Principal's Update

September 6 , 2007

Greetings as we conclude the first week of school!

Despite a gray and rainy beginning, the school year is well on its way. New faculty and staff are finding their way, as are new students and their families. Thank you for your patience during Wednesday’s afternoon carpool. Recesses and carpool coincided with a large funeral and that always proves to be a challenge. We appreciate everyone’s good humor and flexibility!

Our Open House nights are Monday, September 17 for grades 5-8 and Tuesday, September 18, for grades K-4. Both evenings begin in the gym at 6:30PM. Following the teacher presentations, parents return to the gym for an opportunity to sign up for October conferences. Please note: In addition to signing up with your child’s teacher(s), you can also sign up for a conference with administration. That time is limited as well and the topic of conversation is your student. As a matter of fact, your student is most welcome to attend with you.

You may have heard the rumors regarding some of our school families struggling with head lice. It is important to separate facts from rumor: First, at the beginning of this school year there were five families we know of who were affected. Second, we cannot stress enough how important it is to extend care and sensitivity to those students; the social stigma attached to head lice is largely based on misinformation. Below please find some information emailed to us today by the King County Health Department:

EPIDEMIOLOGY

DIAGNOSIS

PREVENTION

It is prudent for children to be taught not to share personal items such as combs, brushes, and hats. In environments where children are together, adults should be aware of the signs and symptoms of head lice infestation, and affected children should be treated promptly to minimize spread to others.

School Control Measures

SCREENING

Screening for nits alone is not an accurate way of predicting which children will become infested, and screening for live lice has not been proven to have a significant effect on the incidence of head lice in a school community over time. Several descriptive studies suggest that education of parents in diagnosing and managing head lice may be helpful. Because of the lack of evidence of efficacy, classroom or school-wide screening should be strongly discouraged.

More information can be found on the following websites: www.headlice.org; www.metrokc.gov/health/prevcont/headlice.htm; www.hsph.harvard.edu/headlice.html ;

Overall, this is a teachable moment for all families; please stress the importance of not sharing combs, brushes, scarves, or headbands. For girls with long hair, we strongly recommend that hair is worn in a pony tail for at least one month.

Although the health department officials tell us that head lice need to be dealt with at home only, we are in the process of finding one or two nurses who we can contract with on an on-call basis to have students checked if, and only if, there is a permission slip from parents. As soon as that is in place, we will post a note on our webpage. Again, we cannot say it often enough that while this issue is a nuisance; it is not a judgment call on someone’s personal hygiene habits. Be careful what you say around children; they are most sensitive to this nuisance and are quick to assume unnecessary blame.

Meanwhile, let’s focus on the many positives we’ve observed this week: Have you heard the sound of music coming from Mr. Allen’s room? How about the bulletin in the front hall that Mr. Gustafson put together? One of our lunchroom volunteers commented on the polite conduct of our students during lunch … all tangible pieces of who we are and what to focus on.

This weekend, we celebrate Catechetical Sunday and an opportunity for all the teachers from parish and school to be blessed during each mass. Enjoy these late summer days and extend a welcome and welcome back to those committed individuals.