Cardinal Newman School

A Message from
Principal Rob Loia

August 16, 2019

Dear Cardinal Newman Families,

We look forward to our students’ return to campus next Tuesday, and we continue to prepare
for them. I want to share about the steps we have taken to ensure and provide for the physical,
psychological, emotional, and spiritual safety of our students.

During these first weeks of school there will be an increased presence from the Richland
County Sheriff’s Office on the grounds. We are in the process of contracting with a security
guard to patrol the campus throughout the school day. This past Wednesday, the Richland
County Sheriff’s Office conducted a complete Threat Assessment of our campus. Six officers
who specialize in school security studied the building and grounds for over two hours. They will
provide us with a full report of their findings in the days ahead.

We continue to investigate ways to manage traffic coming and going from campus during the
school day. Regulation of traffic flow will help us monitor visitors even more closely.

Our faculty worked together this past week to prepare for the start of the school year. Our
initial discussions helped us reaffirm and strengthen our commitment to grow together during
this time in our history. We have also trained for the first day of school, which will not be
‘business as usual’ - a schedule for August 20 th can be found at the link below. The
Richland County Sheriff’s Office presented a professional development training for us on
intruder safety. Finally, the staff was pleased to welcome Mr. Carey Rich and Ms. Kathleen
Merritt who offered an afternoon of diversity training.

We continue to hear from parents as we strategize our growth as a community. The Advisory
Council approved an ad hoc committee to help direct the manner in which we address respect,
diversity, and inclusion. We will soon assemble a task force and student leadership team to
focus on these issues.

We are a strong community and will become even stronger in the months ahead. In my first
letter, I spoke of a theme for the year. All members of our community have infinite value,
all are made in God’s image and likeness: “I was a stranger and you welcomed
me.” We will continue to work to recognize the Divine spark within each other, and to become
a “City set on a hill” - a home, a place of growth, and a source of strength to all.

Thank you for entrusting your children to us.

Christ's Peace,

Schedule for August 20

Robert A. Loia
Principal