Dear Parents,

It is hard to believe that there are only about 8 weeks left of this school year. The time has flown by as it does every year. But we aren’t done yet…there is still much work to be done and celebrations to enjoy!

As we enter into the holiest of weeks observed by the Catholic Church, I encourage you and your children to participate in the many prayerful experiences that our parish and school have to offer. This Sunday is Palm Sunday. You will receive blessed palm fronds for your home and hear an interactive gospel reading retelling the story of the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. On Wednesday, at 1:15, our 8th graders will re-enact the Stations of the Cross. We will begin on the front steps of the parish hall then proceed into the church. All are welcome to attend and prepare for the beginning of the Triduum. The following day, Holy Thursday, is a minimum day for all students with no cub care. This marks the beginning of our spring break.

I hope to see many of you at the beautiful Mass of the Lord’s Supper in church that evening. Good Friday is a time to reflect and pray on the suffering and death of Jesus. Please check our parish website for the time of Stations of the Cross on this day, for the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday, as well as Easter Sunday Masses.

Upon our return from break, we will be counting down the final week before our annual Gala! Many thanks to all who have responded. It promises to be a fun-filled evening for us all. So get out that denim and find some “Bling” so we can all “shine” on April 30th.

I pray that the blessings of the risen Christ fill you with grace and joy throughout the remainder of Lent and into the Easter season.

Blessings,

Francie Moss

Dear Parents,

Many thanks for all of the support you have given us regarding the changes/shifting of positions for the upcoming school year. The letter / sent out to you earlier this week was very well received. Our staff is excited to return in August and enthusiastic about the positive, refreshing changes some of our staff has chosen to take on. I am actively seeking to hire a 5th grade teacher. Please keep me in your prayers as the interview process proceeds. I am confident God will continue to watch over SMA and send us the best fit for our wonderful school.

Mark your calendars for 2 upcoming events. Next Wednesday, from 5:30-7:00 PM we will host our annual STEAM Night event in the parish hall. Come and experience some fun and fascinating science activities, good food and great community building. I am so happy we are able to bring back this much-loved evening for our families.

Just a reminder regarding pets on campus…I am a dog lover and I understand the close relationships many of us have with our pets. Please remember that we do have students that are extremely afraid on dogs. Therefore, we ask that dogs are not brought on to the school grounds. This includes sports fields during weekend athletic games and after school sport practices. Our facility insurance carrier has also advised us that animals on campus are a serious liability. I thank you in advance for your continued support.

Blessings,

Francie Moss

Dear Parents, 

Congratulations to all of our students, staff and parents for making our transition from mandatory masking protocols to parent choice protocols such a positive experience. All students and school staff were treated with respect for the various decisions they chose to follow. I was very confident that this would be the result, but it was just amazing to see it in action. What an amazing community we have at SMA! Just a note, we are still required to follow the Decision Tree for group contact tracing and quarantine as well. We will continue to notify families of students considered to be “close contacts” as well as continuing our on site testing procedures. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding. 

Additional congratulations to Coach “D” and our students for a successful Academic Spirit Run! Please continue to collect and send in donations. We will be accepting donations through March 25. Please refer to the donation link in this newsletter SMA Strong!!!!!  

We are beginning to get that Denim and Diamond “Gala Fever”!!!! Please watch your emails for an RSVP email next week. Your registration fees paid at the beginning of the school year included 2 tickets to this event. So don’t miss out…RSVP by the deadline that will be included in the RSVP email next week. We may have a sell out! Additional tickets will go on sale for $150 per person as soon as our parents have had the chance to reserve their seats. Please refer to today’s newsletter for women’s fashion ideas for this event. Men’s ideas will be included next week. This promises to be an enjoyable evening for all! 

Blessings, 

Francie Moss

Dear Parents,

Monday will be a big day for Stella Maris Academy and many other Catholic and private schools in San Diego. Beginning Monday, March 14 masks will no longer be mandated in our schools. The Governor has declared that beginning March 12th, masks in schools are highly recommended but not mandatory, Parents will now have the opportunity to make the choice that they feel is in the best interest of their children. As with any change, this will present new challenges. I assure you that we will meet them all in a timely manner and with much communication with all of you. As always, I commend us all for the respect we have shown to each other during a time where many of us have differing opinions on very “sensitive issues”. Let’s keep it up… SMA Strong!!!!

