St. Luke Catholic School at 1290 Nachreiner Avenue, Plain, WI 53577 US - Joint School Task Force Report

 

            After meeting several times over the course of 10 months since 2 Oct 2007 and after many hours of thoughtful discussion, the Joint School Task Force (JSTF) recommends to the Pastoral Councils of St. Luke and St. John the Evangelist the following:

 

a.       This recommendation is to essentially maintain status quo

b.      The JSTF believes this to be not only a viable option but also the best option for the schools of St. Luke and St. John the Evangelist

c.       The assessed viability of this option is based upon pursuing the subsequent recommendations

d.      Joining the schools may further reduce enrollment

a.       The schools have been doing this for years

b.      As time goes on, other opportunities to share resources may present themselves to include staffing, curriculum materials, etc.

a.       Increasing enrollment has been a long standing goal for the schools

b.      It is believed that a well trained and motivated recruiting committee could have a significantly positive effect on enrollment

a.       The hope of this recommendation is that if a 4 year old Kindergarten program were offered then maybe the parents would keep their children enrolled in later years

b.      Since the district doesn’t offer this program, the schools don’t expect to receive any assistance from the district

                                      i.      Therefore this option may not be viable and that’s why the recommendation is to look into this option further

a.       This recommendation came from identifying a need of some parents to have their children cared for after school

b.      At first this option was dismissed as it was presented as a source of revenue

c.       There was discussion as to whether parents would pay to have their children cared for in an after school program

d.      Then in further discussion it was determined that an after school program could become a useful recruiting tool

a.       Late in the effort to study the schools, it was discovered that in all the recent joint activities between the two churches that the Finance Commissions hadn’t had any dialog comparing the budget line items for the schools nor discussion on fund raising endeavors

b.      Although this dialog wouldn’t have an immediate impact on how the two schools operate, this dialog could present new options that haven’t been considered yet

a.       As the parishes continue the merger process, it is understood that there are various factors that could change for the schools, for example financial situation and enrollment

b.      At some point in time there may need to be more aggressive steps taken to keep the schools open

c.       By reviewing the schools on a regular basis, it is hoped that the schools could proactively cope with any future challenges

 

 

The formation of the JSTF was a recommendation from the Guided By the Spirit Core Team during the planning effort beginning in October of 2006 and ending in May of 2007. One of the four main areas that the Core Team was directed to evaluate was Formation and Education. The Core Team realized that if there was a merger of the Parishes of Cluster #230* then there may be a need to take a closer look at the schools of St. Luke and St. John the Evangelist than what the Guided By the Spirit planning timeline would allow. Of primary concern was the financial status of the schools if the parish revenue were to decrease due to the merger. The recommendation of the Core Team in their final suggestion to the Diocese of Madison was “… a separate commission will be formed to continue to evaluate the Catholic schools of St. John the Evangelist and St. Luke and will present a recommendation within one year regarding the direction of the schools.”

 

            A 16 person JSTF was formed from the parishes of St. Luke and St. John the Evangelist. Based on advice from Sr. Mary Montgomery**, this Task Force was formed with the aim of creating a balanced representation to include: both school principals, school parents, former school parents, a public school parent, as well as the Pastoral Associate for both parishes and Fr. Mike. Some of the criteria used to select these people were a willingness to work together but also a willingness to share thoughts and opinions. The members of the JSTF are: Janeen Anderson, Karen Buchanan, Kathy

           

 

 

Dwyer, Cindy Haag, Lori Hoffman, Dawn Jewell, Andrea Kinney, Jill Liegel, Jim Liegel, David Mack, Karen Marklein, Dan Pape, Fr. Mike Resop, Ray Ring, Sr. Lynne Marie Simonich and Dave Wade.

 

 

            At the very first JSTF meeting, Fr. Mike laid out the nature, purpose, structure, and functions of the JSTF. This guidance was forged from several conversations with Sr. Mary Montgomery and other advisors. What follows is that guidance in its entirety.

 

Nature: The JSTF is a representative group made up of individuals from St. John the Evangelist and St. Luke Parishes.

 

Purpose: to make a proposal and/or recommendation with rationale about the future of Catholic education to the Pastoral councils.

