Community of Concern 2010-2011
During the fall semester, we ask all parents to attend a mandatory meeting to enhance our current partnership among parents, students, and the school.
These meetings are calendared every fall for all parents because we feel that an effective “Community of Concern” meets with regularity and purpose. There will be one meeting date for the parents of freshmen and three meeting dates for the other three grades: those families with two or more students need only attend one meeting, preferably meeting #2, #3, or #4 since meeting #1 (for freshmen parents) has the same content each year.
Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Parents
The mandatory meetings for the parents of Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors will be on three dates from 7:00-8:30 PM in the Carlin Commons:
- Wednesday, October 6th;
- Tuesday, October 26th;
- OR Thursday, November 4th
Guest Speaker: TBA
We encourage both parents/guardians to attend and support each other in this important parenting task. We are confident you will join our efforts to partner with parents, students, and the school as our “Community of Concern” seeks more effective ways to guide our youth in living happier and healthier lives. If you have questions or concerns, please contact Michael Thomas at extension 256.
Overview of the Meeting for Parents of Freshmen
- A panel of our current students discussing alcohol and drug use by students;
- A brief film about SI student alcohol use produced by the SFPD;
- The presentation of recent research on the effects of alcohol and drug use on the mental capacities and health of our adolescents and young adults; and
- Remarks by our Principal and Dean.
The mandatory meeting for the parents of Freshmen will be:
- Wednesday, September 29th, 7:00-8:30 P.M. in Carlin Commons
Every year S.I. experiences loss in some form or another due to students using alcohol or other drugs. The loss could be an expulsion, a loss of trust, or even a loss of life. We are asking parents of freshmen to come to this meeting as our partner. We hope to work together with the students to create an alcohol and drug free experience and to build our capacity and yours to support our students in staying alcohol and drug free while at S.I. By meeting other parents in the S.I. community and talking about these difficult issues, we are creating a safety net for the students. We realize how full your lives are and how difficult it is to carve out time to attend meetings, but we urge you to do so. Only with full parental participation can we lay solid groundwork for the next four years. Your son or daughter will benefit from your attendance as well as the other parents.
As a Catholic and Jesuit high school, we are obligated to design effective measures to educate our students and parents about alcohol and drugs. Our goal is to develop a comprehensive alcohol and drug education program involving parents, students, and school to reduce the use and abuse of these substances by 50% or more over the next four years.
At the conclusion of the Freshmen parents’ meeting, we will distribute the updated booklet, A Family Guide for the Prevention of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drug Use for you to use during the next four years.This guidebook is being shared by forty-five other Catholic, public, and independent high schools in northern California. These schools, enrolling 32,000 students, have joined together to form the “Northern California Community of Concern” so we might work together to reduce student use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
Sincerely,
Robert Walsh, S.J. Michael Thomas |
Patrick Ruff Jackson Lindauer |