Florida Catholic | School preparedness: Are you ready?

School preparedness: Are you ready?

LINDA REEVES | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PALM BEACH BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 08.15.08

Keelin Severtson, 13, Anna Severtson, 9, Antonio Liguori, 16, and Gabrielle Liguori, 14, sort through school supplies to make sure they have everything for opening day of school Aug. 18. Keelin, Anna and Gabrielle will be attending St. Mark School. Antonio is a tenth–grader at Pope John Paul II High School.
LINDA REEVES | FC

PALM BEACH GARDENS | Dread it or love it, the bell announcing the first day of school rings Aug. 18.

So what goes on before first-day chaos?

A lot, according to Carolyn Lavelle, secretary for All Saints School in Jupiter, where enrollment is expected to be nearly 600 this year.

Across the board in 19 diocesan and two nondiocesan Catholic schools, administrators are preparing faculty, staff, schedules, curriculums and facilities for the new school year. Enrollment figures are not complete at this point, but last year, these schools served more than 8,500 students and officials estimate that figures could be near that this year.

“We are sprinting to the start,” said Joseph Finley Jr., principal of St. Mark in Boynton Beach, who estimates more than 265 youngsters will charge onto campus next week.

“I have been here all summer,” he added. “Summer means construction to me. I pretty much ramrod the construction projects. We did (remodeled) two bathrooms, and we updated the art room.

“The terrazzo floors look beautiful, but by the end of the year they will look like concrete,” he remarked about the clean and shiny school floors that will soon receive pounding from students’ new school shoes.

The wear and tear of school facilities does call for facelifts, painting and repairing. Some administrators find summer, when buildings are closed, a perfect time to spruce up and remodel, too.

St. Ann principal Patrice Scheffler is finishing a project at her West Palm Beach school, which will enroll 255 children.

“I am so excited,” she said. “We broke down a wall in our first-grade classroom and made it bigger. We have a great learning space with reading tables. It is huge. The teacher doesn’t know it yet.”

Lots of people are excited and anxious as the new school year approaches.

“We are always very optimistic at the first of the (school) year,” said Victoria Farrington, assistant principal of St. Joan of Arc in Boca Raton, who expects an estimated 650 students this year. “We are preparing the staff giving everyone updates and going over legal issues. Everyone has to be fingerprinted and their files have to be in order.”

As part of diocesan policy to provide education and training for young people and children in safe environments, all individuals working with children and young people including priests, deacons, teachers and administrators must be fingerprinted and have their backgrounds checked. The strict safety and security policy goes for school volunteers, too.

Kit Johansen, coordinator of the diocesan Office of Serving Children, is in charge of the fingerprinting process and has created a brochure with new guidelines and information about the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, implemented by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, that endorses mandatory fingerprinting and background checking in dioceses.

“It just tells people what they need to do. I will be going to St. Vincent Ferrer (in Delray Beach) on Aug. 19 at 8 a.m. to a parent breakfast and will be fingerprinting some of the parents who will be volunteering. The others (volunteers) will be setting up appointments to do the same thing.”

Parents, too, have their own preparations for school.

Frances Hayden, mother of Keelin Severtson, 13, and Anna Severtson, 9, is feeling some stress getting her two girls prepared and enrolled for the first time at St. Mark School.

“It is the uncertainty,” said Hayden about the new school community that she visited and toured over the summer.

“I don’t even know how to drop off my kids at school, what kind of shoes to get (or) what kind of socks to buy. I know it sounds stupid, but there are certain shoes that are not acceptable. I am asking around to find out what I need to buy and where to go.”

Two of Cindy Swilley’s children, Brooke Swilley, 17, and Nick Swilley, 15, are enrolled at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach. Her youngest, Hayley Swilley, 9, will enter fourth grade at St. Vincent Ferrer in Delray Beach.

Like other working parents, Cindy, an operating room nurse and computer teacher, has a list of unfinished tasks to complete and things to keep in mind, including uniforms, shots, backpacks, supplies and travel and school schedules.

The mom, who has a good track record for getting things done, has a few tips for parents.

“When you have a busy schedule, organization is key,” she told the Florida Catholic. “I plan the annual calendar and write in all activities, school events and days off. That is the only way I can manage to be equitable with time, all three children, my husband’s job and my jobs.

“We have regular family meetings planning for vacations and time together,” she continued. “It is important for all to participate. Typically we chat about the annual calendar in August before school begins and on a weekly basis on Sunday evenings. This way there are no surprises during the week.”

Irene Hey, the mother of Heather, in sixth grade at St. Vincent Ferrer, and Justin, a ninth-grader at Cardinal Newman High School, shopped for supplies recently thanks to a list on the St. Vincent Ferrer’s Web site.

“There (are) a lot of forms to be filled out, and you have to have your kids’ physicals and all their shots before they can come to school. I also had to have a form notarized for Newman allowing Justin to play sports,” Hey said.

Gabrielle Liguori, an eighth-grader at St. Mark, is anxious and excited about the opening week of school. She is ready with uniforms and supplies.

“I want to see all my friends,” she told the Florida Catholic. Gabrielle participated in tutoring sessions over the summer to keep up with the knowledge she learned in the previous year, improve her math and reading skills, and prepare for eighth grade.

“I am excited. I like meeting new people. I love people.”

Anna Severtson, who is going into fourth grade at St. Mark, says she is happy about school opening, too, and that she already has her pack, pencils, paper and uniform ready.

“I like school. I hope to meet some new friends,” she said.

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