Construction for our new beloved K-8 school brings with it some obvious and visible earth-moving activity, as well as some pesky inconveniences. This memo is to give you as much information as possible about what’s happening to our campus and how you might be affected.

POWER OUTAGE THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND – NO WEB SITE ACCESS
Since our new school will require an underground power infrastructure, PGE is in the process of switching our campus from overhead electrical wiring to underground power.

Beginning at 5 p.m., Friday, May 28, all power will be out at the high school building. The outage may last anywhere from 24-72 hours.

Even if you do not have a student in the high school and it is a long holiday weekend, this electrical switchover affects all parents in the following ways:

• No access to any campus Web sites, including valleycatholic.org, ssmoministries.org, maryville.org, ssmo.org and unitedwethrive.org. However, there will be a basic campus landing page visible for anyone who types in any of our Web addresses from an off-site computer during the power outage.
• No access to Powerschool to access your student’s grades.
• No electronic access to Friday Folder after 5 p.m. Friday, May 28 until next week.
• No ability to retrieve information from a teacher Web page.
• No internet service on campus.
• Online Giving, Facebook, Twitter and Alumni Weekend Registration will still be accessible because the information for those areas is hosted on servers off of our campus.

All power affecting the above is scheduled and anticipated to be restored by the start of business on Tuesday morning, June 1.

POWER OUTAGE IN CONVENT & ADMINISTRATION OFFICES TUESDAY, JUNE 1
Later in the day on June 1, the Convent building will be without power from 2:30-6:30 p.m. This will mean that the groups listed below will be without access to phones, computers, lights, etc. for the afternoon. Unlike the weekend outage, this will not, however, interfere with our Web site availability or the transfer of email communication for computers outside of the convent building.

• All of Valley Catholic Elementary School
• Business Offices for the SSMO Foundation and the Finance Dept.
• Offices of VCS President Sr. Rita Watkins, SSMO Ministries President Sr. Adele Marie Altenhofen and the Convent front desk
• The residence of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon

Power-related outages may occur frequently throughout the construction project. We will always do our best to convey when you could be affected.

Beginning today and throughout the month of June, behind the construction fence, you will start seeing trees come down, the demolition of the brick house and the annex, and the beginnings of some road work.

If you aren’t on campus for awhile, don’t forget to check the Web cams periodically to see what has changed or to watch things as they happen.

Reminder: The live Web cams are not available for viewing over Memorial Day weekend due to the scheduled campus power outage.

Thank you again for your support, understanding and patience!

Click here to see the Groundbreaking video and other great school moments on our Web channel www.valleycatholictv.com

Nearly 200 parents and friends of Valley Catholic and the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon attended the festive groundbreaking event for the new K-8 School Wednesday, May 5. The site where the school will be built was transformed into a Cinco de Mayo fiesta. Everyone gathered to eat, drink, celebrate and watch school representatives don hard hats and dig in the dirt with golden shovels.

VCES Principal Susan Friesen said, “You folks threw a fabulous party last night!!!  Some of us are still shaking ourselves awake to the fact that it is really happening. Teachers are talking excitedly about having rooms that are actually big enough for 28 students per classroom, with sinks and more than just one or two outlets to boot, plus modern technology to assist us with our teaching.”

Students and teachers are excited that construction has begun as more space and newer facilities are a welcome change from being housed in the 1930s Convent and in portable buildings.
Read the rest of this entry »

Valley Catholic High school students said goodbye to their beloved annex which has housed Physics and English classrooms for decades. With permission, the students went inside the building and were allowed to show their love for their classroom space and memorialize their old friend before its removal from the site of the new K-8 school. The “graffiti” happened on the inside of the structure so as much of the exterior wood as possible can be re-used and recycled.
Read the rest of this entry »

Thanks to Valley Catholic’s phenomenal Information Technology Department, we have two live Web cams filming our construction site so that any time, day or night, you can tune in and watch the progress of the building. One camera faces the north end of the property and the other the east end.

While it will be interesting at any time to observe the activity, it will be especially noteworthy when major events happen such as the demolition of the annex, the felling of trees, and the raising of the walls on the actual building. The cameras are in real-time and will also make it possible for us to create a time-lapsed version of the K-8 School’s construction when the project is complete in the summer of 2011.

You can get to our Web cams any time from our home page at www.unitedwethrive.org. You can also see them here. Be sure to bookmark the site and visit often.

Who can resist running to this treasured jungle gym when passing by it on the Valley Catholic campus? Hundreds of children play here year round. Due to the preparation for the new construction for the K-8 School, this special area is being re-located to be near the high school track.

The last day students can play on the structure in the field near Valley Catholic Early Learning School is Friday, April 30. The jungle gym and tire swingset will be moved Monday, May 3 and return in its new location Monday, May 10. Thank you for your patience during this transition.

Now that our contractor is on site and construction is heating up, we want to make sure there are as few surprises as possible when you are on the campus. As exciting as it is to build a 67,000 square foot building, create new roads and design new landscaping, all the activity is bound to make a mess at times. Roads, parking and power may all be affected at some point in the next year and a half until the grand opening in September 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

YOU ARE INVITED!

The Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon are pleased and honored to announce that they will break ground for the new K-8 Education Center on Wednesday, May 5. Taking on the largest capital project in SSMO history, the Sisters are proud to begin construction for what will be an amazing home of learning and prayer for Valley Catholic’s students, teachers, parents and the broader community.

Many of you may know that the Sisters will celebrate their 125th anniversary as a religious community from March 2011-March 2012. Over these 125 years, the SSMOs have witnessed the learning and transformation of more than 10,000 young people. They describe building a new, spacious and sustainable school home for their K-8 students as a dream come true and a wonderful way to punctuate their value of striving for excellence in the realm of education. The school’s grand opening will occur in September, 2011 — in the middle of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon’s 125th Jubilee year.

The entire campus is invited to meet under the tent at the corner of St. Mary’s Drive and 148th for a true Mexican fiesta with appetizers, drinks and music!

Please Note: Because a student celebration will be held earlier in the day, the evening event is intended for adults only.

PGE Pole Setting; Some 148th Ave. Parking Removed

PGE will be working in the lane at the south side of Elementary School at 8:30 a.m. Monday, April 19. The path that runs along the west side of the Elementary School will be blocked off to prevent anyone from walking south toward the pool. The south entrance to the Elementary School will remain open and will be the designated path to the pool. This will be clearly marked and PGE will have personnel there for safety. To access the covered play area, the west entrance shall be used to leave the school and classes will have to use the sidewalk along the Grotto. We hope PGE will be in this area for only a couple of hours.

After this new pole is set, PGE will be moving to 148th Ave. to set the new pole in front of the new guest house and an additional pole in front of Our Lady of Lourdes house (next to the one that is there already). There may be some brief traffic disruptions, but they will be clear of the area by 2:15 p.m. If they need more time, they will come back Tuesday, April 20 at 8:30 a.m. and will be completed well in advance of the afternoon.

We have asked PGE to avoid drop off and pick-up times to prevent traffic congestion. However, when PGE is planting these poles, they may need to block the roads and will need to maintain a safe perimeter from their work equipment.

Additionally, the small group of parking spaces on the west side of 148th Ave. will be blocked off Monday morning at 6 a.m. and will be no longer available for the duration of the construction project.

You will start to see spray paint on the grass areas and on the asphalt around the property. These are “locates” and place markers for our new electrical vaults and transformers.

Contact Director of Marketing & Communications Karen Crandal with any questions or concerns.