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St. Clare School Advisory Council Minutes 12/14/06

Present: Amy Leahy, Linda Fanning, Nancy Bolton, Kieley Maleug, Tom Gall, Tom Fitzpatrick, Karen Woodruff, Mike Marquard, Sr. Moe, Fr. Tom, John Oswald, Julie Vogel, Steve Michaels.

1. Call to Order and Opening prayer by Sr. Moe

2. Recommended Actions:

A. Routine Matters:

i. The agenda was accepted.

ii. Minutes from the November 2006 meeting will be approved at the January meeting.

B. Budget Review and SAC approval:

i. Karen Woodruff presented the 2007-2008 School budget. The vote was made and the budget was passed. Information about the budget will be presented to our school community at the Town Hall meeting on 1/9/07. The Finance Committee also discussed providing incentives for families to pay the full cost of tuition.

C. Old Business:

1. Adopt-a-Student: Adopt-a-Student Sunday collected $5,139 for Tuition

assistance

2. Parish Subsidy: $105,000 this year. There will be a three year increase to $118,000.

3. The Development Committee of the SAC will work to help outline future joint fundraising efforts with the school/preschool.

D. New Business:

1. Executive Committee review 12/6/06

a. Endowment - The Executive Committee approved use of the Children in Our Lives event at this time if the money does not go into long term savings. There was a previous recommendation that uncollected pledges now be collected on as part of the planning for this event.

b. Parish Subsidy - There will be a three year increase to $118,000.

c. Preschool/School integration – Members of the Pastoral Council and Preschool council will attend the next SAC meeting to answer questions about the preschool and its recent history. Please provide Linda with questions you may have so these representatives can plan for this meeting.

2. Survey results – Julie handed out the survey results and hit some of the highlights. The Policy committee will look at all of the information to assist with reviewing and updating the Strategic plan by the end of the school year. The accreditation survey is complete. The overall findings were positive. Some of this information will be covered in the Town Hall meeting on 1/9/07.

3. Preschool Proposed Policy statement: Julie met with representatives from the preschool to discuss the possibility of aligning both of the school and preschool enrollment policies. The following is the proposal priorities for incorporating preschool and school enrollment policies.

1. Returning students.

2. St. Clare Parishioners with kids currently enrolled in the preschool.

3. St.Clare Parishioners.

4. Enrolled St.Clare preschoolers from other parishes.

5. Other parishes.

6. St. Clare preschoolers who are non-Catholic

7. Non- Catholic.

Although this was the original proposal, there was much discussion and a vote in the SAC meeting – What was the final motion and vote?

4. Marketing Sunday is January 6^th and 7^th. The Marketing & Enrollment committee is taking care of this event. Sr. Moe will speak at each Mass.

5. The Town Hall meeting is set for 1/9/07. The current status of our school, budget and tuition for next year will be discussed. All SAC members plan on attending.

6. Our Open House is set for January 17^th. The Marketing & Enrollment committee is working hard on this event also. All SAC Members plan on attending.

7. Reader board input: This will be an agenda item for our next meeting.

Information/Communications/Reports

A. Pastors Report – Father Tom provided the following report:

· The 4^th graders completed their First Reconciliation.

· The pastoral council in their planning process is in a listening season. They will listen to parishioners talk about the pressure in their lives and how the parish can help solve some pressure issues.

· The 8thGrade Pancake Breakfast was a huge success.

· The Archdiocese Chapter 11 settlement will be announced January 11^th. We should all try to emphasize this as a growth experience.

B. Principals Report – Sr Moe provided the following report:

· The annual appeal was made for the science program. It totals $1,170 so far. The donation cannot be used toward the $600 fundraising goal.

· Accreditation - The survey results have been tabulated. Two areas for future consideration are foreign language and playground improvements. The first three chapters of the accreditation have been competed. Sr. Moe and faculty are now working on the curriculum piece.

· Enrollment has remained the same.

· Portland Monthly - The interpretation of the student to teacher ratio is misleading. Our ratio is really 23:1, lower then the 28:1 printed.