SAC
Meeting,
The
meeting was opened with the reading of the St. Clare Parish Mission Statement
(attached). Those in attendance were Sr.
Maureen Oliver, Sharon Webster, Fr. Don Durrand,
Pam Montgomery, Tim Coleman, Jim Whitty, Trisha Thompson, Laureen Conti,
Nannette Martin and notes were taken by
Sr.
Maureen started the meeting by going over the audit recently conducted by the
Archdiocese of Portland and discussing
the meeting that took place earlier between herself,
Fr.
Don described the relationship between the school and the parish as bumpy. His goal is and has been to create a closer
relationship between the school and the parish.
He views the school as one of the ministries. His personal feeling is that he supports the
school.
Jim
Whitty brought up the tri-council meeting stating that he felt he discovered no
connection between the parish and the school.
He felt that additional funding would not be considered until the
administration of the parish and the school merged. He felt that there were lots of independent
decisions being made without consideration of each other. Jim Whitty also brought up grumblings from
the parish over not being involved from the beginning on a project. He used the gym as an example.
Laureen
Conti personally invited Pam and Fr. Don to the SAC meetings.
Fr.
Don stated that he had not been happy with the teaching of the religion
classes. He stated that he had made that
statement based on second hand information.
He also stated that he saw nothing wrong with any of the present staff
at St. Clare as far as the religion teachings had gone. He would, however, like to see more staff
present at special occasions during Mass, i.e., First Communion. He praised the school for involving the
children in the outreach programs and ministries. He was discouraged over the low attendance of
children at Mass in grades four through six.
He felt these children basically just tell their parents they don’t want
to attend. Sr. Maureen saw that as a
parish problem and not a school problem.
She felt that the parish needed to find out why the children did not want
to attend mass anymore. It was felt
that with good communication and praise from the church that children would
respond in a more positive manner.
Trisha
Thompson made the statement that the kids grow and learn more from community
and example than from textbook religion.
She stated that Sr. Moe was doing an outstanding job in teaching the
kids through example and everyday living.
As a non-Catholic she felt after speaking with Sr. Moe that St. Clare
was the right decision for her. She felt
inner conflict over the relationship between the parish and the school and took
exception to the fact that the teaching of the religion was being made out to
be the sole reason the kids respond the way they do. Fr. Don thanked her for her input and agreed
that Sr. Moe and the staff were, in fact, doing an outstanding job. He was happy that religion was being made the
focus of this year in the school.
The
addition of the computer lab and possibly another classroom came up and Fr. Don
stated he had no problem with the computer lab as long as it goes through
committees. Pam stated she had no
problem with grant writing but wanted no one coming to the parish for
funding.
It was asked if there was a process for small jobs to be done around the school. Pam stated she was the process that everyone needed to go through her as building manager. The question came up whether or not the policy could be changed considering the school was using the majority of the space. There was no definite answer given regarding this question. Pam stated she was constantly negotiating but the question was left pretty much unanswered.
Pam
stated that she saw the building as a parish center and the school was a
program of that parish center, and therefore all building and maintenance
questions or decisions needed to go through her. Fr. Don said that when he was not around that
Pam was him and that Pam was to be conferred with. He also stated that it was not the job of Pam
to give permission to the school as much as he was her place to be informed of
what was going to be taking place at the school.
Sr.
Moe, along with Fr. Don informed the board that the formula for the cost
allocations between the school and the parish were going to be
recalculated. Sr. Moe explained the
re-calculation came as a result of the audit in which the Archdiocese thought
it deserved another look. The
recalculation will be done by the Tri-Council. (?)
Jim
Whitty reported that the five-year plan possibly included the use of the
rectory as the daycare. That the Trembly
house may be purchased and used as the parish building and that the teen room
could possibly move over to the rectory.
The sub committee has only discussed this. They do have a land use lawyer on the
committee, Sandra Duffy, who is privy to the ins and outs on the best way to
achieve their goals. These discussions
have not made it to discussion at the level of council and they probably won’t
for at least another month. Jim Whitty
felt there was a lot of opportunity for freeing up building space. He also stated that the committee has very
high regards for meeting the needs of people.
It
was agreed that there was a need to identify the problem between the parish and
the school and to improve it. It was
also stated that this meeting would be worth something if the line of
communication kept up on this subject and was just not dropped at the end of
this meeting. The school would like to
have more promotion of the school through the parish.
Fr.
Don believes that the parish and the school needs clear structure. He does not see the problem as a personal issue
problem but does see the need to improve communications.
It
was stated that more positive results would be seen if there was more
validating of the kids, parents, and what was done at the school by the
parents.
This
part of the discussion ended at which time Fr. Don and Pam thanked everyone and
left.
After
their departure there was discussion on the Paddle Bid for the auction. It was decided that the paddle bid would be
for school desks and chairs and art tables.
It
was also discussed that the uniform shorts worn by the children must be from
Dennis Uniform and should be enforced, as not wearing them was a blatant
violation of the dress code.
Sharon
Webster will go out and bring laminate samples for the school hallways.
Sr.
Moe will be giving out important dates to everyone over e-mail, i.e., Open
House, etc.
The
Adopt-A-Student plea will be held the weekend of the St. Francis of
The
next meeting will include the re-vision of by-laws; review dates for budgets;
Foreign Language Program (create a survey); Hola Hola Program teachers.
The
next meeting will take place on October 18th and Jim Whitty has
prayer.
Jim
Whitty Five Year Planning Committee Report is also attached to these minutes.