Members Present
	Joe Zins	Anita Bidleman	Bill Rice
	Lynne Morris	Michael Vilaboy	Ann McMackin
	Lois Neltner	Donna Patterson
Ex Officio Members Present
	Fr. Jack	Lindsey Burns	Jodie Bender
Members Absent
	Bill Benvie
Ex Officio Members Absent
	Bill Lonneman	Bill Cavanaugh

Opening Prayer

Father Jack said a prayer to open the meeting. Bill Rice read a story by George Carlin.

 

Approval of Minutes

The minutes for the Education Commission meeting for February 21, 2002 were approved previously by the members using e-mail because the meeting in March was cancelled.

 

Reports

Pastoral Report - Fr. Jack

Bill Cavanaugh and his wife Sue are proud parents of a new baby girl named Mary Catherine born on Wednesday April 17, 2002. All are doing well.

Teacher contracts and salaries will be finalized next week.

The long range planning committee will be meeting again soon.

The Temporal Affairs is considering hiring a Development and Marketing Director.

The candidates for next years Education Commission and Parish Pastoral Council have been nominated and will be elected by the parish in May.

Temporal Affairs - Michael Vilaboy

The job description for a Development and Marketing Director would be to coordinate and build a database for the church and school to build relationships and help with the growing needs of the parish, to improve communications among different organizations and events that take place in our parish and the committee.

The Tuition policy for St. Vivian school will be approved soon.

Pastoral Associate - Bill Lonneman

Bill was unable to attend because of his class at Xavier University. He provided a reported indicating that the Bible study group that meets on Tuesday morning has about 15 members. The Bible study group that meets at St. Bart's on Wednesday night has about 14 members. More members may join as the course continues.

Director of Youth Ministry /Religious Education - Jodie Bender

First Communion

First Communion will be held at the weekend masses on April 27and 28, 2002.

There will be 21 First Communicant at the 4:30 pm, none at the 8:15, 3 at the 10 and 12 at the 11:30 mass.

First Communion in the year 2003 will be the weekend after Easter. First Communion for the year 2004 may be moved to May if Jodie and Father feel it would be better.

 

First Reconciliation

Jodie and Father will get together to talk about the date for first reconciliation for next year.

 

Confirmation

Jodie will speak with the students who are eligible for next years Confirmation. Packets about Confirmation will be sent home for the families.

Candidates will need a total of 30 hours of service for Confirmation. Service hours can be done from May 1, 2002 to October 1, 2002. The 30 service hours are a combination of 10 hours for family, 10 hours for community and 10 hours for parish.

Sponsors need to have a verification letter signed by their parish that they are practicing Catholics and in full communion in the church. The note does not take much time to fill out and must be completed to be a sponsor. Sponsors must be at least sixteen years old by the day of Confirmation.

Confirmation is Tuesday October 22, 2002. Bishop Moedel will be the Presider.

 

Vacation Bible School

The program will be the week of July 15, 2002 for children pre-school to grade 4. Maria Meyer will help Jodie will Bible School. The theme this summer will be "Bug Safari".

 

Parish School of Religion

The last PSR class this year is Sunday, April 28, 2002.

Next years PSR classes will meet 23 times to help the students better retain the religious studies.

Classes will start the first Sunday in September and finish in May.

The class schedule will follow the schedule of the Finneytown schools. If the Finneytown schools are off on Friday and Monday there will no PSR classes that weekend.

Information has been given to the PSR teachers.

Jodie will use the Archdiocesan standardized test to evaluate the knowledge of religion for the PSR students.

 

School Religion Class

Faith First will be the religion book series for the school next year. To find more about the books go to FaithFirst.com.

Next year all school grades will have a complete set of Bibles

 

Youth Group

The Youth Group nail sale will be the weekend of June 1 and 2.

20 youth and 4 adults are going to North Bay, Michigan for the youth mission work camp.

$1,700 was raised through a P & G survey. Monies from the survey and the money left from the youth dance nights will be used to buy a new 36inch color TV and an air hockey table for the Youth Room.

To make money for the Youth Group, Jodie, the youth and their families will again work at Reds games. This year they will work at 12 games last year they worked at 17 Reds games. Each family is asked to work 6 games.

Youth group volleyball will continue next year.

Youth softball will start again this summer. There are about 70 to 80 youth involved in youth activates.

 

Principal - Bill Cavanaugh

Bill was not able to be present because of the birth of his new daughter, so Joe provided a report in his place.

Joe reminded the members of the Education Commission that Mr. Cavanaugh would like input on the new discipline policy and the crisis plan as soon as possible

The teachers, staff and principal are concerned with the relatively large number of students who are tardy each day and also questioned the best way to record consistently those who leave early. Many of the same students arrive late regularly.

Lindsey Burns also said there are parents who are continually late picking up their children after school. In both situations, the parents of these students have been contacted in an effort to improve the situation.

The staff and teachers have been discussing what action can be taken for those students who are tardy too often and or have too many unexcused days absent from school, and Mr. Cavanaugh asked for the input of Education Commission concerning current policy.

Bill Rice and Lynne were asked what the policy is at Roger Bacon and McAuley for students who are late to school. Both high schools have strict policies and neither school has a problem with tardiness because the students know they will have detention or may not even be allowed to go to class.

Discussion continued concerning the amount of time that a student needs to be in school for it to count as a full day of school. There was much discussion that some parents feel that students have completed a full day of school by lunch time and at that time they can leave for an appointment and not receive a half day mark on their report card.

The Education Commission plans to further discuss this problem at the next meeting so that the Handbook for next year can include the new policy.

Father Jack mentioned that about 30% of the school families attend mass on the weekend. Jodie thought the percentage might be even lower. Jodie asks the children preparing for First Communion if they come to Mass on Sunday and they are very open with their answers.

Jodie mentioned that at another parish they check Stewardship envelopes to see who attends Mass, and the families who do not place their envelopes in the collection regularly may not be considered as in parish families for their school tuition.

Liaisons to Related Organizations

Anita said there are 4 meetings left for RCIA.

Unfinished Business

Lois only received two responses for the PSR teachers and staff appreciation brunch that was planned for Sunday April 22. One person said yes and one said no. Lois said that she cancelled the brunch and that she and Anita would bring the teachers and staff muffins on the last day of PSR class, Sunday, April 28 to convey to them the Education Commission's thanks.

Wednesday, May 8, 2002 will be an appreciation breakfast for the teachers and staff at St. Vivian. Lois and Anita will meet at 7am to help set up. Lynne also offered to help. Lois said all others are welcome to come help too.

 

Communication and Publicity

Publicity for the school and parish is very important. The picture of the service for Mrs. Dodd's garden was in Hilltop News and The Catholic Telegraph.

The picture of the Eighth grade girl's volleyball team was also in the Hilltop News.

Jodie mentioned that at St. James White Oak a bulletin insert lists the accomplishments of the school and the students on the Sunday before Catholic Schools Week.

Nomination for Parish Council and Education Commission

There are five candidates for next years Education Commission. The parish will vote for two and Fr. Jack will appoint one.

Bill Benvie, Michael Vilaboy and Anita Bidleman are completing their terms.

There are eight candidates for Parish Pastoral Council; four will be elected by the parish.

Elections will be held on the weekend of May 18 and 19.

Grant Writing Committee

A grant writing committee has been formed. Volunteers are being recruited to help with writing and locating grants.

 

Announcements

Next Education Commission meeting is Thursday May 16, in Ursuline Hall.

Guests

No guests were present

Adjournment

Bill Rice motioned and Lois seconded that the meeting be adjourned at 8:30 pm.