St. Mary’s School Board Minutes

April 19, 2006

 

Guests: Jennie Schneider, Tim Schneider, Paula Atkeson, Connie Soukup, Forrest Peetz, Nancy Berg, Mary Novak, Julie Dwyer, Julie Pistulka

 

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

 

Guests were recognized and asked to speak. Julie Dwyer from Northeast Community College talked to the board about the TANN (Technology Academy of Northeast Nebraska) program. The program is sponsored by Northeast Community College, and its purpose is to greater advance technological opportunities to high school students. Beginning next year (2006-07 school year), students will be able to get credit (high school/ college) by taking courses offered through TANN. There is no cost to the students. St. Mary’s and O’Neill High School will provide the instructors. This is open to area juniors and seniors from St. Mary’s and O’Neill Public School who have a strong interest in technology. Students will need to have taken basic computer application courses. Each school will be guaranteed a minimum of two seats. The maximum number of seats per class is fifteen. Classes will take place in the NECC building in O’Neill. These will be scheduled early or late in the day to account for travel time. The equipment is ready to go with some minor upgrades needed. There will be teacher training sessions for the participating faculty this summer in Council Bluffs, Iowa and NECC Norfolk Campus. Instructors will be taught free of charge, and stipends given for transportation, meals, etc. There will be at least three classes offered, and may include web page design, digital designer, and photo illustrator. Presently Tony Allen, Jennie Schneider, Steve Bahrij, Katie Morrow and Mike Peterson will take classes to become potential instructors.

 

Connie Soukup from St. Mary’s Home and School Association asked for the Board’s approval to purchase one or two Smart Boards to be used in the St. Mary’s Elementary School. Julie Pistulka from Emmet Public School presented information about the Smart Boards. She presently uses the Smart Board in her classroom and finds it very helpful. Possibilities for its use include learning computer skills, writing skills, and art. The Smart Board can be used for Power Point demonstrations, to teach the tools of Microsoft Word, how to scan correctly, posting to the school website, teaching keyboarding, and use of the internet. Nancy Berg and Mary Novak stated that this device would be useful and used frequently. Jennie Schneider suggested using the Smart Boards in the classrooms where it could be used in a wider variety of ways, rather than just in the computer lab. A medium Smart Board with projector costs approximately $2,500.00, and the purchase entitles the buyer software updates.

 

Gene Soukup made a motion to approve purchase of Smart Boards by the Home and School Association. 2nd by Hugh Shoemaker. Vote: All in favor, none opposed.

 

Tim Schneider gave an update on the computer lab. All the stub walls are built. The computers will require more power than presently available. He stated that the problem can easily be solved by running another service off the pole from the high school to the grade school. This has been approved by the local power company. This will be accomplished in the near future and there will be no further cost involved. All of the computers are in.

 

Paula Atkeson discussed St. Mary’s present grading scale and proposed the following: a) changing the way percentage grades are transferred to points on the 4.0 scale. For example, at the present time, a 94% transferred as a 3.4. With the proposal, all percentages that are A’s (94-100) would be transferred as a 4.0. Most schools transfer the grades to colleges in this manner, as this is how colleges prefer transfers to be made. b) When figuring class rank, the percentage point system could be used instead of the 4.0 scale to break any ties.  c) For weighting of classes: Category I- one point added to grade; Category II and III- points would remain the same. Changes made by the grading scale would need to be retroactive to be fair to all students. Paula would revise and present changes, including explanation of weighting system.

 

Lawrence Reiman made a motion to approve and proceed with Paula’s recommendations. 2nd by Luann Shields. Vote: All in favor, none opposed.

 

Forrest Peetz addressed the Board and relayed his understanding of the difficulties of Board decisions and pastoral duties. He expressed hope for the future of St. Mary’s.

 

Nancy Berg asked that teachers please be informed of the last day of school. Janet Fletcher will ask Candy Conradt to get this information to the teachers.

 

Hugh Shoemaker made a motion to approve the agenda and the minutes of the March 15, 2006 meeting. 2nd by Mel Ohri. Vote: All in favor, none opposed.


