St. Christopher School

St. Christopher School

Advisory Board Meeting

October 11, 2011

Members Present: Cindy Clarke, principal, Mary Carr, chair, Carol Laplante, Ken Lawson, Mary Jane King, Mike Eckmann, Mark Roy, Nick Dahl, Jack Richman, Mark Sheehy, Paula MacLellan, Linda Imhof, Marta Nissen, Director of Development

Members Absent: Fred Daniels, Father Richard Kelley

We began the meeting with the opening prayer.

Linda Imhof is the new Board Secretary.

Finance Committee:

Financials show the school continues to operate in the black. Unknowns continue to be, cost of heating and healthcare.  Monies received from Freedom for Fundraising are close to budgeted amount for year.  Fall fundraiser is expected to be over budget this year.

Principal’s Report:

Current enrollment is at 324.  There is still a “good feeling in the air” at the school.  Teacher pages are updated for October and are more comprehensive than in the past.  Mrs. Clarke’s focus is on curriculum and making sure that textbooks and materials are kept up to date. Cindy and other teachers will attend an Eno board lesson plan workshop.  Those attending will bring back and present information learned to faculty/staff who did not attend. Mrs. Clarke has invited a Technology specialist from the Nashua School District to provide some additional training on the use of the Eno board for the early release day.

Space Constraints:

Discussion postponed until November.

Facilities:

Goal is to understand plan for the future by understanding the cost potential of projects. Eight items currently on “to look at list”: snow removal (Mrs. Clarke stated that a contract was already signed), mats for playground, update telephone system, roof, bathrooms, windows, parking lot and stair lift.  Due to the high cost of shipping playground mats, it was decided we would wait to purchase until someone is able to go to Maine to pick up the mats.  We will hold off on obtaining bids for the windows.  Bids are still being obtained for all other items.

St Christopher School has an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) unit.  Gloria Sheehan performs battery check on a regular basis.

Fundraising:

Fall fundraiser exceeded expectations.   More than 2,200 tickets were sold.

Annual drive will have the same format at last year, letters to go out next month.

Genevieve’s is currently out and is due back this Friday. Our school receives 50% of the profit from Genevieve sales.

Technology Committee:

Issues relating to infrastructure challenges – email, servers, firewalls, etc. – should be easy and inexpensive to solve.  Committee is focusing on what we have and improving it.  Cindy is in the process of surveying teachers about how and when Eno boards are used and what teachers might need in order to use the boards more efficiently.  Technology committee will meet again in October.

Marketing Committee:

Contract has been signed with Cinemagic.  The school will have a 15 second advertisement to be aired in the theater during November, December, January and February.  A new school information booklet for prospective families has been finalized.  An article on the three Nashua Catholic Schools will appear in the next issue of Parable Magazine.  The three Nashua Catholic Schools are creating a coffee table book to present to the new Bishop.  The book will have over 900 signatures including those of all students at St Christopher.   Research to be done with regard to creating a Twitter account for the school.

Next meeting: Our next meeting is Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 8:00am.  Finance Committee meets at 7:30am.