Dear St. Mary’s Families,
Thank you to Fr. Camacho for presiding over Mass today. His message to the students was clear – God invites us to be saints and holy people – We must work to be good everyday
Thank you to Mrs. Huerta for having the students do such a remarkable job with the Hispanic Heritage Fair. ¡Bien hecho!
Please keep a careful eye on the calendar. We want you to be as active and engaged as your schedule allows, without over burdening anyone. October is a busy month
Thank you for all your support, involvement, and engagement.
OUR MISSION:
St. Mary’s School is to provide a Catholic environment that instills academic excellence while preparing the whole child for life-long personal and spiritual growth, empowering them to become global citizens.
Friday – October 3rd – Spirit Wear or BSU or Notre Dame
Friday!!
In celebration of Boise State’s visit to South Bend, students have options of what to wear on
Boise’s Favorite – October 6 (Noon) through October 24th
I love winning….
St. Mary’s has been nominated as Boise’s Favorite Private School and Boise’s Favorite PreSchool. We are defending the title we earned last year. Voting begins October 6th at high noon and runs through October 24th. Use the link above to vote once per day (per device). Please prepare your devices and write out a schedule to be sure to vote each day during the voting window. GO SPARTANS!
Spartan Run – October 17, 2025 – 1:00-3:00 pm – Parents are Welcome to Cheer or Volunteer
Spartan Run season is upon us and we are officially off to a great start. It is an incredible afternoon of obstacles, running, and community. Everyone is welcome to come, cheer, or volunteer to man a station.
Each student has a personal site to share with family and friends. The main page for the school is here. Please share the link with your friends and family in town and out that may want to support St. Mary’s. Even Cedar has a page to raise funds. 🐶
The Spartan Run is an important fundraiser for St. Mary’s. The proceeds help us to fund all types of experiences for our students including field trips, students’ experiences and even Hallissey uniforms. So far, we are close to 45% of our way to reaching our goal. All your support is appreciated. 
Security at School
In consultation with security professionals, we are making some changes to our processes at school. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. With each change, we balance the safety of the community and the school with the tradition and culture that is incredibly important to St. Mary’s.
Effective October 6, 2025, students arriving early for before care will enter through the main entrance to the school. They will proceed through the school to the downstairs. We are limiting the entrances to the school to a single point of entry.
Also effective, October 6th, families and students wanting to attend Prayer Square will enter through the main entrance of the school beginning at 7:50. We are not trying to inconvenience anybody nor do we want to discourage anyone from attending Prayer Square. We are trying to adhere to the advice provided by security professionals by using a single point of entry to the building. You are free to exit through the stairwell at the end of Prayer Square.
MAP Reports – Sending home this week
This week the teachers will be sending home the MAP assessment reports from this Fall. Please look them over. We use the reports as a point of reference as we work directly with the students and the class. The reports provide an achievement and growth percentage in the areas of reading, mathematics, and language usage. The growth is measuring Fall of 2024 to Fall of 2025. Some students did not have a Fall 2024 score on record and will not show a growth percentage.
While the achievement and growth scores are important, our focus is on the students’ growth as we march towards the Spring 2026 assessment.
These are links to information from NWEA and MAP growth:
Parent/Teacher Conferences – October 23 and 24 – Please be on the lookout for information concerning Parent/Teacher Conferences. Your child’s teacher will be sending out information in the near future. Conferences will be scheduled after school on October 23rd and during the day (No School for Students) on October 24th.
In order to make the most of our time together, please take a few moments to prepare. This article can help you do so:
Parent-Teacher Conferences: Guide for Parents
School Counselor Information
St. Mary’s is very blessed to have Mrs. Brooke Maritt join us this year. Mrs. Maritt is actively getting to know the students, teachers, and school. Below is information about what Mrs. Maritt will be doing during September.
A reminder to fill out the counseling consent form if you have not yet.
Counselor’s Corner – October Edition
Let’s learn to ACT! Mrs. Maritt will be providing the SOS training to grades 6th-8th during the month of October. In order to continue our partnership with parents, Mrs. Maritt would like to offer the option of a parent night to share what the students will be learning. Even though the training is only provided to middle school students, we welcome all parents to attend.
Baptism
A number of our families have been reaching out to inquire about baptism. Please contact the Parish office (208) 344-2597 to discuss this or any other questions about the church and ways to explore your faith.
