Dear Parents and Friends,

As the school year rapidly draws to a close, I wanted you to offer a timely reminder about being extra vigilant about safeguarding your children, especially with the summer months approaching. Too often I hear of children who have been allowed to see movies that are not suitable for children; for example, PG-13 movies often do not have content that is inappropriate for 10 year olds; that is why they are rated PG-13. Some of our children have even told their teachers about R-rated movies they have seen!

Indeed, parents have a very challenging role these days; there are so many negative influences in our world today, and it is your responsibility [and ours] to protect the children. Your role is more difficult today than it was even 5 or 10 years ago. It demands a vigilance and alertness, it requires educating yourselves about the dangers of the internet and the predators whose sole ambition is to harm our kids through e-mail and chat rooms.

Your role as parent demands that you have a knowledge of today’s music, music videos, video games, internet use, and other potentially dangerous influences so that you can monitor what is being put into your children’s minds and filling their time. Whatever it is, it will definitely have an impact on their behavior and their attitudes. For example, studies have shown that young boys who continually play video games like "Grand Theft Auto" [which is not about cars at all] were shown to have a disrespectful attitude towards life in general. Specifically, the study indicated that these video games were creating a "culture of disrespect" among our young people.

I urge you to be critical of these things, ask questions, take time to investigate, and, above all, monitor how your child spends his time, whom he/she spends it with, what they do online, and what they talk about via phone calls or instant/text messages. It is, no doubt, an awesome task, and one that is placed upon you as the primary educators and upon us, your partners, by the society in which we live. Be assured that I pray for you everyday as you meet the challenges and make the sacrifices to insure your children’s health and well being. In this regard, please see the VIRTUS reference below. Thank you.

God bless, Joan Morris, Principal.