With two of the three statewide benchmarks for COVID-19 spread now in the “moderate” category for Maricopa County and numbers trending down, there is reason for hope. This week, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, following the lead of the CDC, released updated guidance for K-12 schools in the setting of the pandemic (K-12-Schools-and-Childcare-Facilities).

Dear OLMC Families,

This Friday the 2nd graders and a few of the older students will be making their First Reconciliation. Please keep them in your prayers. This is a closed event, only parents will be allowed into the Church. 

Friday is also a half day, 12:35pm dismissal with spirit shirt and jeans. 

Over the past several weeks, the 7th & 8th graders have been busy conducting trials, gathering data and observing the outcomes of experiments to prepare for the upcoming Science and Engineering Fair. Having a basic understanding of the “Scientific Method”--how hypotheses are formed and tested--is important for all, not just those who seek a future occupation in the scientific disciplines. This is no more apparent than during the current Pandemic. From the onset, we have been inundated with reports and updates, research, studies, trials and experiments, often confusing, at times contradictory. Knowing how to return to, read and interpret, the source of a report is an invaluable skill.

Dear Parents,

Happy Valentine’s Day! Thank you for all the kind words and treats for the staff! You are all too kind! I hope you have had a wonderful day with your loved ones. There is no school tomorrow in observance of President’s Day. Enjoy the extra time with your family!

This Wednesday begins Lent. Father John will have a Prayer Service at 2pm that he will Live Stream. He will then come over to the school and he will sprinkle ashes over the heads of all the students. He will do this outside of the classrooms. There will be no students going to the Church this week. 

Res ipsa loquitur - a Latin phrase, most familiar to those practicing law or medicine, translates to “the thing speaks for itself”. It is commonly understood to apply to cases and circumstances where facts and evidence are so clear they need no further explanation. This past Friday, the Centers for Disease Control published an article titled Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in K-12 Schools. Following data analysis from numerous schools, with various models of instruction, nationally and internationally, it was found that “When a combination of effective mitigation strategies is implemented and strictly adhered to in the K-12 in-person learning environment, the risk of transmission in the school setting appears to be lower than or equivalent to the transmission risk in other community settings.”(CDC February 12, 2021)

Dear OLMC Community,

We had a wonderful Catholic Schools Week. I wanted to thank Home & School for the pizza lunch and the popsicles provided. 

This week the Dads’ Club is hosting a Chipotle fundraiser. This Tuesday, February 9 from 4:00-8:00pm at the Chipotle located at 815 E Baseline Suite 118. You need to give them the school code: LKQYFJF. We are selling scrip inn $10 and $25 dollar increments. Drop off your order in the drop off line or send your envelope with your student and we will have it back to you by Tuesday afternoon. The profit percentage is 10%. 

In January 2019, an article titled The Link Between School Attendance and Good Health was published in Pediatrics (Pediatrics 2019; 143). In this article, the authors Drs. Allison and Attisha provide evidence that chronic absenteeism, even in early grades, is related to “grade retention, poor academic achievement, particularly for social skills and reading” and that these markers of poor school performance are associated with poor health outcomes as adults. At OLMC, we have long recognized the importance of student attendance.