St. Agnes School Advisory Council Minutes - October

St. Agnes School Advisory Council Minutes

October 15, 2013

6:30 p.m.

 

Roll Call:  The meeting was called to order at 6:32 p.m.  Present:  Layne Schulz, Wes Christiansen, Deb Gapp, Jessica Preister, Fr. Fischer, Becky Thomas and Darla Hamm.  Absent: 

Approval of the Agenda:   Wes moved to approve with addition of tuition policy to new business, Deb seconded.

Approval of the Minutes: Deb moved to approve the minutes for September, Wes seconded to approve the minutes.

Principal Report:  Mrs. Hamm reported that the Mingle at RED Steakhouse made about $8,700; the proceeds raised were donated to the Campaign for the school building project.  The Fall Festival is this Sunday, October 20.  Student Council members were selected and will have their first meeting on Thursday, October 17.  Conferences are next week, there will be no school on Wednesday, October 23.

Teacher Report:  Highlights from Mrs. Schuh’s report were:  Preschool is learning about community helpers, they had the police department and fire department visit the school.  The Kindergarteners visited the pumpkin patch and is now making a pumpkin/apple store in their classroom.  The 1st graders enjoyed learning about fire safety and making maps.  2nd grade is going on their first field trip to the Dorothy Pecaut Center.  The 3rd graders visited the Care Center to present their skit on manners and respect and then they read to the residents.  The 4th grade students present their Power Point slides about a part of the United States; they will still start serving at Mass.  The 5th grade class is studying the early explorers and they are making fact folders for each explorer.  In Music classes they are working on reading notes and they are getting ready for the Veterans’ Day program on November 6 at 9:00 a.m.  The Christmas program will be on Wednesday, December 11, at 7:00 p.m.

Red & Gold Report:  Mrs. Thomas reported that the total income for last month was just about $11,000 and all summer bills are paid.  They are waiting for one staff member to get CPR.  There themes are:  scarecrows, pumpkins, Thanksgiving.  They are making good progress for summer plans for next month. 

PTSA Report:  Hospitality Committee will line up dinner and snacks for Parent/Teacher Conferences October 21/23.  Fall Festival Games Committee Report – games will be provided for the Fall Festival is Oct. 20 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lexi Tracy is the chair and is finding volunteers for the games. PTSA 100 Club Update – About 70 slots were thought to be filled so far.  Drawings occur at the PTSA meeting at the beginning of the month.  The Breakfast with Santa date is set for December 7.  The committee has not yet met.  The next PTSA meeting is scheduled for Tues., Nov. 5, at 6:30 p.m.

Financial Report:  Jessica met with Gail to get clarification about 180, 181, 182.  180 is the agency account we have always had (it used to cover tuition assistance), 181 and 182 are results of the Campaign.  181 is set up for tuition assistance, 182 is more of a one-time fund donation.

 

Old Business: 

·        Board Member:  Two have been approached, but neither have formally accepted or declined.  It is a work in progress. 

·        Finalize the 2013-14 Calendar:  Mrs. Hamm shared the Vermillion Public School’s final calendar with the school board.  After visiting with the staff they would prefer to keep our calendar as is and not add either of the two in-service days that the public school added (Fri., Nov 15, and Mon., Jan 6).  Instead of having an in-service day on November 15th, we can keep our day off on Monday, November 11th.  Fr. John recommended keeping it as is.  Jessica moved to approve the calendar as it is, Wes seconded.

New Business:

·        Magazine/Cookie Doug Report:  Great American Opportunities (magazine and cookie dough sales) has made about $9,540 plus a few hundred in donations, which is almost one thousand dollars up from this time last year.  So far we have sold 376 magazines, 1,499 tubs of cookie dough and 101 on-line items.   We earn more from the Reach Out postcards sent out to relatives.  The cookie dough will be delivered on Thur., Oct. 24.

·        Common Core State Standards Update:  Darla shared a letter from the Diocese office about their position on the standards.  She also shared a letter that was sent from the State Department of Education about participating in the Smarter Balanced field test this spring.  The School Advisory Council agreed that we should participate in the Smarter Balanced field test, and Fr. John signed the letter to return to the state.

·        Tuition Policy:  Over the past two years about $6,000 has not been collected, which is about 1.5%.  Of that $6,000, $2,800 is from students who have moved onto the middle school, and it will be hard for us to collect that money now.  We should look at putting a policy into place about contacting a collection agency or holding records or something before they transfer over.  We should look into credit cards as an option (with parents paying the fees) or having families on tuition assistance use the automatic payment method.  We will review the policy and then we can communicate it to parents.

Executive Session:  There was no need for executive session

Adjournment:  The meeting was moved to adjourn by Deb at 7:33, Jessica seconded.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 19, at 6:30 p.m.

 

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