Pastor’s Report: 

As approved by the Finance Council there will be an increase in stewardship giving for the 2006-07 school year. Parents of high schoolers will have a $6.00 per student increase per month (From $22.00/month per student to $28.00/month per student) with a ceiling of $35.00/month per family. Parents of elementary aged students will have a  $6.00 per student increase per month (From $16.00/month per student to $22.00/month per student) with a ceiling of $30.0/month per family.

 

Father Nigli is planning a meeting with parents to discuss registration and stewardship during the first two weeks of May, and has asked the School Board to attend if possible, and be available to help as needed (i.e. answer questions from parents, discuss advances in the curriculum, and improvements in the school, announce new Principal)

 

 The calendar for 2006-07, schedule, and student handbook will be reviewed by the new principal before being submitted.

 

Father Nigli would like to send letters to parents of St. Mary’s 6th graders inviting them to consider continuing their junior high education at St. Mary’s High School.  He will complete and send this.

 

Principal’s Report:  

Upcoming events: April 19- Holt County Health Fair @ St. Mary’s; April 20- St. Mary’s Invitational Track Meet; April 22- NVC Jr. High Track @ O’Neill, Prom Mass, Dinner, Dance and Coronation; April 24- NECC Scholastic Contest; April 25- Butte Track Meet @ West Holt, Selected Jr and Sr to Shakespeare Play at Yankton; April 26- Math Contest @ Wayne State; April 27- JH Track @ Ord, Boy’s Golf West Holt Dual @ O’Neill, Norfolk Classic; April 28- NVC Art Show @ Stuart; April 29- NVC HS Track Meet @ West Holt; May 3- Seniors Last Day; May 7- Graduation Mass and Ceremony; May 12 & 14- Musical.

 

 

Committee Reports:

A.  Policy Committee: Policy revision will be on hold until policies are reviewed by new principal.

B.  Safety Committee: Further work will be on hold until new principal arrives.

C.  School Finance & Development Committee: Nothing new to report.

D.  School Grounds and Maintenance: Mel Ohri reported that a work day is to be organized in the near future to clean church and school grounds, flower beds, and tend to damaged shrubs and trees. He estimated a 4-5 hour work day. Earlier in the school year a walk-through was performed by several school board members and areas of needed repair were listed. The following items have been addressed: new blinds were put up in the classroom that needed them-this has helped the heat problem; the water fountain was fixed; and the valve on the heater was fixed. Other projects will be completed when possible. Father Nigli reported that the high school chapel renovation is presently on hold.

Old Business:

A.  Principal Search: An excellent candidate has been selected and offered a contract. Verbal acceptance has been given. The official announcement will be made soon by Father Nigli.

B.  Teacher Contracts: All contracts that were submitted to returning teachers have been signed and returned except one. There are several contracts that have not been submitted to teachers until the interview process for new teachers and curriculum revisions have been completed.

C.  St. Patrick’s Day Celebration: The St. Patrick’s Day Youth Rally was held on Friday, March 17th, directed by Valerie Wecker, Camille Ohri, Jane Reiman, and Linda Schneider. Many positive comments were received from students, teachers, and parents.

D.  Track Meet Concessions: The elementary school teachers will be selling concessions during the St. Mary’s Invitational Track Meet on Thursday, April 20. There will be no school for elementary students that day. Proceeds will be made payable to the benefit of Jesse Peetz.

New Business:

A.          Computer Classes-Jennie Schneider: Jennie Schneider presented her proposed Computer Lab curriculum for the 2006-07 school year. She would like to teach each of the 2nd through 6th grade classes two times per week for 40 minutes each session. The first year she would focus on basic groundwork, such as keyboarding skills. After that, the program would begin to branch out to more complex skills, such as word processing, graphics, Excel, and PowerPoint. Copies of her proposed curriculum were given to Father Nigli and Board Members.

B.          Teacher Appreciation: After discussion, it was decided that teachers will be honored at the              Awards Ceremony at both elementary and high school level. Alice Marx will get the gift certificates which will be presented to teachers who have worked at St. Mary’s 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, etc.

 

Motion to go into Executive Session by Sharon Spencer. 2nd by Gene Soukup. Motion to come out of Executive Session by Luann Shields. 2nd by John Boyle.

 

Motion to adjourn by Hugh Shoemaker. 2nd by Mel Ohri. Meeting was adjourned with a closing prayer by Hugh Shoemaker.