St James School Board Agenda

St James School Board Minutes of Meeting held Wednesday September 23, 2015 @ 6:30PM

I. Call to Order by Flannery. All board members present except Peterson. Fr. Weir not in attendance. II. Opening Prayer by Flannery III. Acceptance of Agenda – motion by Goebel; 2nd by Mitchell. IV. Approval of previous minutes – motion by McDole; 2nd by Flannery V. Finance Update by Mary Ward  Mary provided financial statements for the school and for the parish as a whole. Going forward, the financial statements will be on cash basis rather than accrual. Mary provided yellow handout showing enrollment and the sources of tuition payments (STO, SCRIP, JWV, parents). Of note, the budgeted tuition income for 2015-2016 is extremely close to what the school will actually see. The difference from the projections and actual numbers is due to six students not enrolling for this year. i. Mary also informed the Board that the STO funds that the students who ultimately did not enroll at St. James was able to be reassigned as additional funding for students who did enroll ($11,556). There is also a small amount of unused STO remaining that can be used to assist families during the year. ii. Fall Festival numbers look to be close to what was received last year. While the income from Fall Festival is down, there has been a significant increase in donations to STO. The Board commented that this shows a change in demographics and that people are choosing to make donations to St. James School through STO rather than Fall Festival. Fall Festival is a great community building event. iii. Free and reduced lunch. 19% of population receives free or reduced lunch. This increases funding to St. James for Title I reading and e-rate. This, along with increased use of STO funds, shows that St. James has a more diverse enrollment. This is viewed as a positive. iv. Spring 2015 grant needs to be closed out. Chet will contact Don Marie to get his bill so that it can be paid. This is the final outstanding bill. VI. Principal Wisniewski’s Report  SIAC Meeting will occur in October and there will be a report to the Board at the October meeting.  Total Enrollment as of September 15, 2015: 119.  DHS Site visit. Some issues need to be addressed but nothing that is concerning. Upon completion of the cited issued, DHS will return to issue license.  Professional Development. Diocese wants all teachers to be catechists for school purposes. This requires one-five hour training. Two additional trainings are scheduled in the next month with the public school. VII. Old Business  Preschool Fence Update. The installation of the latticework is ongoing. Chet is going to coordinate with Fr. and Mark Chenowith to get the necessary supplies purchased so that the fence can be completed. Board will review this at the next meeting.  Grant Update. Petersen was unable to attend due to illness but provided Mitchell and Mary Ward with information to present to the Board. Petersen and Charlotte Lindmeier worked with Chet and with Mr. Stuart to get grant proposal prepared. Quotes for all items requested by the Board at the previous meeting were obtained. Mary Ward provided additional information about SuccessMaker and matching funds. Discussion centered on the needs of St. James and how best to utilize the grant opportunity. i. Motion by Flannery to submit a grant proposal for technology to improve and enhance SuccessMaker due to previous funding by WCRF. Grant shall include that SuccessMaker will now be a cloud based system. In order to utilize SuccessMaker upgrade, 16 MacBooks will be needed for teachers. Grant shall include all associated technology fees (i.e. Karolyn Skubal installation). All other portions of the grant proposal presented to the Board are tabled at this time. Motion seconded by Goebel. All Ayes. Motion passed. ii. Motion by Goebel and seconded by Flannery to add the 4th/5th grade technology grant idea to October agenda for discussion as to how to fund this idea through use of existing funds and/or fundraisers. All Ayes. Motion passed. iii. Flannery will email staff to request information from teachers as to how ipads could be used in the classroom and to request additional input from staff regarding funding requests and ideas.  Bathroom Quotes. This will be a standing item on the agenda going forward due to scope of the project. i. Mitchell will contact Tim Ruth to see if the ACE Mentorship Program is willing to volunteer time and materials to bathroom renovations. ii. Chet will contact 2-3 contractors (names provided by McDole) to obtain quotes by October meeting. iii. All preliminary work of getting quotes will be done so that Fr. Weir is included in this process. iv. Discussion about utilizing Knights of Columbus as a funding source. v. Discussion about whether this project qualifies for Casino grant. vi. Mary provided Board with information about another grant opportunity. A copy of the application completed by the school in 2012 was provided to Mitchell. Grant deadline is July 31st of each year. 1. Grant is from the Iowa Department of Public Health – “Love Our Kids Grant – Child Injury Prevention Project.”  SIAC Meeting plans – see above at Principal’s Report VIII. New Business  Teacher ID Badges- Policy 920.1- 1st reading i. Discussion was held concerning the need for lanyards. Due to teacher safety, provisions regarding lanyards were removed. ii. Second reading to take place at October meeting.  Parent/Teacher Evaluations plans i. Last evaluation was done two years ago. ii. By the next Board meeting, proposed surveys will be drafted. iii. At October meeting, Board will vote on approval of surveys. iv. Preliminary goal to have surveys completed and results returned to Board by December meeting.  Technology Update – I don’t have any notes on this. Was there a discussion on this other than the Grant proposal?  Professional Development Update i. See Principal’s Report ii. Meeting on September 30, 2015 for training iii. Discussion of Standard Based Report Cards  Enrollment Update i. See Principal’s Report with total enrollment of 119. IX. Committee Reports  Policy i. 600 Policies (Oct 1st/Nov 2nd/Dec 3rd) to be reviewed. 600 policies have been typed by Mitchell and provided to the board for discussion.  Budget – See Finance Update.  Early-Childhood – Love-Smith, M. Chalupa, and J. Hunter (pre-school staff) stated that they are getting organized and will have more to report at next meeting. Board expressed thanks to J. Hunter. X. Meeting Reports  Finance Council – Mary Ward. There is an opening on the Finance Council. Officers will be elected at the next meeting. State of the parish to be addressed in November.  Parish Council – Goebel to attend next meeting for Lievanos  Home and School i. Love-Smith and Goebel reported that last meeting was very productive. Home and School has updated mission. All volunteer positions have been filled. Water bottles were sold at Fall Fest. Food sales are out. Home and School will participate in Homecoming Parade.  Maintenance Committee – See Finance Report. Hot water heater in rectory required repair. XI. Pastor Report – no report. Fr. Weir not present. XII. Future Meeting Agenda and Date  Teacher Conference Meal Plans- Nov 3rd/4th XIII. Adjournment – 1st McDole; 2nd Flannery.

2015-2016 SJS Board Goals: 1. Improved teacher(s) collaboration and involvement with school board activities and decisions 2. Continue to build and improve preschool programs 3. Work to update and transition School Policies to electronic format 4. Dedicated and improved evaluations of school administrator and, teachers and school board 5. Improved marketing strategies 6. Create school improvement list/goals for next 3-5year plans