A Standing "O" for Father A.

We wish Fr. Alfonse the very best as he embarks on the next chapter of his great journey.  It seems like just yesterday this dynamo embraced us as a family at St. Joseph's, and we made him one of our own.

Our parish and school community has been so blessed by his presence during his short time here.  St. Monica's -- you don't know how good you're going to have it!!

For some of us, he's helped us through difficulties in our families and relationships.  For others of us, he's made God's word more real with his sermons and blogs, turning us on to the miracle that is our daily life with God's grace.  For others of us, he's been the kick in the pants we needed! 

Please take a moment to post a reply in the comments section below with your thoughts about how Fr. Alfonse impacted you or your family, or just post your fond wishes for the next stage in his vocation.   You can post anonymously or leave your name.  After a week or two, we'll collect all of your responses and have them bound in a nice memory book, so he will always know how fondly we think of him and what an impact he has had on us!

P.S. -- please pass along this link to EVERYONE at St. Joseph's -- let's go "viral" and collect as many funny stories, cherished remembrances, warm thoughts, and fond wishes as we can for Father to take with him.

Warmly,
B.E.S.T. Jaguar

Year-End Report Card

Year End Report Card

Back on (date) a poster suggested a Report Card be issued for the school.  We thought it was a good idea, so we challenged him to go for it, with the counsel that it be reasonable in nature and be as objective and factual as possible.  We also suggested it be written in such a way that this community could comment and add their voices.

Our poster used the “Year in Review” document published by the school for 2009-2010 as the basis to do the grading.    As always, we open it up for your comments.

ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF DALLAS

MARKING PERIOD:  YEAR-END

STUDENT:  SJCS JAGUAR

SUMMARY OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

·         ACADEMICS:                      C / Incomplete

·         CATHOLIC IDENTY:           C

·         TECHNOLOGY:                   A-

·         FACILITIES:                          F

·         FINANCIAL:                        DROPPED CLASS

·         MARKETING & PR            A

·         COMMUNITY                     D

COMMENTS/DETAILED ASSESSMENT:

ACADEMICS:  C / Incomplete

There were some notable highlights in the academic environment, notably the introduction of Saxon Phonics into the curriculum, and the Art program which not only survived the departure of its patriarch but excelled.  The PSIA results were excellent by those who participated, but may not be the best indicator of overall excellence as it is limited to a few participants.  Regardless, kudos to them and those who prepared them – you did St. Joe’s proud!  The Math and Literature curriculum overhaul is ongoing and not yet fully implemented, and thus probably too soon to be judged, thus the” incomplete” grade.  The science curriculum endured its share of criticism this year despite the pleading of the Admin from a defensive position to, “trust us--all is well,” leaving many frustrated parents wondering, “if this was a known problem with the textbooks two years ago, why wasn’t it addressed earlier.”  Additionally, the overall mark is weighed down by the fact that we are implementing curriculum changes with uncertified instructors in a school-defined target area (literature), the de-emphasis of music from the curriculum, and the state of the middle school parents’ morale regarding the methods of instruction and preparation especially in math. 

There is concern about a growing industrial-military culture and teaching model in a post-industrial educational climate.  Said differently, kids learn in different ways, it’s not a factory that can be managed with lean-sigma statistical techniques.  And please, please, stop publicly stating to parents that school achievement is dependent on demographics.  That’s a public school mentality and we can do better.  Parents are sacrificing to give their kids the best, and have high expectations of their kids and the school.  We need instructors who embrace their needs and get the best from each.   Fundamentally, for every parent and for each student in every classroom, education is the great equalizer in an otherwise unequal world.  Demography should never equal destiny.  For all the bluster about “benchmarking” and “comprehensive review” and “assessment,” many parents are unclear about exactly where the target is and where we stand against it.

