Dear Students, Parents and Guardians,

439 Days.

No this is not a countdown to this year's graduation, and no, Junior parents, I am not trying to scare you with a number of days until your child graduates either. Rather, 439 days is the length of time it will have been, as of next Friday morning, since me, my six siblings, and my parents will have been all together in the same place. As I have shared before, I am the oldest of seven kids. Best thing about a big family? There's never a dull moment. Worst thing about a big family? There's never a dull moment...and getting everyone together can be incredibly challenging. Especially with one living overseas in Germany, one in Norfolk, VA, one in New Haven, CT, and one in Pittsburg, KS, which, strangely, feels farther away than Germany does. But next Friday afternoon is the rehearsal for my youngest brother Steve's wedding. And not only will all nine of us be together again, but all 9 of us will be sleeping under the same roof. I honestly do not have a number of days for how long it has been since that has taken place. 

I did ask my siblings, and we did figure out the number for the last time all 16 of us (siblings, siblings-in-law, parents) were together: 1,064 days. As for when the last time all of the grandkids were together? Since baby Jack was just born in Pittsburg two months ago, that answer is never, but we're eyeing up hopefully next July to check that one off the list.

All of our families are different. Different people, different sizes, different locations, different celebrations, different struggles/challenges, different traditions. For example, unless you live or lived in the Drexel Hill area, your Thanksgiving tradition likely has nothing to do with attending a 7th and 8th grade football game with around 4,000 other people (the Gennaro's can be found on the St. Bernadette/Sacred Heart sidelines). But as we unofficially enter the holiday season next week, students, parents, teachers, staff alike, please take note of that family that you have or still have with you, and if you are getting together with them, no matter the size, no matter the conversation, no matter the difficulties or successes you may celebrate together, give thanks for that time or those days. 

Me? As stressful as wedding planning can be for those that have done it, and for my brother who is in it, there has been no part better than getting down to zero on that 439 day countdown.

Before we get to Thanksgiving next week, please take a moment to review updates from our various offices...

Busing for November 26th:

Students will be dismissed at 12PM on Tuesday, November 26th after our Day of Gratitude. There is no after-school supervision on Tuesday November 26th. Unless a student has a conference that begins prior to 2PM, they should be leaving school at dismissal. 

The following buses will NOT be providing transportation on 11/26: Phoenixville, Rose Tree-Media, William Penn. All other buses will depart at 12PM.

Students on these buses may need to pursue alternate options to get home from school on Tuesday.

Attendance:

If you know your child is going to be absent from school, a Parent or Guardian must complete the Google Form found HERE, and on the school website under "Resources".

Early Dismissals must be called into the Main Office by a Parent or Guardian. A student will not be dismissed without a prior Parent/Guardian phone call.

For Early Dismissals, as much advanced notice as possible is required (24 hours is preferred).

For any questions on attendance, please email Mrs. Gallagher - Erin.Gallagher@jcarroll.org.

Information for signing up for Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences was sent out on Monday evening at 6PM. Thank you to those who have signed up so far. 

Conferences will take place on Tuesday, November 26th, from 1:30-4PM. To sign up for conferences, click HERE and follow all directions.

A number of teacher's timeslots are now filled, but if you wish to speak with any of your child's teachers, no matter your child's grades, please sign up. 

The deadline to sign up for conferences is Monday at 9AM. Anyone who signs up for a conference from this point forward will receive their confirmation times and schedule by Monday at 12PM.

Parents who have received their confirmations, if you can no longer make your scheduled times, please email Mr. Gennaro (WGennaro@jcarroll.org) to let him know. Thank you!

Students can purchase tickets for the dance in two ways:

1. Through the acceptiva site HERE.

2. Mrs. Young will be selling tickets in the cafeteria at all lunches through Monday, December 3rd. Lunch sales are CASH ONLY.

No matter how you purchase a ticket, ALL students must complete and return the dance permission form to the Office of Student Affairs. The form can be found HERE, and will also be available in the cafeteria. 

Tickets for the dance are $20. The Archbishop Carroll Christmas Dance is for Archbishop Carroll students only. Tickets will not be sold past December 3rd. We look forward to seeing many of you there!

Seniors...As part of your college application process, one of the things you need to do for financial aid is to fill out the FAFSA application. It is set to officially open on Dec 1, but as some of you have found out, it is now open to everyone during what they are calling their "beta" period. As you probably know, beta testing is used to work out the kinks in a system. It is up to you if you would like to fill out the form now - I haven't heard of any submission issues, so you should be fine.

You do need to create an account ID before completing the application - do this now because it can take several days for your information to be verified. If your parents do not already have an account ID, they also need to create one. The application, however, must be under your ID and you "invite" one of your parents to be your contributor. If this doesn't make sense now, it will when you fill out the application.

The Guidance Department publishes a Newsletter every quarter with information for each class and some mental health tips & resources. You can find our latest edition here.

You can find financial aid for college updates from PHEAA HERE. Also, November is National Scholarship Month. Seniors were given a list of scholarship websites to use as an aid in searching for available scholarships and are reminded to keep checking their Carroll email - we will send information regarding scholarships when we receive it.

Seniors are asked to send us any college acceptance letters and scholarship offers. Not only are we excited by the good news, we need to keep track of this information.

Ticket information for the Archbishop Carroll Theater Society's Presentation of Cinderella (and information for Cinderella's Royal Ball) is below. Please come celebrate the cast and crew's hard work!

...Personally, I am thankful for the staff and teachers that I get to collaborate with each day, and I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to come to school each day to work with the students in our school community and watch them succeed.

On behalf of the faculty, staff, and administration here at Archbishop Carroll, we wish you all a happy, healthy, and restful Thanksgiving break!

Sincerely,

Mr. William D. Gennaro, Jr.

Principal