Dear St. Michael’s Parents and Families—

Merry Christmas to all of you! And all good wishes for a safe and restful break!

We enjoyed an uplifting start to the holiday season with our Lower and Upper School performances last week. Many thanks to those of you who were able to attend. I am very grateful to Ms. Karise Allen and Dr. Tony Antista for their diligence, hard work, and commitment in preparing your sons and daughters for a wonderful show. Above all, I am grateful to all our students for their strong display of courage and joy on the stage! We give special thanks as well to our parent team who committed extra time and energy to help set up for and ‘close down’ the stage and sound and lighting for the shows last week: Steve Kimme-Hea (P ’21), John Pendolino (P ’22), Adam Harris (P ’21), Treber Rebert (P ’20 and 23) and Jim Ackerman (P ’20).

Please join us tomorrow, Friday, December 20, for our annual Las Posadas celebration and Lessons and Carols in the chapel, beginning at 10:30 am. All are welcome. And please remember we dismiss at 12:00 noon tomorrow as well for the start of the two-week break. Classes resume on Monday, January 6.

Two important notes on changes when we return from break:

-Beginning January 6, the date of our return from the break, our main parking lot, the one closest to the main office (front of school), will be free of all faculty and staff cars throughout the day. I respectfully request parents to avoid at all times parking or waiting along the perimeter curb of this main parking area; in turn, I ask that parents occupy the available parking spaces first to avoid undue traffic congestion—especially during pick-up time in the afternoons and especially entering the school campus from Wilmot at any time of day. Please exercise due safety, courtesy, and patience when on campus in your car. Thank you.

-Secondly, our Lower School campus west-wing (classrooms for Ms. O’Meara, Mr. Gould, and Ms. Stalkfleet) will still be under construction when we return from the break, with a scheduled start for the remodel this coming Monday, December 23, and a scheduled completion date toward the end of January. The work will entail installing air conditioning in the three remaining classrooms (to complete the entire Lower School campus), refurnishing the restrooms in the west wing (moving the entry door for the boys to the inside of the security gate), and building a new office space for our Lower School Director, Mandy Hart. This work throughout the month of January will require our contractor to enclose with fencing a small section of the north parking lot, and to limit access and exit for parents and students and teachers in these three classrooms to the south-side security entrance only, the one closest to Mr. Gould’s room. The north-side security gate, adjacent to Mrs. Stalkfleet’s classroom, will be closed entirely until the project is complete. I will be present on the Lower School campus in the mornings and afternoons until the project is complete to answer any questions from parents. Thank you for your patience with what will eventually be a long-waited and significant upgrade to the campus.

Attached is the updated calendar for 2020-21.  The only change is Easter break is moved back a day (Wednesday, 3/31 and returning to school on Monday, April 5).

Full-year calendar – 20-21

I look forward to seeing you back here on January 6. Until then, all good wishes for a restful and joyful break!

Brendan Sullivan
Head of School
bsullivan@stmichael.net

UUAA 12.15.19

Dear St. Michael’s Parents and Families—

Merry Christmas to all of you! We look forward to seeing everyone this Friday for our annual Christmas Program. Our Lower School students (K-4) will perform from 2:00-3:00 pm in the Student Center, and our Upper School students (5-8) from 7:00-8:00 pm. I would certainly recommend arriving early, for either performance, to better assure hassle-free parking. We give special thanks to Ms. Karise Allen, our Lower School music and art teacher, and to Dr. Tony Antista, our Upper School music and theatre director, for their diligence and hard work in preparing our students for this special event! If you have yet to attend this uplifting annual St. Michael’s tradition, please make an effort to be here. Thank you.

As we look ahead to the second half of the year, after the upcoming holiday break, please make planning for the 2020-2021 academic year part of your New Year’s resolutions. I have included below (as a PDF) our 2020-2021 Academic Calendar for your consideration. A few parents have asked especially for the year-start and vacation dates for the coming year; these are of course noted on the attached calendar. In early spring 2020, well before the end of the academic year in late May, we will send (and post to the website) the full, official calendar with all scheduled performance and special-event dates for the coming year. I trust that this early version of the calendar will suffice for now as you plan your family vacations for 2020-2021.

