Earlier today, VASJ President Brian Menard sent the following "Christmas Present" to faculty, staff, and Board members at Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School. VASJ passes it along to our families, friends, community partners, alumni and alumnae with warm wishes for a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.
I am pleased to share with you news from the Office of Continuing Education that is a wonderful Christmas present to us all.
Recently I asked OCE if we could have a statement from Bishop Lennon reasserting his previously stated support for VASJ as another tangible expression of diocesan support as families make their application decisions for next fall's incoming class and as donors choose how to allocate their resources in a tight economy.
Yesterday afternoon, Wayne Uehlein, OCE's Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Schools, called to inform me that Bishop Lennon had told Superintendent Margaret Lyons of his intention to issue a public statement recognizing the tremendous progress we have made in nine months, and expressing his support - including financial support as we continue to build on our accomplishments and eliminate the operating deficit - for VASJ next year and into the future. As Wayne shared with me, Bishop Lennon told Margaret that he wants families sending their students to VASJ next year to feel confident that they will graduate from VASJ in four years!
I have consistently been confident of our support from Bishop Lennon and from OCE in what we have undertaken and the progress we have made. Soon we will have an explicit statement affirming this on into the future to set at ease, once and for all, the concerns some have had about the future of VASJ.
I commend and offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone from teachers and staff through Board members and the Ursulines and Marianists that sponsor us for the great work we have done. As I said last Friday evening at our Christmas party, you are all a blessing to me and to the students in whose lives we are making a difference every day.
May you have the most blessed of Christmas celebrations this year.
All the best,
Brian Menard