CATHOLIC IDENTITY:  C+

Save for a new Bishop-as-pastor, a new can-do Priest, this grade could have been much lower.  Noteable highlights for the year were the stellar preparation for the Sacraments and the May Crowning, and enhanced Sunshine Committee’s work which unfortunately was needed more often that any of us would have wished for in 2010-11.  Fr. Alfonse’s stirring and challenging homilies and his constant presence with the kids and families touched most of us in ways we did not expect, bringing discussion of the Gospels into our homes in new ways and giving our kids a example of leadership and faith to look up to.   How disappointing then that in a school that professes to have one of its pillars as “Catholic Identity” that we have instructors actively working to keep Fr. Alfonse out of the classroom (He’s disruptive?  Really?  How about working with him in a coordinated way to help you reach your classroom goals, while sharing the Faith, instead of defining him as an obstacle?).  The Counselors’ Corner never materialized.  The anti-bullying program was given lip-service early on, but was never fully led by the faculty or embraced by the students in daily lives.   We have teachers promoting “good kids/bad kids” parties in contrast to our Christian values, and we even cancelled the Christmas program, despite alternatives presented by many to keep it going for the families who wanted to participate.  Yes, we say prayers publicly, and our kids get the sacraments…but are we really pervasively promoting the environment and culture that reflects Christ’s teachings and examples to the best of our ability? 

TECHNOLOGY:  A-

The redesigned website looks great, and the implementation of RenWeb is a good one.  Duplicate calendars were eliminated and with it went much confusion.  Grades are instant.  The weekly blasts are not only informative, but looking better which make them easier to read.   The blog was a nice add--albeit under duress from the independent blog—but it really isn’t helping a more fundamental communication issue.  (but the blog platform is there, and this grade is about “Technology” not leadership).  The only thing preventing this from being an “A” is the aging infrastructure of computers that the kids use (old PCs and Windows 2007 was last-year’s “upgrade”) but it probably doesn’t compromise learning too much, and is on the radar for upcoming improvements.

FACILITIES:   F

No, this grade is not about how good our facilities are. They are sparkling.  It’s a great selling point and the envy of many other schools.  That’s not our problem, we started the year with those.  This grade is about the goals/objectives for the ’10-11 year.   The problem is that after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on renovation to support athletics over the past couple years (gym, locker rooms, playing field, scoreboard) not only were the facilities goals in 2010-11 modest and un-inspiring (one goal was to install alarms on the outside doors, which was added before the year began, and the other was to add a storage barn – for the athletic field), we failed to meet them.  We need to aim higher and we have needs.  Our older kids don’t have a decent playground, our music program doesn’t have risers or instruments, and our building is woefully under-secured to strangers, especially when the kids are coming and going.   Yes, there are greater desires, but none of those things requires the millions of a massive building campaign.

FINANCIAL:  CLASS DROPPED

Goals were to raise money for scholarships with a quarterly collection at Sunday Mass, and to invigorate a Steering Committee to start planning for “Phase III” funding and construction of Library, Cafeteria/Auditorium, new offices, and a second gym.   This one never got off the ground.

MARKETING & P.R.:  A

Website looks great.  Video looks great.  Advertisements look nice.  Had a few open houses.   No idea if we brought in realtors, but good idea.  We do a good job of telling a great story.

COMMUNITY/INVOLVEMENT:  D+

Like “Catholic Identity” and “Academics”, we run hot-and-cold in this category.   We have an amazing group of parents who volunteer selflessly.  Our PTO has done a nice job of making meetings fun again and coordinating the family fun events.  And Dad’s club and MOMs group (made up largely of those volunteer parents) proved that involvement and “sweat equity” can go a long way and build community for those who participate.  An “A” to those who work so hard!!!  But this may also be the greatest need for improvement, our greatest source of erosion of way too many key families from St. Joseph, and it starts with culture and example by our leaders.  It hurts my heart to see families with 2, 3, 4 kids leaving St. Josephs out of frustration.  We’ve lost our last 2 volunteer coordinators, our PTO President, many of our “founding families” as well as many new families have left and more are looking around.  In 2010 the Administration committed to holding grade-level forums with parents to hear their issues and concerns.  It never happened.  (but it is reportedly being promised again in 2011 as a concession to the restless natives, credibility be damned!).  In the past two years, the Principal’s “Friday in the Forum” became a downward spiral – what was once a source of community pride and recruiting for new families became a sadly agonizing game of “will the principal show up today to his own forum?”   (By one parent’s count the Admin made only 2 of the 13 consecutive Forums he attended before he quit going, meanwhile parent involvement dwindled to near zero.)   The PTO meetings miss a huge opportunity to tell parents what is really going on and get parent’s feedback to the faculty and leadership.  Does anyone “on the inside” the school care to hear it?  Or it is prohibited, limiting content to “putting on a happy face” and “be an advocate for St. Joseph’s!”   The school blog has heartless answers to some questions/concerns and none at all to others.  Why is it so hard to have two-way communication?  Why does everything have to be so clandestine in one-on-one meetings in a dark office?  So no commitments need to be followed through because no one else heard them?  What happened to interpersonal communication – have we really disrespected our families so much that the only communication is one-way and through a pushed-out weekly e-mail?   We are in serious decline in morale, involvement, and in culture.   The heart of our school has been our families for the entire 8-10 year history of the place.  The slide must stop or we’ll have a school full of drop-off kids and uninvolved parents who simply pay the bill and hope for the best.  I shudder to think of the opportunity lost.

