When I thought about this year’s Catholic Schools Week celebration, the lyrics to the song Count Your Blessings came to mind. When I'm worried and I can't sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep and I fall asleep counting my blessings!
Join me in counting the blessings of our Catholic Schools. My list of blessings, by no means complete, includes principals, teachers, pastors, Family Support Coordinators, and families. In this challenging and demanding time, I thank God for our principals. They provided painstaking, steadfast leadership in their schools beginning with the school closures in March and extending through the summer months as they developed and implemented school reopening plans that met the standards of the NYS Departments of Education and Health. Since September, when our schools were able to open for five days of in-school instruction, principals have carried on as academic leader, substitute teacher (when substitutes are unavailable) and safety protocol monitors. They are witnesses to faith and hope, pillars of encouragement and support for teachers, staff, students and families and steady, well-informed leaders in ever changing circumstances. We are blessed with women and men committed to the total well-being of their students. Our teachers and staff are indispensable to the school community. While this has always been the case, in these times we acknowledge that without them, students would not experience the “safe haven” that the school provides, well planned instruction (both in-person and virtual) and attention to their social and emotional needs. Schools look different and operate differently. Yet, teachers and staff labor diligently to provide a stable, safe, and healthy environment where students can flourish academically and spiritually.
