St. Clare School Advisory Council        

                                                       11/09/2006 Meeting Notes

 

In Attendance: 

Cartie Beckett, Linda Fanning, Tom Gall, Sister Moe, Fr. Tom Farley, John Oswald,

Amy Leahy, Karen Woodruff, Julie Vogel, Steve Michaels, Mike Marquard, Nancy Bolton, Kim Wisniewski, Kieley Malueg.

 

Meeting called to order by Linda Fanning.  Prayer by Karen Woodruff.

 

                        A. Routine Matters

            1. September and October minutes approved.

            2 Agenda accepted.

 

                  B. Old Business

            1. Adopt a student was a success. We will receive a report next month on the total raised.

            2. Parish subsidy is $100,000 with a $5,000 gift, a total of $105,000.

3. Continue the process of exploring future funding of catholic Schools.  What are other catholic schools doing?  The finance committee will explore realistic ideas for future funding of catholic schools. 

4. Decision making – The policy committee will formally request of all committees/councils that they arrive at an efficient decision-making process that is both collaborative and allows for quick implementation of decisions. Decision making between the various councils needs to be more efficient. 

Julie is working on this Policy.  Responses to issues should come through the chair or designated spokes person.  The goal is not to let issues get lost amongst committees.

 

C. New Business

1. Executive Committee review:

a. Endowment - Chris Cline from the Endowment committee provided information on the endowment for the school. The big question is: Is it a good time to go forward with fundraising for the school?  If it is should it be specific fundraising for operating expenses or should it be for the endowment fund?  Fundraising for specific school expenses or operating expenses might be the way to go.  Long term fundraising (Endowment Fund) is still under the cloud of bankruptcy.  Money in an endowment fund is most likely safe but you still can’t guarantee it. 

At this time the endowment is at $220,000, with about $25,000-$30,000 outstanding pledges.  It might be a good tome to contact these outstanding pledges and ask for them to fulfill these pledges.

The SAC will ask the Executive committee  if we can pursue raising funds for our endowment beginning next school year with a Children in Our Lives event.

 

b. Auction percentages - The 2008 auction percentages will be 71%for the school

24% for the parish and 4% for the preschool.    This will be reevaluated for the 2009 auction.  

 

c. Auction paddle bids - There will be two paddle bids.  One paddle bid will be for general landscaping (phases will be included) and the other will be for preschool tuition assistance.

 

2. Survey results - Sister Moe was very pleased with the number (close to 80) of surveys returned, mostly very positive.  Julie has spent much time compiling the information.  Two important areas of interest from the surveys are landscaping and foreign language.  The Policy committee will research the issue of foreign language in a k-8 school, and we will address landscaping in this years auction. 

 

3. Preschool proposed policy statements - The SAC policy committee will work with the preschool to address issues related to registration priorities.

 

Information/communications/reports

a. Pastors report: 

b. Principals report: Sr. Moe’s focus is on the ongoing accreditation process.  A progress report will be presented at the next SAC meeting.

c. PTC report:  No report at this time.

d. SAC committee reports.

i. Finance committee:  Tom Fitzpatrick provided in depth research from other Catholic elementary schools on tuition, fees and fundraising.  This information should be helpful in future planning and budgeting for St. Clare. 

The sac will review the 2007-2008 budget in December.

ii. Marketing:  Nancy Bolton and committee are working hard on St.Clare’s Open House January 17th.  All SAC members should plan on attending. 

iii. Process and Policy committee: The P&P committee is continuing to work on the accreditation process. 

iv. Development/Facilities Committee:  Continued discussion on Children in our lives.  This committee will begin this year to plan a Children in Our Lives event for next year.  The topic of using this fund raising event for long term endowment or for operating expenses will be researched. 

The development committee should meet with the preschool to collaborate on school and preschool fundraising events.

 

Future Business/Events: The 2007-2008 budget will be presented at the December meeting.  Continue preparation for the Open house January 17th.

 

Next School Advisory Council Meeting:

Thursday, December 14th 6-8pm.  Sr. Moe - prayer, Steve -drinks, Linda -food. 

 

Meeting Adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted, Amy Leahy