Hallway – 2.9.2024

Previous editions of The Hallway

• 2.2.24: Priority Re-Enrollment Edition
• 1.26.24: Enrollment 2024-25 Edition
• 1.19.24: The Summer Camp Edition 
• 1.12.24: The State of SSESH Edition
• 12.15.23: The Bulldog 360 Edition

Please note: NO CLASSES on Monday, February 19, for President’s Day and on Friday, February 23, for All-School Conferences.

Students not registered in Gap or After Care may register for Conference Care on February 23 here: https://ssesh.org/extendedcare/

Greetings St. Stephen’s,

During the State of the School Address (and subsequent message) delivered a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that extended care fees needed to increase to keep up with the rising costs of offering these additional services and that we were finalizing the details of some upgrades for these services for the 2024-2025 school year. Those plans are completed, and I am pleased to share the enhancements we have made to make these services more useful for families. Many of these enhancements are based on feedback we have received about our current services.

Before School Care
In 2024-2025, Before School Care will begin earlier. Care will begin at 7:15 am and go until we begin carpool duty around 7:50 am. This additional time allows families who have earlier starts to their day to worry less about their commute and helps our students who arrive a little earlier have a less stressful beginning to their day.

After School Care
After School Care will also have changes that address feedback we have received. One change is for those families who do not register for After School Care and, thus, pay the drop-in rate. In 2024-2025, the After School Care drop-in fee will change from a daily fee to a prorated (by the half-hour) fee. If you are a family that will frequently use After School Care, the registration rate is better, but for those who use this service infrequently, the fee will take into account the time used as opposed to a flat daily fee.

Another change to after school is for our friends in Orientation and Primary. After noticing that those students usually do not stay until the end of After School Care, we are offering two options for Orientation and Primary. One option lasts until 4:30 pm. The other lasts until the end of After School Care coverage at 6:00 pm. This flexibility for our youngest students helps provide those families with a more customizable service.

You may have read above that After School Care in option 2 ends at 6:00 pm. If you use After School Care now, you may be saying, “Dr. Troy, After School Care ends at 5:30 not 6:00.”

While that may be true today, for the 2024-2025 school year, we are extending the After School Care coverage time to 6:00 pm. Again, this is in response to families who need a little extra time to commute here from work without late arrival fees or having to rush to SSESH during rush hour.

Gap Care
The last group of enhancements relates to the current Gap Care coverage and relative fees. For those who are unfamiliar with Gap Care, it is a service we offer now (for a fee) to supervise our Orientation and Primary students who are dismissed at 2:30 and 2:45 pm and wait to be picked up during our last dismissal period at 3:30 pm.

In 2024-2025, we are eliminating Gap CAre service and reorganizing it to be called Sibling and Activity Care. Sibling and Activity Care is available only to families who have students in the following categories.

1. Orientation and/or Primary students who are waiting to go home with an older sibling enrolled at St. Stephen’s who is dismissed at 3:30 pm.
2. Orientation and/or Primary student who is enrolled in a Bulldog 360 activity.

If you have a child that is in one of those categories, you can register for Sibling and Activity Care. This service has NO FEE. That’s right, we are not charging a fee for this service. This is particularly useful for families with children in our youngest AND older grades who have had to pay a fee to navigate the later dismissal time. It is also useful for families of our youngest students who register for Bulldog 360 activities that start after our later dismissal. Again, this change is based on feedback we have received from families who have been using this service.

I am pleased with the work the school administration has done in collaboration with our Extended Care Coordinators to design and implement these upgrades for the 2024-2025 school year. Additional information, including the fee structure, can be found by clicking here.

Thank you for your support. We cannot wait to bring these new ideas to our SSESH community in 2024-2025.

With gratitude,

Troy Roddy, Ph.D.
Head of School

Please join us for a special reception honoring YOU. Bulldog Circle Level donors and up are cordially invited to an evening of browsing beautiful pieces of art and sculptures all while celebrating philanthropy, mingling with family and friends, and enjoying hors d’oeuvres, sweet treats, and beverages. We hope to see you there!

Art of the World Gallery
2201 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX 77098
Friday, March 1, 2024; 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
RSVP to Avis McCray [email protected] by Friday, 2/16/2024

There’s still time to make an impact. Support the Annual Fund!

Join us this February in celebrating our love for our community and supporting those in need with Kids’ Meals, an amazing organization that has been serving the Houston community since 2006 by providing meals to preschool-aged children in need. The PTO will provide paper lunch bags for each family to decorate and return to school later in the month. In addition to decorating bags (ideas from Kids’ Meals can be found in this flyer), we will collect applesauce pouches to help stock the Kids’ Meals pantry and allow them to provide meals to more kiddos. 

We will collect decorated bags and applesauce pouches on Friday, February 23, 2024, at the front office during conference check-in and on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in the main parking lot by Pecore Hall at drop-off time.

View event flyer here.

On Tuesday, February 13, 2024, Provine Studios will be on campus to take both individual and group photographs, which may be purchased directly from the provider. Please click the buttons to learn more.

Please note that all photo orders must be paid directly to Provine Studios.

At St. Stephen’s, we have an easy way for anyone in the St. Stephen’s community to show their appreciation for a faculty, staff, or leadership team member. We call it sending a “Bulldog Compliment.”

Here is how it works. Click the Send A Bulldog Compliment image and follow the prompts. It only takes a few clicks, and you are done.

All compliments are anonymous and will be sent to the person (or persons) you choose to recognize. There is no limit to how many you can send, so be as generous as you wish!