Saint A’s School Board Meeting Minutes

03/21/06 7:30 p.m., Hartke Room

Present: Mrs. Lietz, Tom Cushing (chair), Gary Miller, Todd Swenson, Heather Anderson, Mary Higgins, Mike Carlin, Rob Natke, Pat Harrigan, Jack Cox, Maureen Rosati, Laura Boylan, Fr. Tom, Fr. Rich

Apologies: Jeff Pietsch

Absent:

Guests: Mrs. Bode, Mrs. Quish, Kate Regnier

Administrator’s Report (M. Lietz)

• Terra Nova testing is done, with results to be sent out mid-April.

• Sportsmanship training will be implemented next year in all the local Catholic schools for coaches, administrators, and parents.

• There will also be increased efforts next year to ensure every adult in the school is fully in compliance with the “Protecting God’s Children” program.

• McGraw-Hill will be presenting their Math curriculum materials at the end of March.

• A teacher training session on strategies for working with children with attention and behavior problems is scheduled for April 5^th.

• The Catholic Schools Week appeal got responses from 35 families. The total given or pledged was about 1/3^rd of the goal.

Pastor’s Report (Fr. Tom)

• Special thanks to Stephanie Buettell, Rachel Harrigan and Lori Hartigan for co-chairing the Saint Patrick’s Day party, which was a great community event.

• “A Day in Jerusalem” will be Sunday morning, April 2^nd.

• A special Stations of the Cross with a focus on peace and justice will be held on Friday, April 7^th, at 7:30pm.

• We have a new principal! Sue Castagna will be joining us from St. Luke’s School in Woodburn, Oregon – more details are available in the letter Fr. Tom just sent out to everyone. Thanks to the members of the Search Committee who helped with the screening and interview process.

Chairman’s Report (T. Cushing)

• The formation of a fundraising planning/coordination group for next year is almost complete.

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Planning/Technology Report (M. Quish, M. Carlin)

• With some recently acquired grant money Mrs. Quish will be adding two computers to each Unit A classroom, along with the “Earobics Literacy Launch” software.

• Additional grant money is being used for some technology to support the Unit D honors humanities course.

• Prototypes for the new and improved St. A’s school website have been reviewed, and the project is proceeding well. The target for going “live” is May. Mike denied rumors that the Notre Dame fight song will play when you log in…

Public Relations/Nominating Report (L. Boylan)

• With four board members departing at the end of the year (Tom, Jeff, Gary, Jack) we will need to get nominees to fill those slots. Please let Laura Boylan or Maureen Rosati know of any people you think would be interested.

• PR: The Tribune ran a blurb in advance of the St. Patrick’s Day party, and all teachers have been given instructions in how to submit items of interest to the Evanston Review.

Education Report (J. Cox)

• The committee will send a letter out to all parents detailing the committee’s work and recommendations regarding the school’s special education program.

• We discussed opportunities to use the ½ day kindergarten room in the afternoons, possibly for Pre-K or enrichment programs. Heather Anderson will explore further.

Finance Report (T. Cushing for J. Pietsch)

• The St. Patrick’s Day party raised $14,000, in addition to being a lot of fun. Thanks go out to all of the volunteers who helped make this happen.

Open Forum

• Kate Regnier thanked the board for all of their efforts in the learning disability area. We discussed the possibility of organizing and training parents to serve as standing “aides” in classrooms, especially to assist with reading.

Next Meeting

• The next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 11^th, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hartke room. All interested parents, faculty members, and others are welcome and encouraged to attend.

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