We have spent a good amount of our time together this year as a faculty preparing for our re-accreditation through the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools. As I have noted before, the re-accreditation process is driven by the self-study itself, which is a hefty document containing our written responses to close to one hundred prompts, each aligned to an SAES accreditation standard. These rigorous standards apply to all facets of any school seeking the imprimatur of accreditation with SAES—‘Episcopal Identity, School Climate and Culture,’ ‘Teaching and Learning (Academics),’ ‘Administration and Organization,’ ‘Facilities and Safety’ and other key areas of study. Integral to the work of the self-study, especially for the section titled ‘Mission,’ schools are expected to have, or to be in process with, a statement of school values.

Against this particular standard, we are ‘in process with’ developing a comprehensive statement of our school values, making formal those current principles of good practice that govern our decisions and ways of proceeding as a school—from our Board of Trustees and administration, to our faculty and staff and students—and those that represent principles of good practice to which we as a school aspire. ‘Community’ is a fine example of an integral value that I believe drives much of our work as a school and defines who we are as a school. ‘Community’ as a value also represents, again from my perspective, and from the perspective of our faculty and staff, an ideal that we wish to strengthen even more—a practice of being genuinely inclusive, supportive, and welcoming to all students and families.

Among a number of foundational values that we have begun to articulate, and that will ultimately comprise the formal statement of values to guide our work as a school, our faculty and staff have engaged in conversation about the values and ideals of innovation, integrity, respect, compassion, care, and service—all of them critical to strengthening St. Michael’s and, therefore, all well worthy of consideration.

To this same end, I encourage you and invite you to contribute to the conversation about school values through the online survey for our self-study. To date, we have received replies to the survey from close to 70% of families…which is a very good percentage; I would like to hear from all families. If you have yet to do so, please take a few minutes (an estimated 10-15 minutes) to complete the survey; the link is here and will be open through next Friday, December 20:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/stmichaelsparentsurvey2019WDCD3CBT

A few last reminders: please consider participating in our appeal for the annual Halo Fund. We sent via U.S. Mail close to two weeks ago the Halo Fund letter. As I have said before, a gift of any size is welcomed—a healthy percentage of community participation (among Board, teachers, parents, administration, and alumni) is most important. If you are considering a tax-deductible gift of any size to the school this year and wish to discuss it with me or with Mrs. Marnie Ackerman, Director of Philanthropy, please feel free to contact either of us. I also want to encourage you to consider as part of your own tax planning this year a gift to one of a handful of Arizona tax-credit organizations supporting St. Michael’s students. Again, if you have any questions about making a designated tax-credit gift, please contact me or Mrs. Ackerman.

Lastly, we hope to see you here in late January for our annual Musical Theatre performance–this year, Steven Sondheim’s blockbuster play (junior version), Into the Woods. Tickets are available online through the website, or in person from Dr. Antista himself (!) at morning arrival or afternoon pick-up.

Merry Christmas again to all of you! I look forward to seeing you on campus soon enough.

Brendan Sullivan
Head of School
bsullivan@stmichael.net

Full-year-calendar-20-21

UUAA 12.8.19

St. Michael’s Social Action Committee would like to extend a special invitation to St. Michael’s School children, parents, and friends to attend the 25th International Holiday Bazaar this Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Parish Center and adjacent patio.

Escape from the Mall!  Over 30 nonprofit groups total, free performances, great educational opportunities, Syrian food and O’odham fry bread.   All the vendors are non-profit groups, except for a handful of Parish artists, and the selection ranges from local to international.

Of special interest to families:

Saturday

11 a.m. — Congolese choir from Shalom Mennonite sings informally while you shop.

1 p.m. — internationally-recognized Yoeme (Yaqui) deer singer and educator Felipe Molina and his brother bring Yoeme blessing songs.  Great opportunity for education.

2 p.m. — especially for children — sing-along with Bruce Phillips, well known to Mother Clare!

