Lourdes Catholic School – Faith Formation Board

Thursday, November 13, 2014 6:30 pm

Minutes

1) Call to Order. a. Present: Amy Steil, Bridget Cravero, Amy Paul, Christa Merritt, Mike Puthoff,

Karen Moldt, John Leinart, Jennifer Lynch, Mike Vonderhaar, Kristyn Tjaden, Jenny Preston, Scott Dyer, Fr. Jason Crossen, Jennifer Alongi.

2) Opening Prayer offered by Father Crossen

3) Introduction of Guests.

a. Tom Quinnb. Carolyn McFatec. Shelia McLaughlind. Kris Dirsha

4) Approval of Agenda

a. Motion made by and seconded by Karen Moldt, seconded by Bridget Cravero and approved by the entire board

5) Open Foruma. Feedback offered by Mr. Quinn regarding future plans for confirmation. Father

Crossen is open to feedback and is reassessing the plan. 6) Approval of Meeting Minutes from the previous month.

a. Motion to approve October 9th FFB meeting minutes made by Jenny Preston and seconded by Bridget Cravero

7) Father Jason Report. a. Changes to Adoration b. Sacrament prepc. Confirmation changes

8) Administrative Reports:

a. Jennifer Alongi – Lourdes Catholic Schooli. Please see report attached

b. Jennifer Lynch – Religious Education & Youth Groupi. Please see report attached

c. Sara Scogland – Youth Ministry Director of Developmenti. No Report

9) Board Committee Reports:

a. Buildings & Grounds (John Leinart-Chair, Chuck Ripley, Bridget Cravero, Scott Dyer)

i. Update on Committee’s activities- Please see report

b. Finance (Mike Vonderhaar, Mike Puthoff, Jenny Preston, John Leinart, Scott Dyer, Fr. Jason, Jennifer Alongi)

i. No Report

c. Policy & Procedure (Jenny Preston-Chair, Amy Steil, Bridget Cravero)

i. Review & execute Third Reading on Policies 402A & 540B.1. Motion to approve 3rd reading made by Bridget Cravero, seconded

by Kristyn Tjaden and approved by the entire board. ii. Review & execute Second Reading on Policies 501B.

1. Motion to approve second reading made by Amy Steil, seconded by Kristyn Tjaden and approved by the entire board.

iii. Review & execute First Reading on Policies1. 212A-Approved with a small change in wording2. 501- Approved with a small change in wording3. 506.1B- Approved with no changes4. 506.1C-Approved with small change in wording5. 520A-Reviewed with no changes6. 510.3- Approved with small wording changes.

d. Public Relations / Marketing (Mike Puthoff-Chair, Kristyn Tjaden, Karen Moldt, Chuck Ripley, Jennifer Alongi)

i. Please see attached reportii. Motion to approve the use some of marketing funding to advertise on

KWQC’s web page made by Mike Putoff, seconded by Kristyn Tjaden and approved by the entire board.

e. Executive (Mike Vonderhaar-Chair, Mike Puthoff, Amy Steil, Fr. Jason)

i. New FFB member, alternate needed

10) Special Interest Group Reports:

a. Boosters/AD Report (Matt Trannel)i. Please see attached report

b. Home & School Association (Christa Merritt)

i. Please see attached report

c. Teacher Representative (Amy Paul)i. Please see attached report

d. Scott County Catholic Schools Advisory Board (Mike Vonderhaar, Jennifer Alongi)

i. Working on strategic planning

e. Assumption High School (Kristyn Tjaden) i. No Report

f. Pastoral Council (Mike Vonderhaar)

g. Grant Writing (Kristyn Tjaden, Amy Steil)i. Will set up a meeting to discuss Spring Grant Cycle.

11) Old Business: Looking into preschool funding

12) New Business:a. Approval of 5% tuition increase for the 2015-2016 school year.

13) Adjourn regular session at 8:05 pm

14) Executive Session.

15) Next Faith Formation Board Meeting: Thursday, December 11th at 6:30 (Rectory Conference Room).

Principal’s Report to the Faith Formation BoardNovember 13th, 2014

Leadership of School Culture and Instruction:

1. Enrollment as of 11/12/14: 243 K-8 students 33 Three-year olds 75 Four-year olds 351 Total enrollment

2. Update on middle school: discussion with middle school teachers on most effective use of 8th grade teacher aide; 8th grade classes that I have observed appear to be managed well and increasingly so; no applicants for the middle school math, except two people have indicated interest (but not formally applied); math acceleration in the middle school; would like to have a part time middle school math teacher but am unsure if enrollment will support this; we may be able to save money if we reduce support staff (teacher aides) next year.