The Idaho Tax Commission is working to educate the public about House Bill 93, the bill designed to help families with
the expense of non-public education. The link above will bring you to a document from the Diocese. You are also encouraged to visit the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit page. It provides information about the bill along with courses to help families understand the finer details.
We have had a great start to the school year. We are working hard to live up to our mission and encourage everyone to be curious. Curiosity leads to all sorts of knowledge and wisdom, not just for students, but teachers, staff and families.
If you know anyone who might be curious about St. Mary’s – Here is a one page summary highlighting some of the great things about St. Mary’s.
Calendar of Events
- October 6-10 – MOSS 5th and 6th Graders
- October 6 – 24 – Voting for Boise Favorites
- October 8 – Picture Retakes
- October 16 – S.O.S Training 6:30 pm – Thank you for your input
- October 17 – Spartan Run
- October 19 – Bishop Kelly Fall Sports Camp – Grades 3rd through 8th
- October 23 & 24 – Parent/Teacher Conferences
- October 26, 2025 – Trunk or Treat
- November 2 – Mexican Dance Group – Dia De Los Muertos at JUMP 3:30
- November 26 – Mexican Dance Group – Festival of Trees at Boise Centre at 10:00 am
- December 12 – Mexican Dance Group – Our Lady of Guadalupe at St. Mary’s at 6:00 pm
- January 31, 2026 – St. Mary’s Annual Gala – Please save the date
God Bless and Take Care
Kevan Grant
St. Mary’s Catholic School – Principal
Go Spartans!
Other Things
- Mexican Dance – Wednesdays – Open to All Students – Gloria Munoz at the Parish office graciously donates her time and expertise to our aspiring dancers. The group practices weekly on Wednesdays after school. No experience necessary. The group performs at events at St. Mary’s and throughout the city, including Dia de los Muertos, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Festival of Trees.
- After-School STEM Club – Spartaneers – Tuesdays – Jason Jaszkowiak is giving his time and experience to lead students in an after-school STEM program after school at St. Mary’s. Please refer to the link above for more information.
- Partnership Page – St. Mary’s school initiated a partnership page on our website to share information about businesses that are associated with and support St. Mary’s. If you are looking for something, I encourage you to check out the directory. If you are interested in listing your business, please contact Mandy at the front office. We would love to continue to grow our partnerships and encourage support for our local businesses.
- Safe Environment – Virtus – Safe Environment training is required for any volunteer that will be around students in the school. Please be sure to keep current with your safe environment. You are asked to complete an on-line training session to renew using Virtus each year. Background checks are scheduled to be renewed every five years. If you have never been through Safe Environment, you will need to attend the in-person class first.
- To find the list of in-person training, please follow the above link to Virtus, create an account and follow the prompts to the available classes.
- Return to School Policy – Each year the nurses evaluate and provide a return to school policy to keep us as healthy as possible during the school year. Please be sure to review the linked letter.
- St. Mary’s and Niche – Marketing the school is incredibly important. We utilize a number of avenues to let others know about St. Mary’s. One tool we use is Niche. Niche is an on-line school directory. Each month we have people from all over the country and some international families visit our Niche website to discover more about St. Mary’s. If you have a moment and want to share your experience, please complete a review of the school using the link above.
- Technology and Social Media Last year, I sent this linked letter to our families about some of the struggles we have experienced using technology, social media, or even gaming. As we enter into a new school year, it is a good idea to review or establish the necessary controls with respect to home technology usage. In addition to the tips provided in the letter, St. Mary’s has invested in the Social Institute to provide meaningful lessons to our students. The website allows for family access to the vast resources of tips, tricks, settings, and other controls to help families keep their children safe.
- To sign up for access, you can use the QR code on the document ( The Social Institute – Family Tool Kit ) or you can access the website directly to sign up to access the family resources. Please use the following school code: Code 3d1bC5B9403C65
- The site provides families resources to spark engaging conversations as well as application playbooks, which help you understand and set the necessary controls to restrict usage and/or functionality.
- Nationwide and statewide there are a number of programs supporting families and providing best practices to help keep our children safe. One initiative is Wait Until Eighth. Below is information concerning students in Idaho and nationally with respect to smartphone usage.
- Bishop Kelly Athletics – Bishop Kelly has a plethora of athletics happening throughout the year. The BK website has a link to team pages with game schedules.
- Get your Uniforms and Spirit Wear from Educational Outfitters
