St. Mary’s School Board Minutes
Guests: None
Board President, Gene Soukup
called the meeting to order. Jim Sibbel
gave the opening prayer. All Board
members were present including: Gene
Soukup, Sharon Spencer, Merri Schneider, Jim Sibbel, Mel Ohri, LuAnn Shields,
John Boyle, and Jill Everitt, along with Norm Hale, Father Nigli and Alice
Marx. Absent was Dian Edwards.
John Boyle motioned to
approve the agenda, seconded by Jim Sibbel.
After discussion of an
amendment necessary to the January minutes, Mel Ohri made a motion to approve
the amended minutes of the January 9 meeting, seconded by LuAnn Shields.
Pastors Report:
I.
Contracts and Budget – There have been preliminary discussions with finance
and pastoral council. For the upcoming
academic year, there will be no increases in tuition or Sunday giving, no
additional income in any other form or resources coming in; there are also
concerns about the budget because this is also an election year. The last four campaigns were completed before
Father Nigli arrived at this parish. St.
Patrick’s Church/St. Mary’s Schools are accustomed to running from campaign
funds. Over the past two years, these
entities have functioned without asking for an additional campaign, although Father
asked for campaign funds for the construction and improvements to the school
and church. Father Nigli explained that
all full-time faculty will receive $800 salary
increases to each full-time staff member, with $200 additional towards health insurance
or annuities. Faculty members who are
part-time will receive pro-rated increases based on the number of hours they
are teaching. He gave a brief recap of
the prior year’s salary/benefits increases, and also a comparison of other
Catholic Schools salaries. St. Mary’s
Schools (K-12) offers the best value for tuition in comparison to many area
Catholic schools. Father Nigli and Father
Hoesing will meet with many parish families to have discussions regarding: The value of our school, to determine why
others are not attending our school, to attempt to guide this institution into
a very stable situation, welcome them to St. Mary’s and have discussions to ask
if they would come to this school, and get answers as to why not. The plan is for this to be open, non-threatening
dialogue.
II.
Sunday Giving
– After the discussions with families over the last couple of years, Sunday
giving by Religious Education families has increased from only 15% to 70%. The figures from K-12 at St. Mary’s show that
only 18% give no Sunday contributions while 82% of the families do contribute
in some way. The rest of the parish
statistics shows that 70% of the St. Patrick’s families give to the Sunday
collections, and 30% do not give anything each week. This does not take into consideration whether
parishioners are paying without the use of the envelopes.
III.
Tuition Payments – Father reviewed the statistics of the past-due tuition payments.
Discussion followed. A meeting will be
scheduled with parents to address the issue of past-due tuition, and also the
Senior Pilgrimage to
IV.
Crest – Alumni
Justin Podany has been working on the design for the crest for the school
cardigans. As soon as a final design is
approved, the cardigans will be prepared for distribution to
Juniors/Seniors/Staff and Alumni. The
goal is to have the cardigans completed prior to this year’s graduation
V.
Catholic Schools Symposium – Will be held on April 28 from
VI.
Parents Meetings – In an effort to help our students to be supported by their parents,
and to help parents to articulate areas in which they are not pleased, Father
Nigli has requested that school board members meet with each St. Mary’s parent
to visit with them about the positives of SM, find out what improvements they
may like to see, etc. He would like to let
the parents know that we appreciate them.
The entire board will be split into groups of two, and all meetings will
be scheduled for the same evening, if possible.
VII.
School Schedule
– There have been 11 drafts of the school schedules for the 08/09 academic
year. After all contracts are back in,
the final schedule will be put into place.
Mandatory attendance will be required at Reconciliation, Mass, Religion
Class and Retreats.
VIII.
Construction
– There will be an emergency meeting tomorrow regarding some problems that are
delaying the project. At this time the
construction is only 3-4 days behind, and they had been running ahead of
schedule until a few weeks ago.
IX.
Elections –
LuAnn Shields and John Boyle have terms that are ending this May. Father Nigli stated that they are both
invited to run for Board again, and Father is asking for any qualified names of
possible Board members to be submitted prior to the next meeting.
Principals Report:
A. School
Climate – Things are going well at
school at this time. Discipline problems
have been at a minimum, and there has only been one in-school suspension this
quarter.
B. Sweetheart
Dance – Several parents approached
Norm regarding the Sweetheart Dance, that there were many students that left
very soon after the coronation. Norm
asked for suggestions as to how the Board would like to see this handled. Discussion was held, and it was determined
that if students would choose to leave the school dances prior to a specific
time (set in advance), that sponsors will monitor the students while they call
their parents. Mr. Hale will discuss
this further with the faculty and sponsors.
C. Technology
Committee – A Technology Committee,
consisting of four faculty members has been formed to look at technology
improvements for the school. Mr. Hale
discussed the availability of automated systems for notification to parents,
lunch money, attendance reports, grading system, etc. This system would consist of approximately $2,000
start-up costs, along with $5 - $10 per student per year. There are a few more demonstrations
available, and Norm invited any Board members who would like to witness the
demos, to attend a demonstration.
Several features are available for voice mail, including text messaging
and email.
D. Marketing
Subcommittee – Many families that are
interested in coming to school here are visiting the school and coming in with
inaccurate information regarding the school.
Mr. Hale stated that he would like to set up a sub-committee that would
publicize information to enlighten the community about St. Mary’s Schools. Mel Ohri suggested that there may be alumni
in the marketing business that could be called upon for their expertise. A request for this expertise could be place
in the next Spirit Newsletter which goes out to all alumni. It would be nice to put a DVD together for
distribution, as well.
E. Accreditation
Update – St Mary’s has officially
moved from Phase I – educating teachers about the process of the Accreditation
process; to Phase II – Setting up a Technology Committee, Spirituality
Committee and Data K – 5, and Data 6 – 12 Committees. Responsibilities of committees are to
formulate a school improvement plan. They
are considering having exit performances for seniors and 6th graders. Students would right a paper proving an
argument using their technology and research skills. The goal is to have St. Mary’s students very
proficient in technology as they graduate from St. Mary’s Schools. The Data Committees will involve looking at
the patterns of when students are successful, what has been instrumental in assisting
them in their successes. When they are
having difficulties, the patterns will be reviewed to see where the curriculum
may be misaligned, or what may be causing these difficulties. There will also be a review of how to get
more parent involvement with student’s homework. Each of these will be set up with timeframes
for accountability.
F. State
Basketball Tournament – Preparations
are underway for the send-off for the Boy’s Basketball Team. Coach Chvala has some specific plans for the
team on Wednesday. Mass will be held
from
There being no further
business, and no need for Executive Session, a motion to adjourn the meeting
was made by Sharon Spencer, seconded by Jill Everitt. Everitt closed the meeting with a prayer.