Speaking of SMA Strong… huge congratulations to our Academic Decathlon Team with a 2nd Place Overall finish this past Saturday! Please check out the other amazing statistics in today’s newsletter. The entire team and their incredible head coaches Mrs. Zack and Mrs. Moreau will be treated to breakfast at Richard Walker’s this Tuesday, compliments of our pastor, Fr. Pat. Way to go decathletes!!!!!

Blessings,

Mrs. Moss

Dear Parents, 

As we officially enter into the season of Lent we focus on prayer, fasting, and alms-giving. We remain committed to deepening our relationships with God by making prayer a priority, fasting without calling attention to ourselves, and giving to those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Lent is a perfect time for reflection on the suffering of Jesus and the infinite love He has for us. I pray that these next 40 days are filled with peace and opportunities for a variety of prayerful experiences. 

If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to read my message that was emailed to you this morning regarding the upcoming changes to our school facial covering policy. I encourage us all to continue to remain respectful and understanding of the multiple points of view of our school families. 

Thank yous all around to our dedicated volunteer coaches! We just ended our pee wee and girls’ varsity soccer season and are now entering into boys’ varsity soccer, boys’ and girls’ peewee basketball and girls’ varsity basketball. We just couldn’t do it without these parent volunteer coaches. Additional help is always welcomed. Please let our P.E. teacher, Coach D know if you are available to assist with any of these teams. This Monday, we will be celebrating our 3rd & 4th grade boys’ soccer team for their “Undefeated Season”! The team will be wearing their soccer jerseys to school on that day! A special shout-out to Coach Jon Anderson for stepping up to help organize our students that attended the track meet at Cathedral Catholic High School last Saturday. Thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough!!!! 

Blessings, 

Francie Moss

Dear Parents,

On behalf of the faculty, staff and administration of Stella Maris Academy, I would like to express our heartfelt appreciation for the thoughtfulness and generosity so many of you expressed to us during Catholic Schools Week. It was truly a celebration!

An important piece to our budgeting and planning for the upcoming school year is procuring commitments from our current and prospective families regarding their enrollment intentions. You should have received an email with your tuition agreement earlier this week. Please complete the agreement and send in the necessary forms and fees as soon as possible to secure your child’s place on the roster for the 2022-2023 school year. The more information we have, the more precise our budget will be. I thank you in advance for your cooperation. If you have not received your agreement, please contact our business manager, Mrs. Hollis jhollis@stellamarisacademy.org.

A current “hot topic” in the news is the debate regarding the mask mandates for students in school. I want to assure you that I am keeping up on all of the latest updates and will share them as I receive them. The current status is that students and adults must wear facial coverings at all times while indoors together. Facial coverings are optional when students and adults are outdoors. Yesterday, our City Council voted unanimously to begin the process of “easing up” on the student mask mandates that are currently in place. I will continue to follow this issue and share any new information that comes from the CDPH. Whatever changes occur to this mandate in the future will be reviewed by our Bishop who will then pass his decision down to us. We will continue to respect everyone’s decision to mask or not to mask when that decision becomes reality. This is definitely a time to remain respectful. empathetic, and tolerant of one another’s choices. We’ve come so far and stayed strong and united. Let’s get to the finish line together! We got this SMA!

Stay Strong Stella!

Blessings,

Francie Moss

Dear Parents,

Happy Catholic Schools Week!  We are half way through a week filled with celebrations.  Wow, the timing could not have been more perfect!  I hope all of you felt the love from the special “Thank yous” from your children yesterday.  It was wonderful to see so many of you at our Thank You Coffee hosted by our teachers and staff yesterday morning.  The tables were turned this morning when we all came in to a wonderful breakfast and treats for us!  This truly is a special place to be!  Tomorrow is a day to celebrate our students…two pizza trucks will be pulling up mid-morning to create amazing craft pizzas for their lunch!  For those of you wondering…Yes, pizza two times in one week…but I don’t think anyone will complain, especially since it is accompanied by a free dress day!  We will end our week with a celebration of our grandparents on Friday.  Because we love them and want to keep them healthy, we will not be able to welcome them to our campus.  But we can still send out our prayers to them in a special way during our school Mass.  We will make up for this next year with a grand celebration!

I know this is easier said than done, but let us continue on with the joy we have experienced this week for the remainder of this school year.  Let us find joy in the small accomplishments we achieve daily.  Let us remember that our lives are beautiful because we are all so different.  Let us continue to appreciate the many different views we all have on so many different topics.  Let us cherish the innocence of our children as they learn from their own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others.  Let us never under estimate the power of forgiveness for both the forgiver and the person receiving forgiveness. Together we are strong…Together we are united…Together we are family…Together we are SMA!!!!

