The 2023-24 school year was successful and we are already looking forward to next year. The 2024-25 school year will see many changes in our staff. We are losing some very important individuals; some who have served our school for many years. At the end-of-year faculty party, I likened it to a basketball coach losing his entire starting five. We lose some exceptional people. There is a severe teacher shortage in Nebraska and throughout the entire country. We are very, very fortunate to fill our positions. There is always a lot of praying at the end of the school year when it comes to hiring new staff. Our prayers were answered as we look to next year.
We see teachers retiring or moving on like Mrs. Pam Smith – 5th Grade, Mrs. Linda Kirkendall – Secondary English, Mrs. Erin Waller – Secondary English, Fr. Ken Hoesing – Religion, Mr. Sebastian Boelhower – K-12 Music, and Mrs. Judy Parrish – Lunchroom Manager. Wow! These people gave so much of themselves to our school, our students, and all our families. It is hard to express how thankful I am to have worked with these people. They were outstanding at their jobs. Some taught my own children. Mrs. Kirkendall even taught me in high school. Judy Parrish was our lunchroom manager, a position that my mom, Doris Goltz, worked for many years before. Mrs. Smith taught my son Matt twice; in Kindergarten and then again in 5th grade. We will miss all of them! They touched so many lives.
We have new staff members that are very talented and will bring their talents to our school. Miss Katie Stoller will teach Secondary English. She comes to us from Lincoln where she taught at Cathedral Catholic School. Katie is from Falls City and previously student-taught at Falls City Sacred Heart. Mrs. Kylee Reschke will teach Secondary English/Technology. Kylee comes to us after teaching several years at Hiawatha High School. She is a veteran teacher and her children attend Sacred Heart School. Mr. Eric Stevenson returns after teaching this past year at Christ Lincoln School. Miss Mackensie Nelson will teach 5th Grade. She will be a first-year teacher who student-taught at Mound City. She is a Sacred Heart graduate and knows us well. Fr. Anthony Bedient will teach Religion and be the Pastor at St. Anne, Shubert and St. Mary, Dawson. He taught this past year at Lourdes Central Catholic. Abbey Huntsman returns to work in our lunchroom and Lisa Dougherty will move to the position of Lunchroom Manager. We welcome all of them to the Sacred Heart family.
The fiscal year for our school ends on June 30. It’s important that all families have all their tuition bill paid by this date. Also, all Preschool tuition needs to be paid in full. Lunchroom bills need to be paid. Contact the office to make these payments. Our office staff is closing out this fiscal year so it’s important that these bills are paid by June 30. Families should contact me if there are extenuating circumstances and other plans need to be made.
Thank you to Sacred Heart Scrip for donating $7500 to our school. Kerry Tramp and Sue Bieker head up this program. Each year, Scrip makes a sizable donation to our school. Thank you for all who buy Scrip as this is an important fundraiser for our school. This year’s money will be used to help pay for the HVAC work done this year. The Siemens HVAC system and the McElroy’s new boiler have been integrated to work together. New controls were installed throughout the building. Work was done by McElroy’s. This should save us money over time as the system will be more efficient. The $14,000 from this year’s Shrimp Feed will be used for this project. That money was originally designated for our new basketball shot-clocks but with Falls City Mercantile and Farm & City Supply sponsoring the shot-clocks, we were able to redirect the shrimp feed money to the HVAC project.
Finally, thank you to all who supported Sacred Heart this year. Thank you for your prayers and your financial support. We are fortunate to have so many people who love and support us.