Managerial Leadership:

1. Reviewing billing for Extended Care to make sure we are maximizing our profit but still staying competitive and affordable. We want to bill differently next year and are reviewing different options.

2. Parish Tuition Rate for “2 Students” and “3+ Students” was not calculated correctly on the2014-2015 Tuition Fee Schedule. The second student should be charged 80%, and the third student should be charged 60%. We are charging only 75.5% for the second student, and only charging 51.9% for the third student. For Parish Tuition Rate students, that is $125 not being collected for each second child, and $225 not being collected for each third child.

3. Scott County Catholic Principal meeting – tuition rate increase of 5% recommended (additional $140 per year to the Parish Tuition Rate for an only child); Lourdes’ fees are higher than St. Paul and All Saints. All Saints charges $50 per year per family for field trips. This is so that families aren’t nickeled-and-dimed all year. Some grades go on more field trips than others, but parents like the flat rate because it is simple and they figure it evens out in the long run. Principal keeps the field trip money in a field trip account and that account pays for all trips so families don’t pay anything.

4. Recommendation: For 2015-2016: Raise Parish Tuition Rate for one student 5% up to $2940 (from $2800) and Non-Catholic Tuition Rate for one student 5% up to $5591 (from $5325); appropriately calculate 2 students so that the second student pays 80% of the one-child rate, and the third student pays 60% of the one-child rate.

5. Our coaches for 2015-16 will either need to be certified or we will need to state that all but one sport at Lourdes Catholic School is “church-based.”

6. Recommendation: Declare that all except one sport at Lourdes is “church-based” and create a link to the OLOL church website from the “Athletics” tab on our school web page. Then we will need to have information about Lourdes athletics be placed on the church web site.

7. 2014-15 Budget: I have reviewed it with Nikki Gartner and she needs to go to Teri P. to clarify some things and will meet with me soon.

Public Relations/Marketing Leadership:

1. SAU Marketing class is doing a study and targeting preschool to see if they can make recommendations on how we can increase the retention of students between preschool and kindergarten.

2. I have a tour set up in early December for an American family who has been living in China for the past year or two. They are considering sending their daughter to Lourdes next year.

Faith Formation Leadership:

1. I am going to be starting Teacher Prayer at 8:05 in Wednesdays. This will help the staff be more cohesive but also help us to prepare mentally and spiritually for Mass on Wednesday mornings.

Agenda for the Tuesday Dec 2, 2014 – 6:00 meeting Evaluate the work needed on the pews Parking lot fense Update on locks for the school Update on Little Lancer house Review the Potential Future Projects list (below) Discuss date for our next meeting

Latest Information on Specific Projects Pew maintenance – Nov 10 Update

o In our Dec 2 meeting we will take a look at the pews. We can document what work needs to be done (which need new vinyl on the kneelers, repair of kneeler bracket, new kneeler rubber feet, and repair of pew brackets).

o We will plan a volunteer event to make the necessary repairs.

Parking lot fence – Nov 10 Updateo Roy and Joe will follow up to locate a section of chain-link fence that can be

installed where our Lourdes sign used to be.

Locks for the school o Quotes have been received. The recommendation from Building and Grounds is

to go with J&J Locks… the quote is $9582.00.o There is $3500 in the home and school budget for locks. o An SCRA (Scott County Regional Authority) grant is being drafted for a security

upgrade… and will include a request for the needed funds. This will be done by 9/22…. Then reviewed by the Diocese… then we will hear back in mid Nov to see if we got it

o If we don’t get a grant we will need to look into other options like a fund raiser… or doing part of the upgrade.

o It should be noted that our school is secure, and these locks are providing an upgrade to this security.

Little Lancer House o Everything that was planned is complete, except some windows have been

delayed. o We are in negotiations to purchase the houseo Mike V has the lead on the remodel. Chris Harmsen has the lead on yard

updates.o 10/7 update - John L will follow up with Mike V on the status of the windows and

purchase of the houseo 10/7 update - A concern has been raised on the capacity of LLH. Mike V and

Jenny P are leading an evaluation of our Before and After care program… and capacity of LLH will be part of this evaluation.

