St. Clare School Advisory Council

                                                                  9/14/06 Minutes

 

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

 

1.  Call to Order and Opening Prayer from Julie Vogel.

Thanks to Nancy and Kim for the great food and drinks.

 

Linda Fanning read the St. Clare mission statement.  The Mission statement is important in a Mission driven organization.

 

2.  Recommended Actions.

     A. Linda Fanning gave a brief orientation with guidelines for the St. Clare School        Advisory Council.           

   

      B. Routine Matters.

      1.  The SAC May meetings minutes were approved.

      2.  The agenda for this meeting was approved.

      3.  The relational question was asked: What was the hardest thing you did this past      summer?

 

3.    Old Business

      a. Continued discussion on the next steps for the future funding of Catholic      

      education.  This is an important topic and planning for our future.

      The PPP committee will address this in their work plan.   

      b. Middle school class size should be researched by the policy and

      planning committee.  At this time class size is 28 students. 

 

4.  New Business

     a. Committee work plans.  Each committee should be working on work plans for this

     coming year. Each Committee should be planning to meet with Sr. Moe and Linda Fanning  in the next couple of weeks.  Committee chairs: Karen Woodruff Finance, Julie Vogel Policy and Planning, Nancy Bolton Marketing, Tom Gall Development.

     b. The SAC will evaluate itself at the end of each school year.  This evaluation will answer the questions about how the council members have fulfilled the obligations and met goals of the SAC.

     c. Quad Council meeting September 23rd 8am to12:30.  SAC members are

     encouraged to participate in this meeting.  Lisa McKenzie has been hired to facilitate

     the meeting.   Her first goal is to create a vision statement.  From there we can work

      on Mission statements.  Sr. Moe is hoping to work on the School Mission statement.

     We need to work on a common vision for the preschool, school and parish.

     d. Children in Our Lives.  Sr. Moe thinks the timing is right to do another

     Children in Our Lives luncheon to raise money for the St, Clare School endowment fund. We do need to demonstrate that money raised will be safe.

   e. Accreditation schedule.  This year the school will be doing a self study.  Next fall a team of evaluators will evaluate for accreditation.  The cost will be about $8,000.

    We are hoping for a 6 year accreditation.  There is a possibility of a 3 year provisional 

    accreditation.   The last time we went through this process we received a 6

    year accreditation.

 

5.  Information/Communication/Reports.

     a. Pastors Report. Father Tom spoke about the preschool.  Tuition assistance,

     visuality and the addition of religious education in the curriculum were discussed.

      Does the preschool have a constitution and by laws?  Who has authority to make?

      decisions. Are there Pre school administrative meetings between the staff and 

     teachers?

     Father Tom also spoke about the MACG, the Metropolitan Alliance for Common

      Good A leadership training for Public Life Teaching.

      b. Principals Report.  Enrollment is high, 3 new students this week.  We are still    

       waiting for some text books to come in.  This years 6thgraders will need to pay $75  

       for Out Door School, we will not receive any money from Multnomah County.

There are 179 instructional school days, compared to 171 for Portland Public Schools. 

The first half day of school followed by the pot luck picnic was a big success.  Sr. Moe is very pleased with the new 6th grade teacher Maia Kinigopoulus from Maryland. Maia will teach middle school math and science. 

       c. PTC report.  There is a better synergy between the PTC and SAC.  We will

       continue to work on the better communication between the two committees.

       d. Committee reports:

       Karen Woodruff: Finance With higher enrollment we have $5,000 more tuition. 

       The Church subsidy for this year is $100,000 not the $105,000 we expected.  Karen

       and the finance committee will begin working on the 2007-2008 budget.  There was

       a brief discussion on raising funds through higher fundraising goals and higher

       registration fees.  A study on other catholic schools tuition and fees was proposed.

       Nancy Bolton:  Nancy handed out a marketing report with details of what the

      marketing committee has planned for the future and what tasks they have completed. 

      The marketing Mission Statement addresses increased loyalty commitment and

      enrollment at St. Clare School.

      Julie Vogel:  Policy and Procedures.  The committee is working with Sr. Moe on the 

      School survey needed for accreditation. 

      Tom Fitzpatrick:  Development.  The development committee has many great ideas  

      Which they will further refine and work with the finance committee to outline funding needs.

 

6.  Future business/events.

     Sr. Moe proposed hiring an assistant receptionist to work in the school office.

 

      The next meeting is Octobor12th 6pm.  Prayer-Kieley, Drinks-Colette, Food-Mike

 

Respectfully submitted,

Amy Leahy

SAC Secretary