| Dear Xavier Catholic School Families, These past several months as the Leavenworth Catholic School leadership has pursued the challenge of consolidating and moving our schools from what we have known since 1979, we truly have been on a journey of Faith. LRCS leadership has asked you, as the parents of the students we serve, to have Faith in us as we navigated through the planning stages necessary to make such a bold and historical move. We began each and every meeting with a prayer that the Holy Spirit would guide us in our actions, ultimately enabling us to achieve our goal of sustainment of Catholic Education in Leavenworth County for “The Next 150 Years”. Now, after many months, we are very near the realization of seeing our plans become reality. We know that you all still have many questions. We promise you before the end of this school year that we will have answers for you, but there is still much work to be done. Now that we are through the Capital Campaign phase, or at least nearing the end of the most grueling part of it, we will be able to roll up our sleeves and begin tackling each question one by one. Here are the answers to a few of the questions that we have heard; Who will be the principal for Xavier Elementary? We are pleased to announce that a new principal has been hired for Xavier Elementary. Ms. Karen Davis is coming to us from Our Lady of Unity Catholic School in KCK. Prior to OLU she was principal for three years at St. Agnes in Roeland Park. All together she has 10 years experience as a K-8 Catholic School principal and 7 years experience as an elementary school teacher (2nd - 5th) all in our Archdiocese. We are thrilled and very blessed that she has accepted our offer to come to Leavenworth. Ms. Davis has already begun working with us mapping out a plan for classroom assignments, class schedules, and faculty placement. We have formed a building committee made up of teachers to begin discussions and plans for specialized areas, such as, Technology, mass schedules, gym usage schedules, cafeteria and library scheduling. Ms. Davis has meetings set with each teacher this week to begin to develop her relationship with them. You will have an opportunity to meet her at a ground breaking ceremony. Please look for an email announcement for that date. When will construction begin? Through the work of many wonderful volunteers and donors we have already completed most of the classroom renovations. The bids for the Catholic Identity and new construction of the gym and cafeteria are in and we are waiting on confirmation from the Archdiocese to allow us to begin. By the time you receive this letter we are hopeful that we have received our “go ahead” to proceed. With all of the pre-work completed, we are still on schedule and plan to be in the new school K-8 for school year 11/12. What is the first day of school? The first day for students in our new building has been set for August 24th. What are the Moving Plans? We are also pleased to announce that Mandy Mroszczak has accepted the position as "moving coordinator." This is a volunteer position that she has very graciously taken on. She will be contacting each of the teachers to begin preliminary packing plans. Mandy will play a key role in working with Ms. Davis and the building committee to help ensure the smoothest transition possible. She will also take an active role in volunteer recruitment for the move itself. We've got a BIG JOB ahead of us, but together we will make it happen. Thank you to all of you for your contributions & dedication!!! If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to your mountain, "MOVE!" and it WILL move... and NOTHING will be impossible for YOU! - Matthew 17:20 Right now we are concentrating our efforts on enrollment for 11/12, staffing (contracts are due out by April 15th), necessary changes that will be needed as a result of our consolidation and the logistics of the BIG MOVE. So we as LRCS leadership ask you to please keep your Faith, continue to pray for us and Believe that things will turn out right for the community of Leavenworth Regional Catholic Schools. Thank you for making the every day sacrifice of educating your children in Faith. As always if you have any suggestions, comments or concerns my door is always open. Sending an email or calling is the easiest way I can be reached. My mind is open and my Faith is strong. We are in this together, and I am here to serve you and the future of our Catholic Faith, our students. God Bless you all, Barbara H. Ferrara President, Leavenworth Regional Catholic Schools Immaculata High School + Xavier Elementary |