Potential Future Projects List Cobwebs in the eaves –

o 11/10 update – this project will get pushed out until springo Joe will provide an official bid to Chris H for the work to be completed by his

business (to take care of insurance/liability issues)o Chris will organize the lift for the date identifiedo John L will organize volunteers to be the “ground crew” to helpo The cobwebs will be cleared on the date, as well as the gutters

Replace some interior and exterior lighting… perhaps update to LED lighting, etc. Some lights are broken. Some lights have a higher priority than others (lights around the entrances for example).

o Teri is looking into renting a street light from Mid American that would be mounted behind the garage (very dark area).

o Peter Moldt from DeWitt Electric has provided a detailed bid for updating interior and exterior lighting in the church and school. Chris H has included a portion of the bid that is related to “security” in the recently submitted SCRA grant.

Scrap out the old compressor in the basement. Roy has the lead on this. We can do this over Christmas break with some help from some students.

Fire escape on the north side of the school needs repaired and should be considered in the 2015 budget.

Pruning of the Giving Tree will be needed in the winter of 2015/2016. Scott Swerenger from Economy Tree Service did it in Feb of 2014 for around $1000. The next pruning could be more expensive.

o John L and Chuck R met with Scott Swerenger to review the work he did earlier this year. His opinion is that no further pruning is needed at this time. There are a couple of low hanging dead branches now (which is normal) that can be pruned by us in the winter months. One recommendation is that we periodically take action to reduce compaction under the tree. When school is out we should remove the existing mulch and till the area around the tree… and then re-mulch. Chuck has the lead to pursue a 2nd opinion on course of action we might want to take.

Buildings and Grounds CommitteePurpose: To identify and research short and long term maintenance issues for the entire physical plant of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church and school.

Description: This committee consists of 6-8 members. Meetings will be held on an as needed basis, typically once a month. This committee will function as an advisory board and a working committee to help with building and grounds issues. The committee along with the maintenance staff – in particular the maintenance supervisor – should identify and prioritize needs. The buildings and grounds committee and the maintenance staff are responsible for ensuring we stay within the maintenance budget… … which consists of budget line items in both the parish and school budget. All work with bids less than $5000 can be approved by Fa Crossen. Bids of over $5000 will require a minimum of 3 bids, and require the approval of Fa Crossen and the finance council. Parish members will be used as preferred venders as long as their bid is in-line or less than others received. The maintenance supervisor (Chris Harmson) is the main point of contact for issues that require attention.

John Leinart (309) 278-3893 leinartjohnh2@johndeere.comChris Harmson (563) 505-6559 maintenance.lourdes@gmail.com or lcscustodian@gmail.comJoe Camarena (563) 579-5897 joe@jmcremodelingqc.comRoy Shaft (563) 359-4673 mrroy@att.netFr. Crossen crossenj@diodav.orgDavid Weaver kedweav@aol.comChuck Ripley (919) 270-6305 cfr0122@reagan.comBill Manning (563) 650-9622 iowa2sum@mchsi.com

OUR LADY OF LOURDES RELIGIOUS EDUCATION PROGRAMReport to Faith Formation Board and Pastoral Council

November 13, 2014

Enrollment: 115 students in grade kindergarten through six.Staff: One DRE, 22 adult/parent volunteers, 1 high school volunteer

RECENT EVENTS: August 10: Blessing of the Backpacks during 10:30 Mass and Foodraiser for Backpacks

With Snacks program. Approximately 60 parish children participated by bringing food to donate for BWS. They received a Christian backpack tag and a special school-year blessing from Fr. Jason. BWS coordinator Sue Dilley spoke about the program during Mass and received several donations after Mass at her table in the Gathering Space.

August 20: Catechist inservice/planning meeting. August 23: Catechist work day. August 27: LRE Family night kickoff. Families were welcomed and teachers planned

activities in the classrooms to introduce students and parents to our new curriculum Pflaum Gospel Weeklies. More information about this curriculum can be found at www.pflaumweeklies.com. Advantages of this curriculum include: 1) It is based on the liturgical calendar, 2) The length of the lessons are more realistic for the limited time each week in religious education classes, 3) The “text” for the class is a weekly four- or eight-page reader that goes home after class every Wednesday to serve as a great tool for parent engagement, 3) The lesson plans are provided.