Recycled gifts and trinkets both days — Turn the children loose with a couple of dollars to find very low-cost treasures (and help fund the Bazaar with your purchase)

Sunday — Boy Scout Troop 122 — troop based at St. Michaels puts recycled materials to creative use, to benefit Casa Maria soup kitchen.

Bob Bennett art — Bob, long-term school friend, can’t come but is sending recent small work for sale at low prices.

Both days — international gifts and ornaments from Ten Thousand Villages, including nacimientos, Cambodian jewelry made from recycled brass bombshell casings, and vegetable-based “ivory” jewelry from Ecuador.

See the attached flyer with the schedule.  Bazaar Flyer

“Why Bazaar?  Where else could you . . .”

Feast on Syrian food lovingly and expertly prepared by refugees,
Hear Felipe Molina and brother explain Yoeme deer songs and sing blessings.
See what Native American “‘Flutes for Vets” is up to,
Meet almost all the border action groups,
Salute Ben’s Bells and buy inexpensive one-of-a-kind wind chimes,
Buy a Mata Ortiz pot from Chihuahua,
Find out why the Crazy Chile Farm, Mesa, doesn’t put out a donation jar (just heirloom chile powders, Ute Mountain Ute blue corn meal, and spices),
Join a children’s interactive sing-along with Bruce Phillips,
Sample O’odham fry bread and “Indian” tacos prepared by Baboquivari District,
Get organic, fair-traded coffee from Café Justo (grown in Chiapas, roasted in Agua Prieta),
Browse international selections benefitting artisans in many countries (great jewelry and ornament selections and more!) from Ten Thousand Villages and Latin American Committee,
Find honey and natural products from SHIMA of Navajoland,
Sign up with Tucson Peace Center,
Rejoice with an African choir singing in Swahili,
Walk off with a vintage Indonesian puppet or crystal wine stoppers discounted at the Boutique / Collectible tables,
Support Tucson-based long-term projects in Africa and Afghanistan,
Get an authentic handwoven Maya huipil or rebozo,
Sing us to a close Sunday with Tucson folk / social protest icon Ted Warmbrand, who has provided the finale to every Bazaar since time immemorial (well, the 1990’s) with a rousing version of “Good Night, Irene”?

Common Sense Media presents:

Tuesday, December 10, 2019
8:00am – 1:00 pm
Children’s Museum of Phoenix

Getting your kid their first cellphone? Need to decode a new YouTube challenge? Got a Fortnite fanatic at home?

Join us for an interactive and engaging event focused on solving your latest parenting dilemmas and raising healthy, happy kids in the digital age. You’ll hear from Common Sense Media’s experts, connect with other parents, and come away with tips and resources to get you through the holidays and beyond.

There is no charge to attend this free event, but advance registration is required.
Light breakfast and lunch will be provided. Spanish translation services are available

Panel Presentations
Morning Panel
How to Help Kids Thrive Online: A Look at the Key Challenges and Opportunities of Our Digital World

Afternoon Panel
Tackling Tricky Topics with Media
Roundtable Discussions

Join interactive conversations with Common Sense experts
on the topics of your choice:

• How to set smart (and realistic!) screen time rules for kids of every age.
• How to protect kids’ mental health in a digital world.
• Raising Latinx kids in a media- and tech-centric world (Español/English).
• TikTok, YouTube, Fortnite, and more.
• Finding age-appropriate movies, from Frozen 2 to Star Wars.
• How to keep kids safe online.

Ask the Experts
Stop by our media and tech tables to ask a
Common Sense Media expert about:

• Movies and streaming
• TV and YouTube
• Apps and games
• Books
• Early Childhood (Español/English)
• Resources for schools

For more information contact, Ilana Lowery at
ilowery@commonsense.org or (623) 341-0177

Girl Scouts will meet after school this Friday, December 6th. The girls are welcome to wear their vests or sashes to school for this last meeting of 2019! Please contact Melissa Brosanders with any questions about Girl Scouts – mbrosanders@live.com.

