On May 30, about 90 people gathered to learn about future plans for the St. Mary Parish School. Current school parents, incoming families, alumni families, and parishioners, were among those who attended the Strategic Plan Town Hall meeting as Principal Linda Joyner, Msg. Ross Shecterle, and Dr. Jackie Lichter, a senior consultant from Meitler — the faith-based firm that facilitated the development of the plan — presented the roadmap that was developed over almost a year of research gathering and meetings.
“The plan is aligned to the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools” and the standards contained in the four domains of Mission and Catholic Identity, Governance and Leadership, Academic Excellence, and Operational Vitality,” Joyner explained.
The plan also includes the key areas of school life with the domains: the educational mission of St. Mary Parish School, its Catholic identity, enrollment management, educational programs and academic excellence, staffing, development, facilities, governance and leadership, and finances.
“The overall objective of the planning process was to develop a growth plan for St. Mary Parish School that is mission-driven, visionary, long-range, comprehensive, achievable, and integrated,” Lichter said.
During the Town Hall meeting, Joyner and Lichter presented a high-level overview of the plan, highlighting some of the goals that were identified based on the quantitative and qualitative data collected throughout the process. This data collection included surveys were sent to school families, faculty and religious education families as part of the information gathering process. Additionally, Focus groups were held with current parents, parents of children 0-3 not yet enrolled in the school from the parish, 7th and 8th grade students and Home and School Committee representatives Key to the development of the strategic plan was the Strategic Planning Committee, which included members representing parents, pastoral council, faculty, and the school committee.
Highlights of the meeting included the announcement of a nearly $567,000 gift from the Bill Dondlinger Estate to the St. Mary Parish School Endowment Fund and the purchase of recreational equipment of the St. Mary Parish School grounds using a portion of the funds raised from the Love One Another Capital Campaign that was above and beyond the goal.
Following the presentation, attendees met in small groups to discuss what aspects of the plan made them hopeful, and list question they had. They then shared the key takeaways from these small group conversations with everyone in the large group setting. Listed among the aspects of the presentation that made attendees hopeful were: the fact that there was an opportunity to talk about the plan in a public forum, the announcement of the endowment gift, and that administrators are engaging in long-term thinking. Questions and concerns included: plan follow-through and accountability, parent-volunteer engagement, and one specific item listed as a goal under Mission and Catholic Identity, which was “explore the option of changing the name of the school to better serve and included all families in the region seeking Catholic Education.”
“The key word is ‘explore,'” Lichter said during the presentation.
After several attendees continued to reference the idea as a concern, Msgr. Shecterle provided additional clarification and context.
“Just to alleviate fears with regard to the name change… it came up at a meeting and people were brainstorming and then it sort of took on some legs,” Msgr. said. “But really for something like that to happen, it would have to be approved by the Archbishop. That’s not just something we can wake up one morning and make that decision. It’s something that everybody would have to be on board. So, the idea took on some legs; it’s a creative idea but in the greater scheme of things it’s probably a long range consideration to even make it a consideration. But it’s not just something that we can unilaterally decide moving forward. So, everybody take a deep breath.”
The evening concluded with an invitation to sign up and be a part of the strategic plan implementation. Please contact the school office to indicate your interest and availability. A copy of the Power Point is available here.