Stay Strong Stella!

Blessings,

Francie Moss

Dear Parents,

As we approach our celebration of Catholic Schools Week I encourage us all to take a moment to acknowledge how blessed we all are to be part of this amazing school community.  We have stayed strong and committed to each other and our children through incredibly challenging times.  Our spirits have remained high for the most part.  When we begin to feel the fatigue set in, we lift one another up because this is what family does.  I continue to be amazed at the patience, trust and support you, our parents have in us.  I continue to thank God for such an “Over-the-top” faculty and staff and I count my blessings for a supportive pastor and parish community.  

I want to assure you that I understand that the past couple of years have taken their toll on us all.  Many of us are tired and maybe even getting a bit (dare I say) cranky.  But I believe that the end of all of this is in sight.  We must continue to support one another no matter what our stand may be on vaccines, masks, quarantines and mandates. Many of us have strong views on current issues that affect us all.  I am always here to listen and to lift you up!  But my ability to bring about change is minimal.  Therefore, I encourage you to make your voices heard by writing or calling our local and state officials.  Let them know your thoughts and views.  We are all here for one reason…these beautiful children!  They deserve the best education that we can provide for them in a Christ-centered, loving and academically challenging environment.  I am committed to this goal and so are our teachers and staff.  

I look forward to celebrating Catholic education and Stella Maris Academy with you, your children and our staff next week.  Please watch your email on Friday for a detailed line-up of scheduled events for the upcoming week! 

Stay Strong Stella!

Blessings,

Francie Moss

Dear Parents,

You will be pleased to hear that today I am making the conscious decision to share a “COVID-free” Principal’s message with you. I am sure we can all use a brief break from the mandate updates, decision tree changes and quarantine recommendations.

Catholic Schools Week is quickly approaching. We will be celebrating our wonderful school at the 9:00 parish Mass on Sunday, January 30. Children are invited to sing in the choir. I will be handing out free dree coupons to any students that wear their Mass uniform that morning. The remainder of the week will be filled with celebrations of our teachers, staff, students, parents and grandparents.

Before Catholic Schools Week even begins, I would like to recognize the generosity and support of our school parents. Your support of our outreach projects such as the third grade class “Coat Drive” and our current “Dog and Cat” Rescue Supplies is sincerely appreciated. Your empathy and compassion do not go unnoticed by your children and the entire school community. Thank you!

Are you interested in preparing for the upcoming Lenten season? Please refer to the information in today’s newsletter regarding a special series of 5 consecutive Tuesday evenings of walking step-by-step with Jesus during the final days of his life here on earth. This will provide a wonderful opportunity to gather together for some school family fellowship following the presentation. I hope to see many of you there. Please contact the parish office to sign up in advance.

Have a great week, please stay healthy!

Blessings,

Francie Moss

Dear Parents,

At the risk of sounding like a broken record…Thank you so much for all of your patience, support and understanding regarding our response to this new, extremely contagious, variant that we are battling.  Please rest assured that we are doing everything within our power to keep our students and staff healthy and in good spirits.  It is our hope that this will transfer over to your households as well.  I encourage you not to jump to conclusions if a student or staff member is absent.  This is traditionally cold and flu season and we are seeing some cases of these as well as Covid.  We must continue to stay strong and stay flexible as guidelines change frequently.  I am committed to keeping you informed and the lines of communication open.

Catholic Schools Week is quickly approaching (Sunday January 30-Friday, February 4).  Please watch upcoming newsletters for our schedule of fun events.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to celebrate with our grandparents here on campus this year.  We pray that we can welcome them back next year during Catholic Schools Week.

It’s that time of year when our students are experiencing “growth spurts”.  We are noticing skirts , jumpers and skorts  getting very short.  Please stop by the school office to trade out or purchase longer skirts and skorts or jumpers.  Please remember that skorts have the same length requirement as skirts.  As stated in our handbook, shirts, skorts and shifts(jumpers) should be no shorter than 2 inches above the knee. We thank you for your cooperation.

Are you interested in assisting us in planning this year’s Gala?  It is always a wonderful celebration.  We need as many hands helping out as possible. The theme of this year’s event is “Denim and Diamonds”.  Please contact me or watch for committee meeting dates and times in upcoming newsletters.

As we approach a long weekend celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. may we enjoy some rest and relaxation as we appreciate and celebrate the beautiful diversity of all of  our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Blessings,

Francie Moss