SUMMARY:

Our foundational pillars as defined by the Bishop, are “Excellence in Education” and “Catholic Identity”.  The competition for hearts, minds, time, talent and treasure gets tougher all the time.  The old saying, “there is no standing still.  If you are not getting better you are getting worse” applies.  The 2010-11 school year faced many challenges and we rose to meet many of them.  But for the many steps forward there were also undeniable steps backward, which have undermined morale in the family and raised questions from all but the most blindly optimistic supporters.   However all is not lost, there may be time to turn this performance around before it flunks out.  It requires leadership and vision, good communication and consensus building, and the will (and ability) to make the plan into reality.  Like him or loathe him, Msgr. Don had a vision, and executed the plan.  Did he trample some feelings along the way?  No doubt he did.  But the place had a passion to it, an undeniable spirit, a collaborative culture and can-do attitude.  We need that back at St. Josephs.  We are not where we can be at our best.  What is our new Vision, and who will lead?  The answers to these questions may well determine whether we get to the “honor roll” or flounder in the middle of the pack.

Where Have You Been, B.E.S.T. Jaguar?

Thanks for asking!  If you didn't notice, SJCS launched an "official" blog in response to B.E.S.T. Jaguar. (I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery)  Check it out.  We've been "standing down" from creating too much traffic on this site lately, in an effort to let the school blog get some eyeballs and see where that goes.

It's clear from some of your e-mails you want some issues discussed.  Guest author anyone?  keep 'em coming to bestjaguar.2010@gmail.com and we'll get some of your comments up here soon.  Remember the Guiding Principles and Posting Etiquitte

Christmas Blessings

God has certainly bestowed many blessings upon us.
As we pause to reflect during the Christmas season, B.E.S.T. Jaguar would like to invite every member of our community to share your thoughts on what you believe we should all be thankful for at SJCS. 

Guiding Principles & Posting Etiquette

Guiding Principles for B.E.S.T. Jaguar:

1.       We believe that striving for excellence on all fronts is God’s will, and that we should expect excellence from ourselves and our school, by any measure.  Where we fall short, we must learn from our failures and seek a better way.

2.       We believe that parents, teachers, pastors, and administration are all vital stakeholders in our school’s success and our children’s education.  All are welcome to participate, comment, and author on this site, freely, without risk of retribution or retaliation against themselves or their children.

3.       We believe that complacency is unacceptable, and that convenient excuses have no place from those who strive to be the B.E.S.T.  We don’t want to hear, “why we can’t,” but rather, “how will we?  Here’s how we can.”  Together there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

4.       We believe in candid, open dialogue, celebration of our strengths, frank and humble acknowledgement of our challenges, and strong fortitude and speed in finding the best resolution to them.

5.       We believe in seeking out the best ideas, regardless of the source.  

6.       We do not believe in making a profit from this site.  All the time, resources, and effort that goes into it is strictly voluntary.  We will never allow paid advertising to benefit the site operators.

Posting Etiquette

By posting to our message board, you agree to the following:

1.       We’re here to build the Community of St. Joseph’s.  This forum is to celebrate our success as well as seek continual improvement – both are required for B.E.S.T.

2.        This is a Catholic, Christian community.  We expect you’ll uphold those values.  Excellence is the standard.  Foul language or mean-spirited personal attacks on other posters will not be tolerated.  Attack the issue being discussed, not the poster.  If you cannot express your opinion without calling someone a name, you need to be on a different site and your post will be deleted from ours.

