What's New? Home Calendar  Classrooms SAC Search 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

February 11, 2004

  

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

February 11, 2004

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

Beth 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, L. Donofrio, P. Knauf, L. King, J. Caccavale, K. Callahan, D. Overfield, B. Sabik, D. Waidl, J. Teich, T. Cirrincione

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

January SAC Minutes – No changes.  B. Sabik moved to approve; seconded by J. Caccavale; unanimous approval.

Budget Review – The current year budget was reviewed.  No significant issues were noted.  J. Caccavale has requested SAC funding to cover the costs of renting incubators and obtaining fertilized chicken eggs for the kindergarten classes.  The approximate cost will be $200.  This expense was unanimously approved.

Committee Reports

Principal’s Report – Catholic Schools Week continues this week.  The teachers enjoyed the luncheon provided by SAC.  Open House is Thursday night.  A storyteller will be here Friday to entertain the children.

For Lenten reflection, the children will be asked to recognize that many children are not as fortunate as they are.  As a practical reminder of this, on Monday, March 15, the children will attend a “quiet lunch” in the gym.  They will receive vegetable soup, bread and milk/water, and be asked to think about the children who do not have an abundance of food.  This program has been successfully done at St. Ambrose.  All children will be encouraged to try the soup, although a simple sandwich may be sent in for those who may not like the soup.  Volunteers will be needed to set up tables in the gym the Sunday evening before.

D.E.A.R. will kick-off on Friday, February 27.  The theme this year is “Bring a Book to the Beach!”.

Development – The Ronald McDonald House is looking for room sponsors for the new facility that they are building.  Room sponsors are listed on a plaque in/near the rooms.  Sr. Christina plans to approach Sr. Elizabeth Meegan regarding the Catholic schools, as a group, sponsoring a room.  The starting point for sponsorship is $5,000.  The monies would be raised through some type of joint fundraiser to be determined together with Sr. Meegan.

Enrichment – The after school activities are going well.  Sign Language and Scrap Booking are still accepting participants.  The Activity Brochure has received positive feedback.  Reminders will be sent to parents prior to the activity start date.  Next year, all applications will be made due on the same date to make the registration process more efficient.

Fundraising – Silent Auction/Hockey Game will be held on March 6 at Webster Ice Arena.  Tickets can be obtained ($5/each or $20/family) by contacting the school office or K. Callahan.  Auction items are being solicited currently.  Anyone wishing to donate an item should contact Kelley Callahan or Mary Jo Lorenzo.

Public Relations – The possibility of having a parent act as Parish/School liaison was discussed as a way to keep Fr. Kevin and the parish community up-to-date with school news and events.  Sr. Christina indicated that she meets with Fr. Kevin every other week, the Wednesday newsletter is sent weekly to the Malley Building and that effort is made to keep Fr. Kevin informed of and invited to various school events.  The school is allotted designated space in the church bulletin.  We will begin making more regular use of this space to keep the parish community up-to-date on school activities and news.

Special Events – Ice Cream Social was held Monday, February 9.  Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make the event a success – the children really enjoyed the ice cream.  The Winter Carnival will be held on Friday, March 26.  Planning will begin after winter break.

Technology – SAC welcomes Marc Atkinson to the position of Technology Committee co-chair.

Eight new PCs and monitors have been configured for the school network.  (These are the black machines in the computer lab.)  The replaced machines will be used to replace the older classroom machines.

Technology Night will be held in conjunction with the Open House during Catholic Schools Week.  A small number of vendors will be present outside the computer lab.  Lego Robotics will be displayed in the computer lab.  J. Pratt is working with several Project Discovery students on projects for the event.

M. Caito has added a Forms section to the website.  Both School Forms (medication, school supplies, gym uniform order forms, etc.) and Parish Forms (bulletin announcements and room requests) are available to be downloaded and printed.

Welcoming – Prospective family tours went well this morning – approximately 15 parents were given tours.  Thank you to all the volunteers who were available to help.

Other Topics/Discussion

Extension of School Day/Penfield School District Transportation Issues – As the extension of the school day continues to be explored and evaluated, Mr. Thomas Cirrincione of the Penfield School District (PSD) Transportation Office was invited to share information regarding the logistics of extending the end of the school day on the transportation of Penfield students.

Currently, St. Joseph students residing in the PSD are transported on four buses dedicated for that sole purpose.  This is possible because the current SJS school day parallels that of Penfield High School (PHS)and the PHS students do not require the use of all the buses to transport them to and from school.

PSD public middle schools dismiss at approximately 2:40 pm and elementary schools dismiss at approximately 3:30 pm.  Transportation of these children  require the use of all available PSD buses.

Because all available buses are used in transporting home PSD middle and elementary school children, extending our school day would involve coinciding our dismissal time with that of the PSD middle or elementary schools.  The SJS students would then be able to share buses with either of these groups of public school students.

Mr. Cirrincione suggested the easiest scenario for the transportation department would be for the St. Joseph school day to parallel the Penfield public elementary school day (9:00 – 3:30).  The SJS Penfield students would then be able to shuttle to Cobbles, Harris Hill or Bay Trail where they would transfer to neighborhood buses.  Mr. Cirrincione emphasized these transfers are done in a supervised manner on a traffic-restricted circular driveway.  The ability for the SJS students to ride neighborhood buses would also, in most cases, reduce the bus ride time for the SJS Penfield students.

The transportation office begins setting the routes for September of the next school year toward the end of April of the current year.  Discussion and questions ensued.  No conclusions were drawn at this time.  It was emphasized that logistics would have to be further explored and determined for each school district transporting children to SJS.

Safety – In light of recent events in Florida and the abduction of Carley Brucia, we discussed the need to reinforce safe behavior with the children.  Concern was expressed in having a general assembly, as some children have been bothered by seeing repeated clips of the abduction and knowing the outcome.  An alternative may be to remind and/or educate interested parents who can then remind their children in a manner best suited for them.  Sr. Christina knows of one program available through the Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  J. Caccavale will explore possibilities.

2003-04 SAC Meetings – SAC would like to emphasize that ALL MEETINGS ARE OPEN to any parent/guardian who wishes to attend.  Prior notification of attendance is NOT necessary and participation in any discussions is encouraged.  The next scheduled meeting is Wednesday, March 10, 2004 at 7:00 pm.  Meetings are generally held in either Meeting Room 1 or the school library depending on room availability.

Adjournment – L. King moved for adjournment; J. Caccavale seconded.  All approved.