Diocesan School Council
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Present:
Maria Buckles, Ellen Kessler, Brent Mayer, John Simms, Sally
Stevens, Susan Wallace, Shannon Burkholder and Fr. Richard Watson
Absent:
Julie Preston
Exofficio:
Tim Weaver, Superintendent
Jeremy Hughes, Assistant Superintendent
Rec. Secretary: Linda Ulanday
Guests:
I.
Welcome and Prayer
At 12:30p Susan Wallace opened the meeting with prayer.
II.
Approval of August 5, 2015 Meeting Minutes
Susan Wallace questioned the stability of St. Julian School as listed under
section IV of the Superintendent’s Report. Tim Weaver was happy to report that
after his and Jeremy Hughes recent visit to St. Julian School issues, especially
with the state, were addressed, the school is now stable.
Ellen Kessler moved to approve the minutes. John Simms seconded the motion.
The Council unanimously approved the minutes.
III.
Vice-President Position
Tim Weaver asked the council members if any of them would like to be the
council’s Vice President. After discussion, Tim will contact Julie Preston and ask
if she would be willing to fill the position.
IV.
October 19, 2015 Professional Development Day
a. New Teacher Academy
Tim Weaver reported the next Teacher Academy will take place during our
October 19, 2015 Professional Development Day. The Academy will take
place in the meeting rooms at Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary Church from
8:30am to 10:30am. The speaker for the Academy will be Mike Allen,
Director of Family Life for the diocese.
b. All Schools’ Mass with the Bishop
Bishop John Stowe will be celebrating Mass for all teachers and
administrators at 11am as part of our Professional Development Day on
October 19, 2015 at Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary Church. Tim Weaver
reported lunch would only be provided for the vendor present that day and
that teacher would be on their own for lunch. Due to limited access to food in
the area, time constraints and teacher fellowship, Sally Stevens suggested
the Catholic Schools Office continue to provide lunch for the day. Tim
Weaver agreed to do so.
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Diocesan School Council
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
c. Speaker on Identifying Student Anxiety
Tim Weaver reported that Dr. Dan Farrell will be Professional Development
Day speaker October 19, 2015 at 1:30pm in the Lexington Catholic High
School Auditorium on the subject of Identifying Student Anxiety. Tips on
dealing with Student Anxiety will be distributed to all teachers.
V.
Celebrating Catholic Education
Tim Weaver reported on his desire to have a Celebrate Catholic Education
fundraiser for our tuition assistance program. Possible venue would be the
Lexington Convention Center west wing with target date in May 2016.
Help is needed to put on the event. Tim will connect with Julie Preston, who did
some early planning for this event before Bishop Gainer left the diocese, to see if
she would be willing to chair the event. John Simms volunteered to help.
Discussion took place on the time of year for this event. After discussion, it was
thought the best time of the year would be the Saturday evening before the start
of Catholic Schools Week. This year the date would be January 31, 2016.
The featured speaker would be someone in the community. Honorees would be
the “Family supporters” of Catholic Education in the community, as well as
teachers and administrators.
VI.
Preliminary Enrollment
Tim Weaver distributed the updated Elementary Enrollment Report to include this
school year’s enrollment as of September 1, 2015. Trends were discussed. The
Council would like to see the individual grade level enrollment for each school.
Sally Stevens suggested charts similar to the ones developed by John Morgan, a
previous council chair would be advantageous. Linda Ulanday will research
providing them at the next meeting.
VII.
Marketing Our Catholic Schools-Discussion
Tim Weaver explored with the Council the possibility of a Marketing Committee.
In lieu of a committee, all council members shared many ideas of how to best
market our schools. The ideas shared are as follows.
 One on one invitation to visit a Catholic school
 Diocesan Flyer highlighting a specific school
 Catholic Schools Office to do television appearances during the noontime
hour especially during Catholic Schools Week
 Recruiting “on the street” from “happy parents and students”
 Money and Transportation appears to be what draws families to our
schools
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Diocesan School Council
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
 Determine the CCD enrollment at the parish level for each of our schools
and then do a comparative study with the school. Each Council member
will contact their parish to get the number of students attending CCD.
 Radio spots with middle class Catholic families and students sharing their
positive experience of attending a Catholic school
 Tap into the Alumni of each school
 Using Social media to inform the public about our schools via videos,
Facebook, etc.
 For growth – Has the maximum capacity of each school been met? Sally
Stevens will gather this data.
 The Council would like to see the agenda for each meeting of the
principals. Sally Stevens is willing to give a report from those meetings to
the Council
 The Catholic Schools Office calendar was distributed to the Council
VIII.
IX.
Discussion items for October 7, 2015 meeting
 Follow up of the Marketing discussion
 Celebrate Catholic Education
 Selection of council Vice President
 Discussion of Business Tax Credit from flyer distributed by Tim Weaver
 Discussion of Principals’ meeting of September 16, 2015
 Revision/Development of Technology policy for our schools
Closing Prayer and Adjournment
At 2:15pm Tim Weaver adjourned the meeting with prayer and Fr. Richard
Watson gave us a blessing.
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