 

Structure: There is to be a Chairperson, Co-Chair and Secretary. (Jim Liegel was elected as the Chairperson, Andrea Kinney was elected as the Co-Chair, and David Mack was elected as the Secretary)

 

Functions: To set priorities, establish a time-line, gather information, and set goals. To initiate ongoing communication among the communities and the councils. Prepare and present proposal(s) to councils for decision(s).

 

 

            The first step the JSTF took was to break up into four teams and take a detailed look at the Finances and Building and Grounds of the two parishes. The team members consisted of:

 

            Lori Hoffman, Janeen Anderson, and David Wade looked at the Finances of St. John the Evangelist.

 

Karen Buchanan, Dawn Jewell, and Ray Ring looked at the Finances of St. Luke.

 

Jim Liegel and Dan Pape looked at the Building and Grounds of St. Luke.

 

Andrea Kinney, Jill Liegel, and David Mack looked at the Building and Grounds of St. John the Evangelist.

 

The details of these studies are included in appendices A through D. Below is a summary of what the results of these studies were:

Finance report:

Both schools are in solid financial positions and are operating very lean. The main expense for the schools is the expense of salaries (approximately 86% of the budgets). There doesn’t appear to be many expenses that could be cut.

 

            Building and Grounds report:

The school facilities at both St Luke’s and St John’s schools are in good condition. There are no large, looming repair or maintenance projects in the foreseeable future. Both schools have continued to improve their facilities over the years. A Space Usage Study was also conducted on both the schools and is included in Appendix E of this report.

 

 

The JSTF established its “goals and objectives” beginning with a brainstorming session as the members created a list of more than twenty “goals and objectives”. Then the JSTF spent a few moments and consolidated items on the list of “goals and objectives” and narrowed the list down to seventeen items. The idea being that these “goals and objectives” would be the basis for the final recommendation to the Joint Pastoral Council.

 

Once the list was set, then each member voted for five “goals and objectives”.

The number one vote was worth 5 points and the number five vote was worth 1 point.

The results of this vote are shown below. The JSTF then further developed the top five scoring “goals and objectives” (shown in bold).

 

The results of the “goals and objectives” vote are as follows:

 

 

 

3.   Country School-type classes to increase student/teacher ratio to decrease costs (5 points)

 

 

5.   Make Catholic education a great value – lower tuition and still be viable (13 points)

 

6.   Close both schools and build a new school on Rolling Ridge (8 points)

 

 

8. Purchase a bus (1 point)

 

9. Get to 1/3 {tuition}, 1/3 {church}, 1/3 {endowment fund} ratio for budgeted income (5 points)

 

10. Offer grades 9-12 (8 points)

 

11. Support idea of total Catholic education regardless of location (7 points)

 

12. Retain the enrollment numbers we have (1 point)

 

13. Keep tuition the same (3 points)

 

 

15. Prepare parish for increase of support to keep the schools open (6 points)

 

16. Envelopes for school funds (0 points)

 

17. Close both schools but do a total Catholic education program (3 points)

 

            Ultimately, the Joint School Task Force determined the final goal was to keep both schools open finding ways to share resources.

 

 

            The Joint School Task Force compiled a list of strategies that could help achieve the goal of continuing to operate both schools. Twenty-six strategies were brainstormed but the JSTF decided to pursue a few of these strategies. These few strategies were developed into recommendations and are listed in the Executive Summary of this report.

 

 

            As the Joint School Task Force was finalizing the discussions on the “strategies”, it was decided to invite representatives from the Finance Commissions of both parishes to meet with the JSTF.

 

            The discussion at this meeting was very productive with many ideas exchanged. Both the Joint School Task Force and the representatives from the Finance Commissions asked many questions and shared opinions and information.

 

            One additional strategy was developed at that meeting. The JSTF suggested that the Finance Commissions should consider pursing dialog to compare budget line items and fund raising.

 

 

            After 10 months of discussion and researching, the Joint School Task Force was able to reach consensus for the recommendations listed in the Executive Summary of this report. The uncertainty of the future financial position of the parishes after the merger was too much of an unknown to take any radical steps. If in the future the schools begin to suffer financial hardships, there are some measures the School Principals and the Education Commissions can take at each individual school to remain financially viable in the short-term.

 

As the parishes continue the merger process, it is understood that there are various factors that could change for the schools, for example financial situation and enrollment. At that time if another study of the schools is deemed necessary, the Trusting in the Spirit Implementation Team can request another Joint School Task Force be formed.