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 Catholic Community Schools. 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 May 15 meeting.
- Feedback received by the committee since its last meeting included several emails with suggestions for the committee and well as concerns about the initiative. Committee representatives will respond, as appropriate, to the senders.
- Representatives from the steering committee have begun meeting with the boards of Catholic schools that have been invited to be part of Catholic Community Schools to provide updates about the initiative and answer questions. Committee representatives have met with the boards of St. Mary Help of Christians (St. Augusta), St. Wendelin (Luxemburg), Holy Cross (Pearl Lake), St. Katharine Drexel (St. Cloud) and St. Francis Xavier (Sartell). They were to meet with the board of All Saints Academy on May 20 (St. Cloud, St. Joseph) after this edition of The Visitor went to press. Meetings are also scheduled later this month with Cathedral (St. Cloud) and with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (St. Cloud) in June.
- The core group for a finance task force has been appointed, with other members still to be added, to compile a draft budget. The group had its first meeting May 18.
Feedback and next meeting - Questions or comments? What would you like the new Catholic school system to look like? Email: CatholicSchoolsSC@gmail.com.
- Next meeting: May 29.