A Message from Our Principal

Dear Families,

What a great time we had yesterday afternoon with the 8th graders squaring off against the Minor Prophets from Mt. St. Mary Seminary. This is the institution that trains priests for service to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. For what it's worth, those dudes can really play! As the kids say, they were straight-up ballers with some serious handles. 

At halftime, 6'7" seminarian Peter Hoffman shared his vocation story with us, explaining how he journeyed from the world of sports broadcasting and politics to the world of religious life. His overall message was that his focus evolved from asking himself what Peter wants to do in life to asking himself what GOD wants Peter to do in life. 

We are all called to serve in one way or another. Being Catholic requires us to open our eyes, ears, and hearts to divine direction. We do this through prayer and the sacraments.

Peter concluded the afternoon with a rousing slam dunk that fired up the fans. 

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Our first round of MAP tests begins tomorrow. Students take three tests, each lasting 45-60 minutes on average. They take one test per day. The three subject areas are Reading, Math, and Language Usage. 

We use scores on these tests to give us information about students' overall academic progress. The data helps us determine any changes we should make to instruction. 

We don't treat these tests as conclusive indicators of a student's ability or achievement. What we observe in class and what the gradebook reveals are equally important considerations. These tests simply provide an additional data point. 

You will receive a MAP score report in early-to-mid October. 

(Note: We are required by the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to administer three annual rounds of MAP testing or iReady testing.)

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Since the shooting at Annunciation church, I have attended two different school security summits. This coming Friday, we are meeting as a staff to review the information and to invite conversation on what we can and should do to make our safe environment even safer. 

I remain in communication with school security officials, law enforcement officers, and other principals. In the meantime, Butler County deputies continue to have a presence at Queen of Peace. As noted previously, the deputies cannot always be present at the requested times since they have other duties in the community. However, their regularity and attentiveness leaves no doubt that they hold our school as a high priority in their daily patrols.

I also remain in communication with parents who have offered up ideas for school safety enhancement. I appreciate these conversations and will continue to have them.

I will also continue to provide updates on this topic as we work towards new safety measures.

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In a perfect world, peace would reign. Lions would lay down with lambs. The locusts would stay underground. Ice cream would never melt. 

Our school mission to see Christ in ourselves and others does not blind us to the realities of violence in our world. We are duty-bound to protect the young people in our care with a thoughtful and prudent examination of the threats that exist, their probability of occurring, and the severity of the consequences if these threats ever became a reality. 

To love is to find the balance between the kind of protection that guards against legitimate danger and the kind of protection that nurtures a worldview of danger. In other words, we are not going to erect electrified barbed wire fencing on our perimeter, install armed checkpoints at our entrances and exits, and position ballistic trash cans around campus. There is responsibly reacting to real danger and there is overreacting to hypothetical danger. We embrace the former because it is good for kids. We reject the latter because it is bad for kids. 

There reaches a point when protecting becomes guarding, when guarding becomes sheltering, when sheltering becomes cloistering, and when kids go from feeling safe to feeling so anxious and afraid that no amount of safety and protection is enough to calm their fears. When fear becomes a lifestyle, it ceases to be a helpful emotion. For those of you familiar with Jonathan Haidt's work (The Anxious Generation), he says it better than I do: We overprotect in the real world and underprotect in the online world.

At Queen of Peace, we will continue to work on protecting our students to a right and proper degree from the evils of the world, while never forgetting the goodness and grace that are everywhere.

Sincerely,

Josh

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