The opening couple of weeks of school certainly have been busy for all of us especially our young Crusaders.  Most students and many of our Moms and Dads have reported that these first days of school have gotten off to a great start.  Yes, it’s certainly early in the school year but great beginnings bode well for the future.  Our partnership is critical for your son’s success and development – may our journey together always move forward.

There are times when communication may falter like when computers (email, too) are down for teachers or phone service is interrupted for some mysterious reason.  When these things happen our fax number is usually accessible for an emergency contact; that number is 1-773-779-5239.

Also please contact me if you are unable to reach a particular teacher or if her/his response time to you exceeds our thirty-six hour rule. Similarly teachers are expected to upgrade your son’s grades/assignments on the 15^th and 30^th of each month.  If you don’t see an upgrade at these times, please call me and I will get the wheel in motion.

At this point of the school year I have used our phone blast system on at least two occasions.  When there is some upcoming, significant school event or a reminder on some important issue, I will be in touch.  Cancelling classes for some weather related situation is always a last resort but may be necessary and may be the most prudent thing to do but it is usually done in conjunction with neighboring schools especially Mother McAuley.  In this case I will start our phone contact system at 5:00 A.M.  Finally, check out the web site calendar for upcoming events and as usual the daily school announcements are posted on our site by 10:15 A.M.

Thank you for the sacrifices of energy, time and resources for the BR family and for entrusting us to give your son(s) the best education possible.

God bless and “live Jesus in our hearts, forever.”

From:   Catholic Conference of Illinois
Re: Action to restore Textbook Loan Program

Legislation to restore funding to the Textbook Loan Program has been introduced in the Illinois House and Senate: House Bill 1199 introduced by Representative Joe Lyons & Senate Bill 1964 introduced by Senator Ed Maloney.

Every school: please contact your State Representative and Senator and urge them to sign on as co-sponsors!  Your school LAP can coordinate the outreach, be it through meeting, phone call or letter.  You can find out who your state Rep. and Senator are by going to the General Assembly web site (www.ilga.gov) and clicking on Legislator Lookup in the lower half of the page or by calling our Springfield office: 217-528-9200.

Check out our web site for a fact sheet on the issue: www.catholicconferenceofillinois.org.  Your support of this initiative is essential – please be sure your representatives hear from you and your school community!

Zach Wichmann
Director of Government Relations
Catholic Conference of Illinois
217-528-9200