Annunciation School Board Meeting Minutes

Tuesday March 4, 2003

Excused Absences: Mary Beth Morgan

Principal, Mary Jane Liszewski was ill. Vice Principal Mary Kay Schaub attended meeting.

Meeting called to order at 6:35 pm

Jim Serafin opened the meeting with a prayer.

Motion was made by Jim Serafin accept above absences. Accepted by Mary Beth Mann and Bernie Bookmiller

Due to numerous corrections to January minutes the minutes we edited. Attached you will find all changes that were made are hi-lighted in bold print. Motion was made by Jim Serafin to accept minutes with changes. Accepted by Robin Bartnik and Paula Penepant.

Finance:

Robin is waiting for Father Emil to get with her as to when the Parish Finance Committee will be meeting. At which time she will present the 2003-2004 school year budget.

Development: Nothing to Report

Comments were made by several visiting families on how well behaved, courteous and knowledgeable the students are. The parents did a wonderful job giving tours, helping set up and clean up. Educational comments by parents were that "we have computers and microscopes". As a result of open house the school has picked up 2 students from Peter and Paula and 2 students from St. James for the 2003-2004 school year. Hopefully there will be more to follow.

Enrollment for the 2003-2004 school year is as follows.

• PreK – 3am 15 Full
• PreK – 3pm 6
• PreK – 4am 20 Full
• PreK – 4pm 14
• K 21
• 1^st grade 15
• 2^nd grade 15
• 3^rd grade 11
• 4^th grade 16
• 5^th grade 13
• 6^th grade 22
• 7^th grade 25
• 8^th grade 22

Totaling 160 not including the PreK classes.

Bernie brought in a newspaper article commenting on the PreK program at Annunciation and how well it was run.

Robin had heard comments from visiting parents on how they just loved the paperwork that they received from St. Vincent’s. So in order to better prepare for future Annunciation open houses Robin visited the school and retrieved paperwork. Her observations were that the quality of paper that the flyers were on made a good first impression however the content was mediocre. Only two items stood out as impressive. Each month every grade writes up an article on what they did that month and the school students put out a newspaper.

Education: Nothing to Report

As a result of Robin’s trip to St. Vincent’s, Robin has offered her services to Mary Jane along with Mrs. Cole. Robin will present Mary Jane with a proposal as to how the newspaper will be set up and run. Mary Jane can then review with Father Emil and faculty. Suggestion was made that the newspaper could potentially be put in the parish bulletin to let the parishioners know more about the school.

Robin expressed her desire to try to get a Spanish program in the lower grades.

Mission: Nothing to Report.

Buildings and Grounds:

Mark Phillips has brought up his desire to remain on the school board. He has a conflict with the current meeting days. He would like the board to consider changing the date to perhaps the second Tuesday of every month or possibly working independently and attend meetings when possible. He would provide updates at the meetings in writing.

It was suggested that Dave Muench send the Board members an email asking them their opinion on Mark’s proposal.

Mark Phillips has recruited the help of a professional person who will perform a walk through with Mark at the school to identify any safety problems and concerns. Inspection will take place when weather permits. The building and grounds are an important part of the middle states accreditation. Fr. Emil’s goal is to make sure all buildings are brought up to a higher standard. Father’s concerns are safety, maintenance and last esthetics.

It was mentioned that Langley Hall had a new roof installed over the summer. Hall is used primarily for meetings. The hours of use are limited.

The cleanliness of the building was brought up to Mark. Should the school consider hiring an in house janitorial person? The condition of the school plays a large part in how the school looks. The walls, floors and woodwork is all in need of repair and or replacement.

Mary Jane has a meeting with the current janitorial staff in the near future.

100^th Anniversary:

2005 is the year of the anniversary. The events will be coordinated with the parish. Point of contact will be Rich Walters.

Kelly Bettinger will bring information from the Pastoral Council to Mary Jane and the Board regarding ideas that are being brought to the table on possible events.

Mary Jane provided a copy of the school-closing proposal. See attached.

Thank you for Mrs. Bettinger, Mrs. Robin Bartnik and Mrs. Mann and to all families and students who helped make the open house a success. Mary Jane advised any new families who are yet undecided that bus transportation forms must be in by April 1^st, 2003. Hopefully this will help in speeding up their decision. There are about 80 families that have not made a decision yet.

The School Board needs to send a thank you note to Fr. Emil for his time that he spent at the open house. All who attended acknowledged Father’s presence. Everyone was happy to see him.

Thank you to Mrs. Bettinger and Mr. Wrobel for refurbishing the 1^st floor bathrooms.

The following questions were asked at the meeting. Mary Kay will take them back to Mary Jane.

• An issue was raised regarding the head lunch monitors language and how she talks to the children.
• What is the status on the latch key program?
• Sex-education – will it be at 16 weeks course or is it integrated into the current curriculum? As per Mary Kay she is looking into a program called Project Truth, which examines choices, chastity consequence, self-esteem, etc. This could be a 7 to 8 week course. The 7^th grade does cover reproduction in science this year. Mary Jane and Fr. Emil must approve program prior to implementation.
• The tuition assistance policy is on the school website. Should it be removed?

Jim Serafin and Paula Penepant offered to fund the referral policy. Fr. Emil must give approval.

Dave Muench feels a short list of rules that we apply monthly should be put together as a quick reference list. Dave will handle

A question arose regarding when should committees meet? On months when there is no board meeting? Call parish secretary for date availability.

We need to devise a plan that will allow us to better communicate with Mary Jane when she is absent.

All open items from meeting to meeting will remain open on the agenda until completed or answered.

The next meeting is May 6, 2003 at 6:30pm in Selbert Hall.

Mary Beth Mann closed the meeting with a prayer.

Meeting ended at 8:35pm.