St. Francis Xavier School Celebrates 1st Day of School

A few raindrops couldn’t dampen the excitement of the first day of school! In addition to celebrating a new school year, St. Francis Xavier School families are thrilled to welcome Mrs. Sharon Garcia, their new principal. Mrs. Garcia shares, “I am very impressed with the talented and dedicated staff at St Francis Xavier! Everyone has been working hard and preparing for the 1st day of school. There are a lot of exciting things happening at our school. We have some new teachers & a great veteran faculty who have been working collaboratively on curriculum development for the upcoming year. We have also had some construction projects involving the remodeling of our lunchroom and gym."

St. Francis Xavier School utilizes Blended Learning, which is a teaching methodology integrating technology tools with traditional face-to-face classroom instruction. To fully facilitate this model, students in preschool through first grade have access to laptop computers for whole class instruction and iPads, and iTouches for center and small group work. Students in second and third grade are 2:1 with iPads and have access to lap top computers for whole class instruction. Students in fourth through eighth grade are 1:1 with Chromebooks.

Now in practice for a second year at St. Francis Xavier School is the Responsive Classroom model. Responsive Classroom incorporates teaching procedures, daily meetings, positive tone and language, making rules, and approaching instruction and discipline in a manner that is respectful of children. Teachers and staff believe all of these ingredients come together to create a school climate that is nurturing, safe, productive, and Christian to its core.

Adding to an already exciting year, SFX is celebrating several milestones. First, music teacher Mrs. Diane Bryks is celebrating her 40th year on staff. Mrs. Bryrks, a multiple Grammy award-winning artist, oversees all musical performances and classroom music instruction. Second milestone - the current eighth graders will be the 100th graduating class. Several students in this grade are children of SFX alumni who they themselves had Mrs. Bryks as a music teacher.

Mrs. Garcia shares, “I am looking forward to meeting all of the children and their families in the upcoming weeks. I am excited to be at SFX and I am looking forward to an exciting and successful school year!”