September 3: No LRE – catechist work night September 10: LRE September 17: LRE, 4th-6th grade evening with Fr. Jason touring the church and learning

about Mass. September 24: No LRE – catechists attended an inservice, “The Joy of the Gospel,”

hosted by the diocese Ministers of Religious Education (MORE) group. Bill Huebsch spoke on the topic of Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium.

October 1: LRE October 8: LRE, 2nd-3rd grade evening with Fr. Jason touring the church and learning

about Mass. October 15: LRE, Rosary, Christmas Children’s Choir rehearsal begins October 22: LRE October 29: LRE Family Saint Celebration. Catechists offered fun, educational saint

activities in their rooms. Parents and students free-rotated to the different activities together, and then parents offered trunk-or-treat in the parking lot.

November 5: LRE

November 9: Family First Reconciliation Workshop for 56 2nd grade LCS and LRE students and their parents. Sessions included 1) Reader’s Theater: A Story of Love and Forgiveness, presented by 2nd grade LRE catechist Jeremy Gdaniec; 2) DVD First Reconcililation, A Family Journey, presented by 2nd grade LRE catechist Erin Hollinger; 3) The Rite of Reconciliation, Procedures/Role Play/Tour Confessional, presented by Fr. Jason and 2nd grade LCS teacher Amy Paul; and 4) Examination of Conscience/New Creation Craft, presented by Jennifer Alongi, LCS principal; Kaitlin Carlin, 2nd grade LCS teacher; and Grace Lynch, Assumption High School student.

November 12: LRE

UPCOMING EVENTS: November 19: LRE November 26: No LRE – Thanksgiving break December 3: LRE – all classes will learn about the Liturgical Calendar and every student

will have a calendar for the new liturgical year to take home. December 7: First Reconciliation. December 10: LRE, Reconciliation for 3rd-6th grades.

Respectfully submitted,

Jennifer Lynch, Director of K-6 Religious Education

Public Relations/Marketing Subcommittee Meeting Update for the November 13, 2014 FFB Meeting

Thanks to Mrs. Lawrence for updating the website following the subcommittee’s analysis of needed updates. Mike helped facilitate a group of SAU Marketing students to work with the school on some marketing projects. They toured the school with Ms. Alongi a week or two ago and want to work to develop a plan to have preschool families enroll in kindergarten. Part of this might be surveying the current preschool families. They also want to work to update our dated brochure. Post the SAU student work, we need to think about our next steps. Possibilities include…

Ordering brochures to use for traditional marketing with preschool families, St. John Vianney and other sources.

Develop a strategy for outreach to preschool families, build upon the new parent event hosted by Home and School. This could inc

Use online marketing strategies, Ms. Alongi has one option through KWQC

Mike started research on writing a policy for social media usage for promotion of the school. This research led to us discovering that we need to think about a school wide policy, even a policy that pulls in Religion Education. Ms. Alongi will be speaking to the other principals to see what they are doing.

Athletic Report to FFB November 13th, 2014

Our current season: Girls Volleyball

We have one 6th grade team, coached by Margaret Moore. We have two 7th/8th grade teams, coached by Steve Weitz and Jim Kersten.

All of our teams have been off to a great start!

The end of the season tournament is Sunday, December 7th for all of the teams.

Our next season: Boys Basketball

We will be sending out an email tomorrow to all junior high families to determine interest in boys basketball and girls cheerleading. We need to have a final number of boys basketball teams that will represent Lourdes turned in to Doug Neubauer before Thanksgiving break.

Looking ahead to next school year: Certified Coaches

The Athletic Directors from the Catholic Schools have met twice with the principals from the Catholic Schools to discuss the pros and cons of having to have our coaches certified for next school year. At this time, we are considering keeping our system similar to what it is now, but by calling it a “church league” the coaches would not have to go through the certification process. Lee Morrison is looking into whether this would affect the accreditation of our schools if we do not offer sports through our school system.

Respectfully Submitted,Matt Trannel

Teacher Report to the Faith Formation BoardNovember 2014

Highlights in the building

Preschool Classrooms: We had S week this week with Silly Socks and Superheros! We continue to do the letter of the week and will also be celebrating Thanksgiving next week before conferences the following week. In December we will have a Christmas program with all Preschool classes!

Kindergarten Classrooms: The Kindergarten Classes recently started a FOSS (Full Option Science System) kit called Trees and Weather. The students are loving it and the teachers like the hands on activities, outdoor exploring and individual skills that are happening. Just this week the students also began practicing for their Christmas program!

