Good Afternoon St. Stephen Families.
Thank you to the parents who joined Fr. Dermot and me at the Principal’s Coffee. One parent, a college professor, shared valuable and thought-provoking insight on how early technology use has impacted student performance in post-secondary settings. When schools first moved toward integrating technology throughout the curriculum, we could not fully anticipate the long-term effects. We are now seeing that some of those effects are not as positive as hoped. As a school, we have remained attentive to this issue and have already adjusted our approach to technology integration. We will continue to learn and adapt so that we can best support our students and prepare them for success in high school, college, and beyond.
During the Principal’s Coffee, I addressed two topics before opening the floor for questions. The first topic involved updates to the Parent/Student Handbook. The previous section on “Plagiarism/Cheating” focused primarily on the student who copies information from the internet or from another student, but it did not clearly address the student who provides the work. To better reflect our expectations, this section has been renamed Academic Integrity and now reads:
“Academic integrity means upholding values like honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility in all academic work. It involves acting ethically in your own studies and when engaging with the work of others. It includes completing your own work, giving proper credit, and avoiding misconduct such as cheating or plagiarism. Upholding academic integrity ensures that academic achievements genuinely reflect one’s own learning and skills.
If a student is found to have plagiarized or cheated (copying from another student with or without their permission or using unauthorized material), the student will receive a 2 in ATL for the trimester, which will make them ineligible for the honor roll in middle school for that trimester. The student will have the opportunity to redo the assignment or assessment for a maximum grade of 85% and will receive a detention.
If a student shares their work or assessment answers with another student, he or she will also receive a 2 in ATL for the trimester and a detention; however, the student will receive full credit for their own work.”
The second topic concerned our retake policy. We recently learned that the retake policy, as originally written, is no longer a mandated Diocesan policy, and many schools have revised or discontinued it. In our middle school experience, the current retake structure has often become a crutch for students and is not an efficient use of teacher or student time. Significant portions of FLEX and intervention time are spent reteaching and administering retakes—even for students who earned, for example, an 82% and are retaking an assessment for a maximum of 85%. We believe this time is better spent helping students master concepts before assessments rather than after them.
At the same time, we recognize that some students do need additional time or support to learn material, which is why we have chosen to revise—not eliminate—the policy.
There are still a few details to finalize, and the complete policy will be published in Tidbits before Christmas. What is confirmed is that beginning after Christmas break, the middle school and elementary retake policies will be aligned. The K–5 policy has been that students earning below 70% on a summative assessment may complete a retake and this will now become the standard for middle school as well.
The unified K–8 policy will read:
“Students who score under 70% on a summative will be offered a retake for a maximum earned grade of 70%.”
Further information about the retake process will be shared within the next two weeks, and the updated policy will take effect when we return in January.
The second topic we discussed was the final results of the APEX fundraiser, which you will find below. As you can see, much of the money raised did not come from parents which is always our goal with fundraising. We also had great participation from all our families. There are two graphics below. The first shows how our school performed and the second shows the breakdown of the APEX process. The other piece of information APEX shared is that each year a school participates, they raise approximately 15-20% more each year and their average split with schools is 80/20. For our first year, the event was a success, and we gained valuable insight from the experience. At the same time, I understand the concern that approximately 40% of the funds raised did not come directly back to the school. This raises an important question: How can we create a similar high-energy, school-wide fundraiser while keeping a significantly larger portion of the proceeds?
Any large-scale fundraiser will involve some expenses, regardless of who organizes it. However, if we run the event internally, we can eliminate the labor costs and profit margin associated with using an outside company. In the coming days, you will receive a letter from the PTCO inviting parents to partner with us as we explore new possibilities. We are seeking creative ideas for how we can raise $65,000 while retaining at least 80% of the funds. Based on APEX's reporting, roughly 20% of the total raised is necessary to cover basic operating expenses for a fundraiser of this size.
Looking ahead, our next fundraiser is the Spirit Raffle, and we are actively looking for fresh ideas to enhance it—or possibly replace it with something new. One idea we have explored is partnering with a third-party company for a spring fundraiser, specifically a Read-a-thon, which would guarantee the school 77% of all funds raised.
Please take some time to consider how you might contribute—whether by offering ideas, skills, or time. Your involvement is essential as we work together to build a sustainable fundraising model for our school.
Peace,
Linda Umoh