Lumen Christi Catholic School
School Council Meeting
Dominiak Hall-Thiensville
August 9th, 6:30 P.M.
Members in Attendance: John Barlamant, Steve Gresham, Laura Rowe, Maria Greisch, Sarah
Bahr, Michelle Correa, Fr. Dan Sanders, Mary Lee Odem, Joe Cesarz, Mary Ellen Griffin, Kim
Althaus, Mary Hauke, Kelly Fyfe, Anne Best, Pat Sheehy, and Steve Gedman
Guests in Attendance: Chris Callen, Sheila Dunne, Devan Delaney, and Sara Schreiber.
1) Laura Rowe read Sunday’s Gospel.
2) Open Session:
a) Each member of the group introduced themselves
b) The group took a tour of the campus and reviewed the improvements that have been
made over the summer months
3) Joe Cesarz made a motion to approve the minutes from July. Steve Gedman seconded and
motion was carried.
4) Update from the Educational Administrator
a) Mary Hauke stated preparations for the new year are going well
5) Update from the Principal
a) Kelly Fyfe stated that a Safeguarding God’s Children training session will be held this
coming Wednesday in Dominiak Hall
b) Kelly will be sending out the welcome back packet via email this week
c) Teachers will return on the 21st; team building sessions are planned
d) This coming Wednesday and Thursday are professional development days; the focus will
be on collaborating on learning and student data.
6) Enrollment:
a) Laura Rowe stated that 10 new enrollment forms came in during July; to date 33 new
families totaling 37 new students have enrolled; total current enrollment is now 355;
b) The current classroom numbers are as follows:
i) 3K-14
ii) 4K-39
iii) 5K-37
iv) 1st -24
v) 2nd -27
vi) 3rd -27
vii) 4th -39
viii) 5th -39
ix) 6th -38
x) 7th -41
xi) 8th -30
7) ADMINISTRATION
a) Joe Cesarz referred to an attachment that was provided with agenda; the Archdiocese
approved new norms for parish governance effective July 1st; the new norms outline the
relationship between parish governance and the school governing body; as a result of
these new norms Joe Cesarz made a motion to rename the body at Lumen Christi to the
“School Board Committee” including changing the name in the governing committee
guidelines; Pat Sheehy seconded and motion was carried.
b) At the prior meeting the group proposed that the number of at-large members be
increased from 7 to 9 with 3 members rotating off each year (after serving 3 year
terms); in addition, 10 members were discerned to serve this year; as a follow-up to the
last meeting Joe Cesarz presented a schedule of terms that accommodated 10 members
for the current year and then 9 going forward; Mary Lee Odem made a motion to
approve the new schedule, including a change to governing committee guidelines; Joe
Cesarz seconded and motion was carried.
c) The recommendations from the two approved motions will be forwarded to Parish
Council for approval
8) SCHEDULED TOPICS (August):
a) The results from the evaluation of last year’s School Council will be discussed at the
September meeting.
b) Training:
i) The revised guidelines will be posted online for review of all prospective members,
parents and parish members
ii) The format of the meetings was discussed with reference to the agenda; the
calendar of scheduled topics has been provided to all members and will be posted
on the website
iii) Most of the group’s work will be done in committees; the expectation is that the
committees minutes and the revised strategic goals will be submitted electronically
between meetings and posted on the school’s website; bullet point updates of
topics that the committee would like the School Board Committee to discuss will be
provided to the Chair prior to each meeting.
c) Officer Assignments:
i) Chair: Joe Cesarz
ii) Vice Chair: Pat Sheehy
iii) Secretary: Michelle Correa
d) Committees:
i) Joe Cesarz referenced a handout that was provided with the agenda; the group
discussed the duties of each committee and the deliverables for the September and
October meetings; an important first step for each new committee chair is to meet
with outgoing committee chair to ensure a knowledge transfer of the committee
and last year’s activities and goals
ii) A recommendation was made to form a Development Committee to replace the
enrollment and marketing committee as the enrollment duties are handled by the
Director of Enrollment
iii) A recommendation was made to have the LC21 Committee become a subcommittee
iv) Committee Assignments:
(1) Budget - Mary Lee Odem and Steve Gedman will co-chair
(2) Education Quality Assurance - Mary Ellen Griffin
(3) Development– Maria Greisch will chair, Joe Cesarz will participate
(4) Faith Formation – Michelle Correa
(5) Evaluation - Pat Sheehy will chair, Fr. Dan Sanders, and John Barlamant will
participate
(6) Communications – Kim Althaus will Chair, Sarah Bahr will participate
9) Alumni Assessments
a) A survey was sent out to the parents of Lumen Christi alumni who recently completed
their freshman year of high school
b) The School Board Committee discussed the results and identified some areas for followup; the group recommended that the administration will collect some updated data on
the foreign language, art and study skills portions of the curriculum; following this
update to the School Board Committee a communication update will be provided to the
school parents with
10) 2012-2013 School Board Committee Goal:
i) “Engage parents, alumni, and parish members with the qualities of our exemplary
Catholic School”.
11) FOLLOW-UP ITEMS:
i) Comments on the Teacher Handbook should be e-mailed to Kelly Fyfe for review.
12) MEETING CHANGES:
a) Wed, Oct 10th will be our October meeting. Wed, Nov 7th will be our November
meeting.
13) There being no further business to come before the School Board Committee, the meeting
was adjourned at 9:06 P.M.