St. Clare School Advisory Council

02/8/08Minutes

 

 

Present: Karen Woodruff, Steve Michaels, Becky Graham, Colette R, Jay Booth,  Kim Wisniewski,  Christine Zotter, Amy Leahy, Mike Marquard, Sister Moe,  Fr. Tom

Absent:  Jennifer Pinder, Nancy Bolton

 

I.          Order of Business

II.         Call to Order and Opening Prayer - Kim W

III.        Recommended Action

 a. Routine Matters

            I.   Acceptance of Agenda 

           

            ii. Approval of prior Minutes  January  Minutes approved

              

            iii. Hospitality

 b. New Business

             I. Feedback on State of the School Meeting -- Pizza and Beer/Fat Tuesday format had                                   attendance/numbers similar to Town Hall of previous years.   Positive feedback from attendees, dissemination of information (budget) ahead of meeting was good, message from St. Moe well received.  SAC discussed how to increase attendance,  broaden attendance to include new families.  Suggestions:  maintain a consistent message; email an invitation from room parents, make personal calls invite, include PTC. SAC discussed ways to build connections between parents.  Discussed old tradition of families hosting class parent evenings/get-togethers. Increasing connections/bonds between parents should lead to increased attendance at school events such as Town Hall.  Discussed including PTC in efforts to build connections.

 

               ii. New Member Process/PIP Hour requirements for SAC Members

                       PP committee reviewed PIP hour policy as relates to SAC (namely that SAC members automatically receive exemption from documenting 30  PIP hours and are exempted from paying PIP fee at registration.  SAC discussed.  Majority in attendance agreed that PIP fee should be paid at registration, then at end of school year, SAC chair and/or Sr. Moe will "sign off"  on SAC member completion of  a full year of service, including committee work. Member can then request reimbursement of PIP fee.  PP committee will write verbiage for by-laws to reflect this change. Discussed need to amend by laws for member attendance at meetings. 

 

                       New Member Discernment  Applications should be done by 4/3 to be brought to SAC for 4/10 discernment meeting.  All applications should be directed  to Christine Z, rather than Julie Vogel.  Need skill sets in all areas of SAC, with 5-6 positions to  fill.   Next SAC Meeting,  3/13  all members should be prepared to brainstorm potential candidates and identify                                     skill sets.  Sr. Moe has started a list of potential  candidates for discussion at 3/13 mtg.  PP needs to provide a time line for discernment process.       

 c. Old Business

                 I..  Status of matching gifts (grants)  for tuition assistance.  Joe Westin Foundation is a strong possibility for match of up to $8500 for pledges made outside of the parent population.  Likely that this matching grant will be secured prior to auction.

Chris Folkstaedt Foundation has been approached for grant for tuition assistance to be named after Sr Delores.  ST Clare has previously received funds from this foundation, Sr. Moe has reported back to Folkstaedt  on the effectiveness/impact on previous grant on tuition assistance.  Early report is that Fokstaedt  doesn’t see need at St. Clare, citing demographic.  Moe followed with a report of who applied for assistance this year, outlined need and reviewed process of determining need. Rhoni S to follow-up.

               ii.   Annual Appeal raised 12K

 

           

IV.  Information/Communication/Reports

 a.  Pastor’s Report

                I.  Bishops Annual Appeal is gearing up.  Vicariate General coming to talk at all Masses on 2/17 about appeal

                ii. Review of Goal Fair --  Good energy, Pastoral Council very pleased with progress. Youth Group discussion well attended with high participation. 

                iii. Parish Admin. Council working toward balancing budget.  Representatives include Scott Julian, Tracey Cosper and Gordon Clifford.

                iv. Mass Attendance Surveys  Results of Survey have been compiled and analyzed with assistance from Julie Vogel.  Available after Masses

                    after Masses on 2/8/08

                v.  Tuition Assistance Paddle Bid -- Fr. Tom to look toward a potential list of donors for match from the Adopt-a-Student donors to generate seed/match

                      money for school.

  b.  Principal’s Report

                I.  Reviewed Enrollment   Enrollment is not yet complete but numbers look to be comparable to last year.  Sr. Moe reports that she in not officially enrolling Kindergarten students until after assessment on 2/12 and 2/13.  Middle School enrollment looks good, need to focus on 1st - 4th grades

                ii. Reviewed Grandparents Day.  Very successful, high attendance. Recommend next year keeping a closer monitoring/reinforcement of RSVP. 

               iii. Internet Supervision. Middle School staff and Sr. Moe increasingly concerned about student access to web based sights (ie:MySpace) where free speech seems to be going well beyond parental oversight.  Moe recommends having police                       come to give a parent education/in service on potential cyber space dangers.

                iv.Chess Club -- parent has suggested as an after school activity.  There is an organization which facilitates.  Moe beginning to look into feasibility .

c. PTC Report.

                 I.   Sr. Moe and Karen met with PTC.  Report increased momentum for auction, very positive.  Many PTC members rotating off committee, in  process of discernment to fill positions, many leadership positions open as well.  Sr. Moe and Karen report that this format of joint PTC/SAC chair meeting is beneficial for communication and facilitating meeting common goals.

 

                  

 d. SAC Committee Reports

             Finance/Facilities  Committee

                No report

             Marketing and Enrollment

                 Open House successful and well attended.  Feedback to Moe from many in attendance is the teacher presentations and availability  makes a positive impact.  Moe reports that teachers request to take over for classroom   presentations during tour portion.  Kindergarten Round-up next up for Marketing Committee 3/5 1 - 2 pm.  Collette working with Sr. Moe to develop format for hour, committee members available as well to assist.   Working on with Development to market Children-in-our-Lives.  Secured assistance of Lisa Cavaness for graphic design work.

              Process and Policy

                  See above in old business

              Development

                   4/3 Children in our Lives is primary focus.  Jennifer working with Marketing Committee fo  develop flyer for school parents seeking  additional attendees.  Working on save-the-date cards for grandparents, alumni, parishioners and special guests.  Invitations to be mailed first week in March.  Need to clearly market event as fund-raiser for endowment.  SAC discussed at length the target audience and concern of  tapping into the same group, IE: parents. Discussed looking toward outside parties interested  in supporting Catholic education.  Discussed success in achieving this in previous Children-in- our-Lives event.  Looking toward Fr. Tom and Sr. Moe to assist in generating a ideas for parishioners, community members to invite. Fr. Tom will look at parishioner list that was developed from paddle bid to identify  financial supports for school thorough paddle bid. 

                Chair Report

                   No Report

 

 

Future Business

Next Mtg . Thursday, March 13th, 6:00pm

Children-In-Our-Lives 4/3/2007

 

Meeting Adjourned

 

Respectfully Submitted

Kim Wisniewski

SAC Secretary