East Boston Central Catholic School will celebrate 50 years of excellence in Catholic education at its annual gala April 12 at Spinelli’s, Lynnfield.
In advance of that milestone event, EBCCS will celebrate Schools Week beginning Jan. 28 with an exciting slate of activities for students and their families.
There is certainly a lot to celebrate.
EBCCS Principal Robert Casaletto reports that there is an enrollment of 189 students for the current school year, which is an increase of over 20-percent from the previous year.
Casaletto said one of the reasons for the surge in popularity was the school’s high retention rate, proudly stating, “Our students and their parents who were here last year all loved it, so they all came back this year. We had a 95 percent retention rate.”
Another key to the success in attracting students to the school was its considerable outreach to different parishes in the area beyond East Boston. Casaletto credits new School Chaplain, the Rev. Dan Zinger, for helping to bring in more Catholic families.”
The hiring of an assistant principal, Gabriela Twaalfhoven, has also been instrumental in building enrollment. Twaalfhoven worked directly with new families on enrollment last summer.
Casaletto also noted the Catholic Schools Foundation providing of financial support to families in need through its Building Minds Scholarship Fund.
Casaletto is in his seventh year as principal and 30th year as a member of the EBCCS faculty. His leadership of the school during the COVID-19 pandemic was extraordinary and in actuality, resulted in an increase in enrollment when the school was allowed to reopen.
“The people affected by COVID-19 was high in East Boston, so the Health Department wouldn’t let us open,” said Casaletto. “We opened our pre-K only for in-person learning. But we did a virtual learning program that our parents were just thrilled with, and because we did such a good job surviving the pandemic, we grew our enrollment coming out of it and it’s been going up since.”
Catholic Schools Week Activities Schedule
Special student activities have been planned throughout Catholic Schools’ Week to give parents an opportunity to “join” your child’s classroom.
EBCCS Parents are invited to the following activities. Each activity will take place in your child’s classroom unless a different location is noted.
Sunday, January 28
Mass will be celebrated at St. Michael’s Parish – St. John’s Church in Winthrop at 10:00 a.m. to kick-off CSW. Our choir will sing and all families are encouraged to join.
Monday, January 29
• Kindergarten: Winter Art Project 8:45-9:30
• Cherubs, Kindergarten, 3, 4, & 5: Young Authors’ Presentation Auditorium (see Library Schedule)
Tuesday, January 30
• Grade 7: “Kahoots” Game 8:30-9:10
• Angels, 1, 2, 6, 7, & 8: Young Authors’ Auditorium (see Library Schedule)
Wednesday, Jan. 31
• Angels: Circle Time 8:30-9:00
• Cherubs: Morning Routine & Heggerty Phonemic Awareness 8:30-9:15
• Grade 3: Reader’s Theater Presentation 1:00-1:30
• Grade 1: Chicken Soup w/Rice Activity 1:40-2:10.
Thursday, February 1
• Grade 6: Sarcophagus Design 8:30-9:10
• Grade 5: Math & Social Studies Super Bowl 9:30-10:30
• Middle School: Ice Skating Field Trip 1:00-4:00
• Grade 4: City of Snowdom Presentations 1:30-2:10
Friday, February 2
• Student Appreciation Casual Dress Day
• Grade 2: Groundhog Day Activities 9:00-9:30
• Grade 7 & 8: Science Fair 1:00-2:15 Auditorium
We ask all students and faculty to dress in something RED to honor all our troops who have deployed or will deploy for their active duty assignments.
