Bishop Donald Kettler has convened a steering committee to design a single Catholic school system for the St. Cloud metro area and surrounding communities. The 12-member committee meets every other week to discuss various aspects of creating the new system. In order to keep the public apprised of its work and address general questions people may have, the group will provide regular updates in The Visitor and on the diocesan website (www.stclouddiocese.org; click on “St. Cloud-area Catholic schools initiative.”)

The following is a brief summary of the committee’s March 6 meeting.

• Feedback since the committee’s last meeting Feb. 20 included a suggestion to include Catholic homeschoolers in the conversation; another individual suggested having a service-learning component as part of the new school system’s curriculum. No feedback was received through the specially designated email address set up for the initiative: CatholicSchoolsSC@gmail.com. Committee representatives who previously met with the pastors of the schools and parishes involved will meet in the near future with those pastors who were not able to attend that meeting.

• The committee continued its review of governance and operational vitality standards for Catholic schools as set out in the document “National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools. (The document can be accessed at: www.catholicschoolstandards.org.) The committee reviewed and discussed sections 6 (on the role of the school leader/leadership team), 10 (on creating sound financial plans), 11 (on developing human resource/personnel policies) and 12 (on having an effective facilities and equipment management plan).

• Committee members reiterated the importance of keeping lines of communication open between the committee and pastors, principals, parents and the public. Committee representatives plan to set up meetings this spring with the boards of the schools involved to provide updates and answer questions.
Feedback and next meeting

• Questions or comments? Email: CatholicSchoolsSC@gmail.com

• Next meeting: March 20