St. Mary’s School Board Minutes

February 8, 2006

Guests: Pete Lueninghoener, Lisa Lueninghoener, Stacy Vandersnick, Kris Harvey, Nancy Berg, Jennifer Koenig, Celia Janousek, Joe Janousek, Steve Soukup, Mike Kelly, Deb Kelly, Shelly Zakrzewski, Mike Zakrzewski, Brad Blumenstock, Jane Reiman, Paula Atkeson, Connie Krotter, Wayne Gaughenbaugh, Dave Tomjack, Ryan Sidwell, Jamie Sidwell, Bob Regan, Mardell Shoemaker, Patty Mahony and Gary Connot

Janet Fletcher called the meeting to order. Father Nigli led with the opening prayer. Absent from the meeting was Gene Soukup, and all other Board Members were present, including Janet Fletcher, Lawrence Reiman, Merri Schneider, John Boyle, Mel Ohri, Luann Shields, Hugh Shoemaker, and Sharon Spencer, along with Father Nigli and Alice Marx.

Guests were recognized and invited to speak. Pete and Lisa Lueninghoener reported that the account for St. Mary’s Fine Arts was $1,505.70, and a check was given to the Board for the balance to close out the account. This was a five year pledge effort, which ended this year. The Board thanked the Lueninghoener’s for their time and leadership in this project.

All other guests were recognized. Each of these guests requested to be at the meeting regarding controversy from the homily in which Father Nigli addressed to all parishioners. Father asked each of the guests to voice their opinions/concerns. After all guests were give the opportunity to speak, Father addressed the concerns of the guests. He then thanked each of them for coming forward, and invited them to make individual appointments to meet with him for further discussion if needed.

Luann Shields made a motion to approve the agenda after revision, and also the minutes. 2^nd by John Boyle. Vote: All in favor, none opposed.

Pastor’s Report:

There was no pastor’s report, as Father needed to leave the meeting in order to do Wednesday night Mass.

Principal’s Report:

· Catholic Schools Week was held January 29 – February 3. There was a large advertisement published in the Holt County Independent. Grade School had bowling and a talent show, and also a Mass on Friday, February 3, with a social following mass. The High School had donuts, cocoa and juice on Tuesday and Friday mornings, and played board games and had snacks in the classrooms on Friday afternoon.

· Reviewed the handout showing the ITBS/ITED/ACT scores. The results were very favorable, and these will be sent home to the parents, and also published in the Holt County Independent.

Committee Reports:

A. Policy Committee: Reviewed Section 4000, motion made by Mel Ohri, 2^nd by John Boyle to approve this section as revised. Janet Fletcher also handed out Section 5000 and asked for any revisions to be emailed to her so that we may approve it at the next meeting.

B. School Finance and Development Committee: Mel Ohri will work with the custodial staff to keep them on task with the items they had listed during the walk-through. Discussed the possibility of organizing a parish work day. This will be added to the agenda for the next meeting.

C. Curriculum Committee: Candy handed out a comparison of class periods between St. Mary’s and O’Neill Public School. It would take some juggling of classes in order to make any class sharing work with both schedules. She will look into the possibility of a nine period day. She will talk to Doug Christensen, the Commissioner of Education in Nebraska. Other options would be shuffling of some classes, changing mass times, or other possibilities of teaching staff. Candy would recommend that we hire K-12 art, K-12 music, and part-time math/science teachers. Received a resignation letter from Luke Wroblewski. Sharon Spencer shared the results of the music survey she gave to the 6 – 11^th grade students. 76 completed surveys were returned, with 28% interested in participating in band next year, and 22% interested in participating in choir next year.

D. Safety & Security Committee: Will meet later and report next month.

Old Business:

A. Grade School Computer Lab – The improvements to the room are in progress.

New Business:

A. Elementary Secretary & Elementary Aide –Debra Larson has been hired as the elementary secretary. Trichia Johnson has been hired as the elementary aide, and she will begin working February 14.

Motion to go into Executive Session by Luann Shields, 2^nd by Sharon Spencer. Motion to come out of Executive Session by Lawrence Reiman, 2^nd by Luann Shields.

Motion to adjourn by Hugh Shoemaker.

Meeting was adjourned with a closing prayer led by Lawrence Reiman.