GOOD NEWS letter from the St. Anthony de Padua Catholic School Advisory Board

Dear Panther Families!

As your St. Anthony de Padua Catholic School Advisory Board, we have been honored to serve you and your family by assisting our school Principal and parish Pastor in developing pathways to bring our children and school community closer - to one another, academic excellence, and our Catholic faith.    

To unite and guide our efforts, following diocesan policy, we created a five-year strategic plan which is now in its second year of implementation.  Our efforts began with an in-depth review of the results from a parish and school community survey focusing on the strengths and needed improvements of our school.  To supplement these results, a separate parent engagement survey was also conducted to further assess the level of connection families felt to their children’s education and the school’s mission.  Using these survey results a 30-page document was created which details the activities needed to foster the growth of our school as a center of academic excellence and spiritual nourishment.

We rely on the parish and school mission and vision statements to guide our work so that our strategic plan demonstrates our commitment to 1.) fostering a faith-based culture of learning through community involvement and support, 2.) curriculum and school improvement, 3.) strengthening our Catholic identity, 4.) sustaining positive financial development, 5.) increasing overall enrollment through effective marketing and purposeful staff development, 6.) preparing our students through the effective use of technology as well as 7.) facility and capital improvements.

The work in each of these seven areas is carried out by committees made up of volunteers and chaired by a board member.  For example, we have accomplished several school safety initiatives this school year. The faculty and staff are now equipped with hand held radio devices for daily communication and emergency response.  Also, the school playground has received funding for additional fencing. In January, new morning drop-off procedures started to ensure the school day begins efficiently and safely.  And, a new fire panel and alarm system was installed in the school this year. We continue to work on more safety procedures as we plan for the 2019-2020 school year.  Additionally, the school advisory board sponsored the community-wide Trunk or Treat, where we invited many local families who do not attend our church or school. We developed a professional school brochure that is used to communicate many of the wonderful attributes of our school to potential families, copies are available from the office and can be found on our school website in the Potential Family section.  The marketing committee will also be making St. Anthony yard signs available this year. The committees welcome additional volunteers and expertise throughout the year. A more detailed overview of our plan can be found here.

As we consider the close of the academic year, we also are preparing for continued strong work and so, we pray that you will consider volunteering your leadership and talent by supporting our efforts either as a voting board member or as a committee member.  Solicitation for new board members who will commit to a three-year term and will help drive future improvement can be found here.

We invite you to reach out to us with questions and ideas by sending an email to the St. Anthony de Padua School Advisory Board at: staschoolboard@gmail.com or by visiting our page on the parish website:

https://www.school.stasb.org/schoolboard

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
The St. Anthony de Padua School Advisory Board
 

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Strategic Plan Overview

School Board Interest Form