It is hard to believe we are in the final four weeks of school and graduation is this month on May 25 at Nick Ysursa Field at 11:00 am!  It has been a fabulous year and we thank you for sharing your son and/or daughter with us this past year.

We also wanted to take a moment to update you on several things going on here at BK and to ask you to help us assess how we are doing as a school and the areas we need to focus on to get better.

Parents Survey – we are nearly three years into the execution of our five year strategic plan.  It is critical we get data once again from our community as to how we are doing in moving toward our vision of “a Catholic community achieving excellence in learning, service and life”.  Toward that end, we will be conducting surveys of our key stakeholders over the next two weeks.  Our students will be surveyed in class this next week in class at the beginning of the school day and our parents and faculty/staff this week via Survey Monkey.  You will receive a separate email notice with a link and we would ask that you make the time to take the survey.  It will not take too long and is pretty straightforward.  And your feedback on how we can get better is so very critical.

Enrollment for 2013/2014 school year – we are very pleased with both how many students are returning (thank you!) and the number of new freshmen and transfers we have registered.  We are ending this 2012/2013 school year with 670 students and currently have well over 700 students registered for next year.  We are almost full in our freshmen class.  However, we do have limited space and we would ask that if you have any friends considering BK for their son or daughter to please get their application packet to Kelly Shockey as soon as possible.  And please let them know we do have financial aid available and will let them know quickly if they qualify and for how much.  Thanks for your help in bringing new families to this wonderful BK community!

Hiring at BK – it is always hard each year to say goodbye to talented and dedicated faculty members and staff.  Four faculty members and one assistant principal will not be returning for the 2013/2014 school year – Dr. Guy Hudson (Chemistry and Engineering Design), Teresa Krause (Biology/Environmental Science), Michael Dente (Art), Kathryn Webb (French) and Scott Coulter (Assistant Principal for Student Affairs).  We thank each of them for their service and dedication to our students and our school and wish them the best in their new pursuits.  We are also looking at additional hiring needs to accommodate the growth we see for next year and specific needs that have come from our strategic plan priorities, such as a full-time Campus Minister.  Please encourage friends in the community that you believe would be great additions to our BK team to apply for these current and future openings.

Tom Shanahan, BK Activities Director – at this point in time, it appears that due to legal and immigration issues beyond our control, our Activities Director, Tom Shanahan, will need to leave the country for one year beginning in August, 2013.  While we are still pursuing aggressively all measures to keep Tom here, we need to plan for the 2013/2014 school year as if he is leaving for the upcoming school year.  Thus, we have asked (and he has agreed) an experienced administrator, Scott Coulter, who has announced his retirement as Assistant Principal, to step in and serve for the upcoming year as our Interim Activities Director.

Student Achievements – our incredible students continue to accomplish great things in the classroom, on the playing fields, at national competitions, and in our community.  Some recent notable accomplishments include: our 14 Valedictorians for the Class of 2013, our Science Olympiad team once again headed to nationals, our music programs earning silver medals at the Heritage Music Festival in Southern California, senior Graham Ashby, our third Distinguished Student Award winner this year, Pennies from Heaven all school drive raising over $8700 for a Make-a-Wish recipient (Elijah), OATHS serving all Sunday at the West Side Drive-In to raise funds to assist homeless students, and all of our over 400 students competing so well and with honor in our 10 spring sports and activities … I could go on and on!  Congratulations to our students and the faculty, coaches and parents who support their efforts.

Fundraising at BK – Our Philanthropy Council is working on a Strategic Plan for Philanthropy.  The team is now working on the implementation plan for 2013/2014.  We believe this will enable us to optimize and better coordinate our efforts on behalf of the school and our donors and save our parents and students time and efforts, while not losing the spirit of service we aspire to develop.  We will be launching in August any necessary new processes, policies and structural/organizational changes.  Stay tuned.

Power Up – our 1:1 technology initiative continues to move forward toward an August 2013 implementation.  We are busy with professional development for our faculty and with building out our wireless infrastructure for our campus (thanks to the BK Parents Association for the paddle raise at Irish Fest).  We will be having a second Town Hall on May __ and stay tuned for more information in the coming week on recommendations and next steps.

St. Teresa of Jesus Chapel – we renamed the BK Chapel the “St. Teresa’s of Jesus Chapel”, honoring our connection to St. Teresa’s Academy, the first high school in Idaho, established in 1890.  Over 50 St. Teresa’s alumni were present on April 24 for a special Mass and blessing and lunch gathering afterward.  Thanks to Katie Kerby, Mark Jaszkowski and Fr. Fraser for making this happen.

Thank you once again for all you do to support our school and especially our students!  We look forward to seeing you around school at a meeting, a sporting event or at a graduation activity!

Kind regards,

Rich and Bob