December SAC Minutes
No changes. M. Caito moved to approve, seconded by L. King, unanimous approval.

Budget Review 
The current budget status was reviewed. The expenditures for September through December are as follows:

Furniture $14,671.00
Education 6,903.00
Technology 0.00
TOTAL $21,574.00 

Maureen Mattia spent a few moments presenting a request for the Music Department. This department would like to have a new set of 3rd octave tone chimes purchased for use by the students in the tone chime choir at an expense of $600. This would allow additional 6th grade students to be in the choir and for a 5th grade choir to be started. Based upon the information provided by M. Mattia, SAC has determined that if the Hockey Game/Silent Auction raises $2500 or more, the request will be approved.

There were no other requests for funding to be reviewed.

The budget expense/outlook report will be finalized by L. King and Sr. Christina Marie. This report will be distributed on a quarterly basis. The initial report will be distributed before Catholic Schools Week.

Committee Reports

• Principal’s Report 
  Sr. Christina Marie spent a few minutes talking about Catholic Schools Week and some of the planned activities for that week. There will be a Distinguished Alumni Award presented to two alumni, Mark Bezek and Skelly Jaffrey. This presentation will occur on Tuesday, January 29.
  
  A Diocesan survey will be sent to all K-2 parents regarding the new report cards. The Diocese has received many comments/complaints concerning this new report card and would like to have additional input from the parents.
  
  An application will be processed for an Arts Council grant. Any funds received from this grant will be utilized for the fine arts programs of our school.
  
  The Diocese has announced that 7th and 8th grades will be removed from the west side schools effective with next school year.
  
  Sr. Christina Marie also mentioned that she would be implementing a Principal’s Council. This council will be comprised of student representatives from each classroom. The student representatives will be chosen by their classmates and will represent the class for the school year. These meetings will allow for communication between the principal and the student body.
• Development – M. Malone did not attend. G. Hebert to follow up with M. Malone.
• Enrichment – S. Accorso was not able to attend but did provide a report. The Chess, Soccer and Youth Exercise clubs all started this week. All have been received positively and a lot of happy faces were seen on the students who participated. 
  The Drama club will be coordinated by Mrs. Triplett and will available to 5th and 6th grade students. More information will be available soon.
• Fundraising – The Hockey Game/Silent Auction fundraiser is coming up soon. K. Keenahan is working hard on this initiative. There should be no expenses as there have been many donations. All ticket sales and auction items will provide money.
  The glove sale was very profitable. The wreath sale was very good, however J. Magee suggested cutting back the order to 200 wreaths. Sr. Christina Marie will pick a charity to tithe the 10% to charity. M. Marconi moved to approve, H. Wager seconded, all approved.
• Public Relations – The St. Joseph School web site (sjspenfield.com) is currently under development and is hoped to be available before Catholic Schools Week. This is joint effort of the Public Relations and Technology Committees. 
  Any pictures or updated committee descriptions should be directed to Dane Overfield for inclusion. The web site emails will include Principal, SAC, Webadmin and SJExpress. The cost for our own web site is approximately $50/year.
  The Prospective Parent Handbook is currently being reviewed for changes and edits. It will be printed soon and given out during the Parent Tours during Catholic Schools Week. If you have any changes, please provide them to P. Moynihan as soon as possible.
• Special Events – Planning for the Ice Cream Social is underway. Perry’s will be providing ice cream and Wegman’s has donated a $50 gift card. This committee is also beginning to plan the Winter Carnival.
• Welcoming – Catholic Schools Week will be a very busy. This committee is coordinating the Parent Tours and Open House.
• Technology –The network server has not been brought online due to suggestions of the Diocese regarding a standard software configuration that would require additional software expense. Additional headphone sets are needed for each classroom.

Other topics/discussion
Since the last meeting, there were two instances where decisions needed to be made before this meeting. The first involved a SAC membership renewal for the National Catholic Educational Association. Since St. Joseph School already belongs, it was unanimously approved to not renew this membership.

The new school web site address was approved 7-1 as http://www.sjspenfield.org and to register http://www.sjspenfield.com.

Security Update – G. Hebert will touch base with Brian Waldmiller to determine status of security issues. M. Antetomaso will be coordinating the ID badges.

School Photographer – Sr. Christina Marie has chosen a new vendor, Life Touch, for next year’s school pictures. This vendor will be able to provide value-added premiums for the school as well as high quality photos.

SAC By-laws – No additional information has been received from the Diocese. 

Communication – School newsletters will be sent to the other parishes where our students attend church.

A family survey will be put together by G. Hebert and M. Antetomaso for use before the end of school. This survey will gather information from our families that will aid in planning for next year.

Sr. Christina Marie will be publishing a school report card for distribution to our parents. This report card will provide information on academics and testing results.

Uniforms – Sr. Christina Marie will be providing to parents the name of an additional company that can be used for school uniforms. Information regarding a gym uniform for next year will be given out to parents as soon as possible.

School Concerts – The possibility to include all students in the school concerts was discussed. Many students miss participation because the grades which are selected change each year. At issue is a facility to accommodate all the families and is easily accessible for practice. Using Penfield High School and the church were discussed.

Adjournment – M. Antetomaso moved with M. Caito seconded a motion for adjournment. All approved.