UUAA 12.1.19

Dear St. Michael’s Parents and Families—

There is a palpable sense of excitement and joy on campus in anticipation of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday break next week. We will dismiss this coming Tuesday at the regular time—full day—and enjoy a three-day break (five days with the weekend!), returning to class on Monday, December 2. All good wishes to all of you for safe travels, if you are traveling, and for a restful, grateful, and joyful holiday!

Last week, as you may have seen already on our school’s Facebook page, we were happy to have been part, again, of this year’s Cash and Canned-Food Drive benefitting the Community Food Bank of Tucson. Our wonderful students, with the support of our faculty and with help from so many of you, presented a cash gift of $2,000, matched dollar-for-dollar by TEP (resulting in a $4,000 gift on behalf of the St. Michael’s community), to the Community Food Bank. Our students’ fundraising efforts—namely, through the Kindergarten Car Wash in early October, and then with proceeds from our Third Grade Bake Sale—resulted in this very generous and helpful gift to the Thanksgiving on the Mayflower event, hosted by Sam’s Club. We thank all of you who gave so generously, or participated as volunteers, for this special event.

We are also finishing this coming Monday our own annual canned-food drive, benefitting St. Michael and All Angel Parish Pantry. Each class, or homeroom, set a collective goal of bringing in cans to match in number the square miles of a country of their choosing. (The administrative team’s goal, of which I am a part, was to match in square miles with our can-gathering efforts the country of Turkmenistan [190,000 sq. miles=190 cans]. With a day to go, we are close!) On Monday, you will see lots of activity in front of the school as we transport all of our food gifts to the Parish Pantry right next door. Please join us, if you have the time, for our schoolwide Monday Chapel at 8:20 am as we present our gifts and give thanks for all the blessings in our lives.

Within the coming week, please keep an eye on your U.S. Mail for our 2019-2020 annual Halo Fund mailer. As a full tuition-paying parent myself (times three!), I am sensitive to the financial constraints that many St. Michael’s families experience, especially at this time of the year. We can only encourage you, therefore, to consider a gift of any size for the Halo Fund, commensurate with your capacity to make a gift—the percentage of giving among parents, above all, is what’s most important. As I’ve noted before, foundation and benefactors considering a gift to St. Michael’s are much more apt to do so if our percentages of community giving are high. Last year, as the case will be again this year, we had 100% Halo Fund giving from our Board of Trustees; and we had better than 80% giving among faculty and staff. It would be a blessing for us to this year exceed our benchmark of 60% giving from families. I would be happy to meet with you in consideration of a gift this year. Thank you!

If you have yet to complete the quick, five-minute parent survey for our SAES re-accreditation self-study, please take the time in the course of the coming week to complete it. The same principle for parent and family participation, as applies for annual-fund giving, applies for the parent survey as well: the higher the number of replies, the better! Here, again, is the link for the survey:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/stmichaelsparentsurvey2019WDCD3CBT    Thank you.

This coming Saturday, as noted in last week’s Eagle Express, we will honor and celebrate the life of Mr. Alan Schultz, a longtime member of the St. Michael’s School community, with a Funeral Mass here on campus at the St. Michael and All Angels Parish, beginning at 1:00 p.m. If you do plan to attend, please arrive early—parking will be at a premium as we anticipate a large turnout. I hope to see you on Saturday.

On a closing note, again in the spirit of the Thanksgiving celebration next week, I offer this wonderful poem from Alberto Ríos, the inaugural (2013) State Poet Laureate of Arizona, called “When Giving Is All We Have”:

One river gives
Its journey to the next.

We give because someone gave to us.
We give because nobody gave to us.

We give because giving has changed us.
We give because giving could have changed us.

We have been better for it,
We have been wounded by it—

Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,
Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.

Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,
But we read this book, anyway, over and again:

Giving is, first and every time, hand to hand,
Mine to yours, yours to mine.

You gave me blue and I gave you yellow.
Together we are simple green. You gave me

What you did not have, and I gave you
What I had to give—together, we made

Something greater from the difference.

With great thanks for all the many gifts you and your children provide to the life of our wonderful School,

Brendan Sullivan
Head of School
bsullivan@stmichael.net