December 7, 2016, 4:00 pm

  • 1December 7, 2016, 4:00 pm

    Place: St. Patrick’s Co-Cathedral Conference Room

    Present:

    Ken Frazier, Chair

    Reverend Steve Zabrocki, Parish Representative

    Leo O’Brien

    Bucky Heringer

    Mary Susan Fishbaugh

    Ashley Harada

    Brian McGovern

    Brittney Souza

    J. Miller

    Bob Cerkovnik

    Shaun Harrington, BCS President

    Superintendent Tim Uhl

    Jan Haider, Foundation President

    Kaitlin Overton, Finance Officer

    Kathy Harris, Marketing Dir./Enrollment Mgr.

    Shel Hanser, Principal BCCHS

    Deb Hayes, Principal SFP

    Opening

    Prayer: Leo

    Approval of Minutes:

    Vote: Bob made a motion to approve the minutes from November 16, 2016.  Brian seconded the motion.  Motion carried unanimously.

    Foundation Update:

    Annual Fund and Year End funds are coming in.  The Foundation is working on a loan document with the Diocese and a gift document is being written up for a donor.  Monday the photos were taken for the billboards that were donated by the Newbury’s and they will be up by February.

    Business Committee Report:

    The Business Committee hand an organizational meeting and received an update on the Tuition, Technology and facilities task forces.  The iPad task force recommends keeping the iPad purchasing process the way it is until the new school is in operation for a year.  There are too many unknown factors with the new school concerning enrollment and the budget.

    It will take approximately $10,000 to maintain the current iPads and $100,000 for the lease program.  The oldest iPads are 3 years old and there are a few that may have to be replaced.  Most of them should hold for another year and they are still being supported by Apple.  The Tuition Task Force will meet December 15th.

    Project management is attempting to schedule available funds.  Dorothy Porter money has funded a large number of projects.  The plan is to get together with the original task force and hope they will continue to participate with the task force.

    Marketing / Enrollment Report:

    There is a site online called Niche that is used for surveys on schools.  There is very little about BCS on it and the foreign student placement agencies mainly use this site to review schools.  Disgruntled comments cannot be removed but the company can be contacted to remove false information.

    Work is being done on the registration form.  Registration will open January 18th.  In the past, parents were not able to go back into the registration site once it was submitted, with the new method adjustments can be made at a later time.

    Kaitlin and Kathy are working on the projected enrollment for the new school. Surveys are going out to Pre-kindergarten families that did not enter the main system, those that registered and did not start, and those that left the system.

    Representatives of the ACE Foundation will be touring the new building, SFU and Central on December 9th followed by a luncheon with student who received ACE Scholarships.  Billings Catholic Schools is the largest recipient of ACE Scholarships in the state.

    The BCS Christmas concerts are on the 11th and will start at 1:00 pm with the high school Cantata starting at 7:00 pm.

    High School Information:

    • Notre Dame: Kathy Harris assisted in writing a grant through the University of Notre Dame grant that usually selects 3 teachers from a school to participate in a Science & Religion Symposium.  Because of the goals of the BCCHS Grant, BCCHS will be allowed to send all 5 teachers that want to participate in the symposium.  The only expense to BCCHS will be the airfare for the teachers.  They will report on their experiences when they return.
    • QuestBridge Scholarship: Sophia Mascarena received a QuestBridge scholarship to Duke University.  QuestBridge is a full ride scholarship program with a value of approximately $250,000 to “Ivy League” colleges and universities.  The scholarship includes tuition, room and board, a travel component, and many other benefits. There is no cost to the student.  The story will be on Q-2 news tonight at 5:30 pm and 10:30 pm.  The information has been forwarded to other news sources.
    • Elevator Proposal: A breakdown of the costs for an elevator at the high school was presented to the Board.  The expense would be around $400,000.  St. Francis School will be ADA compliant and will be able to accommodate the students with physical disabilities.  Without an elevator, the high school could not accept students that needed assistance to move from one floor to the other.

    President’s Report:

    • Staff Meetings: Shaun has been meeting with the staff to provide them with correct and timely information concerning the new St. Francis school.  There are 3 dates set to meet with parents; January, 10th, 11th, and 12th and they will meet at each of the buildings.  Meetings will continue throughout the next few months to keep stakeholders updated and answer any questions they may have.
    • Technology: BCS may be able to move forward with the hiring process soon.  Shaun spoke to the representative from Cisco and she looked at all of the equipment on site.  Shaun was put in touch with a man with a “doctorate in networking”.  Shaun would like to have more than 1 opinion of what needs to be handled in the future.
    • Education Committee Meeting: The Education Committee discussed the direction BCS is headed and the assessment scores.  Two CEEDAR Grant representatives, Jeremiah Gee and Rachel Waller, spoke to the group concerning the benefits of the partnership between BCS and MSU-Billings.  The next step will be for MSU-Billings to present a preliminary proposal.
    • BCS Road Show:  Shaun spoke to the Heights Business Optimists at Montana Jack’s.  They were very receptive and their perception of BCS was positive.  The group provided Shaun with other Optimist clubs for speaking engagements.
    • Floor Logo for New Building:  One of the BCS vendors, Bing Ellington, who is doing the work on the cement floors, is donating the St. Francis logo into the floor by the gym.
    • ACE Visit: Jake Penwell who represents ACE Scholarships, will be visiting the BCS system with several donors.  They will meet with students that have benefited from the ACE Scholarship program.  The group will tour the new building, visit SFU, and will finish with a quick tour and lunch at BCCHS.
    • Teacher Placement Surveys:  The teacher placement surveys have been distributed.  Tomorrow the surveys will be reviewed by the principals.  The principal meetings on Tuesdays will be all system issues and what is needed to move forward.  The Thursday meetings will involve discussion on staffing, arrangement of St. Francis school, procedures, and other things that pertain to moving into the new building.  The teachers feel they need to know more about the structure of the school day.
    • Principal’s Meeting Minutes: Every principal meeting report will include scheduling.  Nothing has been decided.  Unless it comes from Shaun all options are on the table.  If a decision has been made, the Board and teachers will be notified immediately.
    • Information in Board Packets: The Board packets include demographic and assessment information.  The information is part of the material Shaun will be taking with him when he speaks to the community groups.  The Optimist Group was previously unaware of most of the information Shaun provided.
    • December 21st Board Meeting: The December 21st School Board meeting has been canceled.  There will be a BCS Christmas party so the staff has a chance to socialize.  It will be at 2905 Montana Avenue from 4:00 pm until whenever.

    New Business:

    • Bring a Friend to School Day: There are plans to have a “Bring a Friend to School Day” on February 10th when School District 2 is not in session.  This event will be available Kindergarten through 12th grade.  The plans have not been completed.
    • School Calendar: The 2017-2018 school calendar will be presented to the Board the first meeting in January.

    Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 5:05 pm.

    Respectfully Submitted:  Shaun Harrington, Billings Catholic Schools President