3.       No mindless baiting.  While dissenting opinions are certainly welcome and add to the character of the forum, posts whose purpose is solely to get a rise out of the forum participants are not permitted.

4.       Inevitably, any criticism, however constructive, means that someone or some group responsible for the item in question is being critiqued.  The buck’s gotta stop somewhere.  That’s OK -- by the very nature of their positions, leaders at all levels need to be strong enough to handle it, whether it’s the lunch lady, the PTO president, or the principal.  But be objective.  Don’t make it personal.  Bring facts.  Think through both sides of the situation, walk a mile in their shoes.  Think about how to solve the problem.

5.       If you’re going  to tee up a problem, you need to have thought through and have proposed some solutions, and you should expect support from the community to refine those solutions.  It’s also in good form to be willing to throw in your own resources in helping to correct the issue at hand.  By meeting these conditions, we promote positive change for the betterment of our school and our community, and we won’t have it any other way.

6.       Disagreements are inevitable on any discussion forum. Opinions are welcome--we won’t all agree--but we expect you to keep things civil.  Good natured, intelligent banter is encouraged, but grudge matches are subject to deletion.  If banter goes past 10 exchanges it will be considered a grudge match.  Mindless insults are subject to deletion.

As a corollary to this rule, the concept of "prospective parents read this board so we should only talk nice" is not considered valid.  Parents are not stupid.  A school that is highly desirable, with great vision, strong momentum, clear advantages, and active, engaged constituents will not likely be scuttled by negative opinions on a message board, and all the posted sunshine in the world will not counterbalance said school’s rainy day.  Have faith in the intelligence of our parents and our prospective parents at SJCS.

7.       No obscene material or references.

8.   No posting of advertisements or links for products, services, or other web sites not related to St. Joseph Catholic School, without permission from the site administrators. This includes promoting your blog or website. It's not our job to send eyeballs to your site.

9.  Soliciting personal information from board participants is the height of rudeness.  People will share what they want to share; the rest is their own business.  So don’t ask for name, rank, and serial number if it’s not volunteered. Some people want to remain anonymous with good reason.

10.  Posts that utilize excessive "web slang" or “chat speak” or similar abbreviations/emoticons/etc. will be deleted without warning. We expect a higher level of communication by the users of this site. Spell words. Use punctuation. Express yourself intelligently -- this isn't junior high.

11.  "There's nothing else to talk about" and "I was angry/frustrated/[insert other euphemism here]" are never validations for posting anything.

12.  As an extension of the above, levels of intoxication are not a valid excuse for violations of protocol. You will be held just as responsible for your actions as you would sober.

13.  DO NOT POST IN ALL CAPS. (we don’t like yelling)

14.  Site operators reserve the right to amend these rules at any time.

Violation of any of these rules will result in posts being deleted. Repeated or especially egregious violations will result in revocation of posting privileges.

This list is presented as a work in progress.  We welcome your feedback and suggestions for improvement.  This is OUR site, let’s make it the BEST it can be!

Love it?  Hate it?  Want to Author an Article?  Got a Suggestion for Improvement?  Give us your feedback  bestjaguar.2010@gmail.com

Welcome

 B.E.S.T Jaguar!  --  Bringing Excellence to St. Joseph's Today

 

This community is your community -- it will be an independent and open forum for parents, teachers, administrators, and our parish pastors to share and collaborate openly on issues and ideas that can make our school the best it can be.  We'll post your articles and stories that promise to be thoughtful and thought-provoking, and ask for your feedback and comments which will be posted for all to see and share.

 

Ever have an idea that you thought could benefit our school, but didn't know if others agreed, or how to get it going?  Ever wonder if others felt the same way you do about something you care about?  Want to get something out in the open for discussion among like-minded people who care about our school?  Then post it here -- anonymously if you prefer.  We want to inspire meaningful dialogue, critical thinking, solutions-oriented discourse, and positive energy that can contribute to excellence in our school for the benefit of our kids.

 

Invite and encourage your fellow parents, teachers, and administrators to follow us and contribute to our community.

 

Enthusiastically,

B.E.S.T. Jaguar

 

Love it?  Hate it?  Tell us how you feel.  Got a suggestion for improvement?  Post a Comment Below!  Want to Author an Article?  Give us your feedback  bestjaguar.2010@gmail.com