Watch a “First Day of School” video of Sloan and Beau

It’s the Tuesday after Labor Day and that means one thing in these parts: The first day of school!

Sloan and Beau attended their first day of school for the 2025-26 school year. Once again, they are attending St. Mary Catholic School in the Spokane Valley.

Sloan and Beau started their third grade and kindergarten years today. Believe it or not, this will be our SIXTH year at St. Mary Catholic School and we couldn’t be more excited.

Sloan and Beau are ready for another great year at St. Mary Catholic School (Spokane Valley).

This year, Sloan has Mrs. Mary Remer leading her classroom. New to the school for 2025-26, we look forward to getting to know Mrs. Remer. However, I think we already like her considering her last name closely resembles ours AND it is also a palindrome 😉.

Sloan all set this morning on her first day as a 3rd grader.

When it comes to Beau, his teacher is Mrs. Kristen Mead. We have a little more familiarity with her than Sloan’s teacher—when Beau started Pre-K4 last year, Mrs. Mead was leading his classroom. However, a last-minute teacher shuffle resulted in Mrs. Mead moving up to kindergarten. Although that ended up working just fine because Beau’s re-assigned Pre-K4 teacher was AWESOME, we are looking forward to finishing what we started with Mrs. Mead.

How is he a kindergartener?! He is in store for a great year.

Thanks be to God, Stephen Hart is once again returning to St. Mary as the principal. He will continue to run an unapologetically Catholic school that strives to help students and staff get to Heaven. His leadership is infectious. Enrollment is up this year, parents/students have bought in, and the vibe I felt this morning was so assuring. We are in good hands.

Mr. Stephen Hart returns to St. Mary Catholic School for his third year as principal. This is him opening up the school doors for the first day of school.

But even though we are in good hands with our leadership, there is some anxiety this year. With the tragic incident at Annunciation School last week, everyone is a little more on guard. St. Mary has already put in place a tighter security protocol, especially when it comes to mass, but prayers for a safe school year are very much appreciated.

Please pray for St. Mary School and all schools as the 2025-26 year begins.

I want to wish everyone returning to school—students and teachers—a fruitful year. Whether you attend St. Mary or not, I am pulling for you. Hope it is the best year yet! Don’t Blink.