1st Grades: Some of the reading skills we are teaching this week include:1. Critical reading of books: Obtaining clues to understand the setting, character analysis, and sequential details gathered from the pictures & text. 2. Work with pronouns. (which noun it replaces in sentences)3. Work with possessive nouns. (Mary's book)4. Work with suffixes. (ing, ed, s, es)5. Work with digraphs ( wh, th, sh, ch, ck, ph) Students will go home with a poem containing a particular digraph for Reader's Theater today. In Math, we will have the Chapter Test #4 on Wednesday. The next chapter focuses on using both addition & subtraction to expand their understanding of math concepts. We are beginning our unit on the voyage to America and incorporating activities that will help children to actually experience what it felt like to be a Pilgrim. This is a great unit with many hands-on activities. It will take us right up into Thanksgiving.

2nd Grades: In 2B (Carlin), we are reading George and Martha stories and are making our own George and Martha book. In 2A (Paul), we will be comparing two versions of Cinderella and then comparing and contrasting these stories with a Venn Diagram. Also, in Social Studies, we are going to be starting a chapter on landforms and the kids will be making a landform model. In Science, we will be making some fun stuff (flubber, popcorn, bread, etc) in the next couple weeks as we await our next FOSS kit, The Life Cycle of A Butterfly.

3rd Grades: We had our Wax Museum of Saints where each student learned about a special saint. We are working on the multiplication facts.

4th Grades: 4th grade attended the Children's Literature Festival. They are presenting their posters on National Parks in the Northeast Region. 4th graders are working on division in math. They will be beginning the study of the Ten Commandments in Religion.

5th Grades: 5A (Behnke) is working on a historical fiction novel, Number the Stars, plus informational text on the Holocaust. Students are learning how to pick out the main idea, key details, quoting accurately, sequencing events, and understanding word meaning just to name a few Iowa Core ELA standards. In math they are in the second of three chapters on decimals and they are looking forward to doing more learning through the Think Central site and math app on the iPads next week.ALSO, 5a and 5b are going to JABizTown on December16. Thank you to Home and School for making this possible!!!! We have been working hard to get ready and are really looking forward to the experience!!Terry C and Danielle B

Middle School:From Megan Rutledge—8th grade Religion: The students have been working on their Confirmation saint papers. We are also discussing the fourth, fifth and sixth commandments.

8th grade Spanish: 8th grade just finished the level one book and as a final review presented 2 minute skits to the class in Spanish on a chosen topic.

7th grade Spanish: The students are studying classroom vocabulary and learning how to conjugate the verb tener (to be). They are also studying the culture of Mexico.

6th grade Religion: The students are learning about the liturgical year and how we celebrate the different seasons.

6th grade Spanish: Students have been learning about a holiday called Day of the Dead and are working on a project to show what they have learned.

LOURDES HOME AND SCHOOL REPORT FOR FAITH FORMATION BOARD

NOVEMBER 2014

H & S Objective: fundraising, communication, administration/staff support, volunteerism, community development. Budget items:

SCRIP gross profit YTD is higher than last year at this time (will discuss at meeting).

Spiritwear profit YTD is $936 Book fair sold $3,400, within $20 of last year. SCRIP account balance is $34,220 H & S Account Balance is $15,630 H & S fundraising account balance is $30,331 We will be sending our first $5,000 donation to the church. This is usually done

in November, February and May.

Fundraising: Lourdes Starry Night, March 7th at Tanglewood Pavilion –

o Donation letters went out to parents and businesses. Total money from parent donations = $2925.

o January 12th – Information sent to parents and students o January 16th – School Kick off rally for the raffleso Silent auctions, raffles, wine pull, live auction

Administrative/Staff Support: Field Trip funds – Paid $746 total for transportation for the following field trips –

o Kindergarten & 1st grade- Pride of the Wapsio 2nd grade-Wapsi Educational Centero 4th & 5th grades – River Center for Literature Day

Community Development:1. Trunk or Treat summary – good turnout, brought in about $1700 for the DC

trip.2. 7th/8th graders completed their Premier Designs Jewelry sales for their trip.

Only 9 students sold with a total of $3026 in sales. 3. Looking into other fundraising options for the 7th & 8th graders. 4. St. Nick’s workshop – first week of December.