SAC - Meeting Minutes

St. Joseph School
School Advisory Committee (SAC)
Meeting Minutes

November 12, 2003

Committee Members
Sr. Christina Marie Luczynski, Principal

George Hebert, Chair	Mike Malone, Chair Development
Laurie Donofrio, Vice Chair	Carolann Manno, Chair Welcoming
Peggy Knauf, Secretary	Dane Overfield, Chair Technology
Lisa King, Treasurer	Elizabeth Sabik, Chair Enrichment
Jennifer Caccavale, Chair Special Events	Debbie Waidl, PreK - Member-at-Large
Kelley Callahan, Chair Fundraising	Open, PreK - Member-at-Large
Donna Dedee Doyle, Chair Public Relations

Attendees: Sr. Christina Marie, G. Hebert, L. Donofrio, P. Knauf, L. King, J. Caccavale, K. Callahan, D. Dedee Doyle, M. Malone, D. Overfield, E. Sabik, D. Waidl, K. Lechner

The meeting was called to order. Sr. Christina opened with a prayer.

October SAC Minutes – No changes. J. Caccavale moved to approve; seconded by D. Overfield; unanimous approval.

Committee Reports

Principal’s Report – NYS Social Studies testing will be held November 19 and 20. Parent/Teacher conferences will be held November 20 and 21. The Christmas Play will be held December 18. Children from grades 5 and 6, Kindergarten, tone chime and band will be involved.

The standardized test results (CTB McGraw-Hill Basic Battery and In View) have been received. Results will be distributed as soon as they have been analyzed. St. Joseph School and St. Pius X School have been chosen to be training sites for new software that is available to interpret these standardized test results.

Mrs. Wang has informed Sr. Christina that due to family commitments, she will be unable to continue training cantors and teaching tone chimes after the first of the year. Mrs. Wang volunteered in this capacity. We would like to thank her for all the time that she has invested and all that she has accomplished. Sr. Christina will attempt to fill this opening.

The NYS Legislature has funded the Mandated Services Aid program which provides reimbursement on an annual basis to private and parochial schools for the expenses incurred in complying with several state mandates. Thank you to all who took time to email or write Governor Pataki and/or their legislative representative urging them to take this action.

Sr. Christina emphasized that any parent/guardian who has a concern about anything that has occurred in their child’s classroom should address their concerns directly to her.

Development – M. Malone outlined the Development Committee goals for the coming year. These include a presence at the Open House during Catholic Schools Week, transferring the current alumni database from Excel into Access, and coordinating a yearend alumni event to be determined at a later date.

Enrichment – Overall, the extracurricular activities have been well received. G. Hebert led a discussion surrounding the challenges and related potential solutions for these challenges for teacher/parent led extracurricular activities. In the future, some type of “club booklet” will be developed showcasing all activities to be offered during a particular semester. The booklet would be available prior to registration. This will allow parents and participants to make better informed decisions during registration and will allow for the elimination of refunds (except in extreme circumstances). Registration deadlines will be strictly adhered to in order to allow the activity facilitator adequate time to prepare supplies. Activity facilitators must submit receipts to be reimbursed in a timely manner.

Fundraising – Silent Auction/Hockey Game will be held on March 6 at Webster Ice Arena. Volunteers will be contacted before Thanksgiving. K. Callahan anticipates having an initial meeting with volunteers in the near future.

Public Relations – Items of interest continue to be submitted to local media. Room mothers/teachers should feel free to contact the committee regarding events that might be of interest to the larger community.

Special Events – The Halloween dance has generated positive comments. Planning for the Winter Carnival will begin in early January.

Technology – Five new computers were installed in the computer lab replacing four older machines. The four older machines were cascaded: two to the library and two to classrooms.

Lego Robotics has been installed for use by Mrs. Doyle and Project Discovery. Thank you to Jim Pratt for heading up this effort and also to the other committee members who put in many extra hours getting the program up and running.

Technology Night will be held in conjunction with the Open House during Catholic Schools Week.

The image of the school Server machine is now being maintained. Nightly backups are performed on files for all users. The maximum data loss due to a complete server failure is now limited to one day. There are plans to install a network printer downstairs in the supply closet. There is currently no network drop in this room. There are additional plans to install two business-class color printers for classroom usage. One would be installed in the Religious Education room next to the existing laser printer, the other would be installed downstairs in the supply closet.

Welcoming – No report.