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
What a wonderful idea! Thank you for doing this.
ReplyDeleteI'm removing my previous comment as this site is not approved by the the school.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Welch, thanks for your comments! We don't necessarily believe that being approved by the school and being a wonderful idea are mutually exclusive! The point is to have an open, accessible forum and get ideas and positive energy flowing and benefitting our school and kids. Good for you for running your blogs -- we trust you understand its potential. We hope you will follow our site and share in helping use make SJCS the "BEST" it can be.
ReplyDeleteWould the people who have started this please state who you are?
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of an open forum. Sometimes it can feel like the "official" means of communication can be a bit over-filtered. Healthy discussion and expression of ideas can sometimes produce wonderful results. So as long as a forum like this doesn't get dragged down by a bunch of complaints without accompanying proposed solutions, personal attacks or, useless banter, then why not give it a shot?
ReplyDeleteAgreed, we're working on a set of "guiding principles and posting rules/etiquette" and that's on the top of the list! Thanks -- keep 'em coming!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! In a private school it's hard to get to know everyone and everything because we all live in spread out locations. What a great idea to bring together the wonderful families at St. Joseph. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWho started this?
ReplyDeleteI think the blog is a good idea so long as it has a moderator. The problem with the internet is anyone can say anything anonymously (or even using someone else's name). So please do monitor and filter in-appropriate comments before they are posted.
ReplyDeleteAs a grandparent whose grandson has been at St. Joseph's since it opened its doors, I have been pleased with the progress that the school has made. It cannot be easy starting from scratch.
I was impressed the other morning when I was in the office and heard them reading the gospel, saying prayers, etc. over the PA system. All these years I never new they did that. Felt good to know the school is trying to achieve a truly Catholic identity.
I love this! I'm hoping to get to know more families and have even a stronger school community.
ReplyDeleteI expected to see something much different after the message I received from the school. I am not sure what all the commotion is about. This looks like a fabulous idea, so long as its fair and balanced. I actually like that its independent and free of "filters" as was stated above. I'll send an e-mail with my thoughts on the "guiding principles" mentioned above. Thanks for opening it up for feedback. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. Don't know if the school will take any the inputs/suggestions seriously. What is the path that will trickle down the great ideas back to school for implementation?
ReplyDeleteThe response or message from the school aired on the defensive side. That leads to the last comment made about the possibilities of the school being genuine in taking suggestions. The school has (pretty much since it's inception) had a fundamental problem. That is the incestuous relationship amongst the leadership, administarion, a majority of the factulty and many of the Advisory Council. Think about it! The facility is amazing. Does the school have greater potential? )
ReplyDeleteThe correct spelling would be "erred" on the defensive side, unless the school publicy aired something. I guess we can assume that you are not an English teacher. There were a few other typos as well but I would hate to be critical. Best you stay anonymous to avoid embrassment.
ReplyDelete"Anonymous" on Dec 11, 9:31pm: We're not here to make personal attacks. I'll leave your post up as an example for all of what not to do. Next time is a quick delete. For the record, you spelled "publicly" incorrectly, so let's not be so critical. This site is about making our school a better place, not tearing one another down.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies, it was a personal attack and should be taken down. However I would like to point out that I was responding to another personal attack. When someone uses statements that the school has a fundamental problem and talks of an incestuous relationship between the administration, faculty and staff, what is that if not a personal attack? These are real people with real names (and reputations). I feel there must be some sort of vendetta behind this post.
ReplyDeleteYou no doubt started with good intentions, but I wonder if you have considered what impact this will have on people who may be considering going to St. Joseph's. If I were just now considering this school for my daughter and read about the "fundamental problem" it is quite likely I would begin to look elsewhere.
Unless you are willing to make a commitment to review all comments in advance I think you will be embarking on something that will hurt the school more than help it. I am sure that is not your intent.
Was it really a personal attack? Or an opinion about the culture in the school? Sure, that ends up coming down to a handful of individuals, but since they are in positions of authority to set and change that culture, they are on a different pedestal and open to criticism. Surely no one truly thinks those folks mean any harm, they just may not be good at setting the kind of culture to help the school thrive. Maybe they're unable to really understand the real perception. From the few comments above it looks like the opinion is shard at least by a few. It's not like those comments aren't out on other school review sites anyway. Would you rather not know, and find out about a problem after you'd invested in sending your daughter here, or know what you're going into up front? At least in this type of space, others with opposing views can state them. St. Joseph's is a WONDERFUL place...but like EVERY other school, it has its challenges. No place is perfect. Any reasonable person looking for a school knows that. We got the sales pitch just like everyone else when we were looking for schools 4 years ago, every place we looked. Each school puts on its best face, and its hard to compare and know who's the best. Hopefully the admin and board are listening...
ReplyDeleteOne last thought -- if this site is "censored" as you propose, how do we have open, honest, meaningful discussion like we're having here? It becomes Fox News and is slanted to the direction the hosts want to take it.
Dear Anonymous above:
ReplyDeleteAn open discussion? You slander an entire school administration with no facts to back it up. If the goal is to be thought-provoking what do we take from that? What possible good comes from that? Can you call that meaningful dialogue? If you have a concern or suggestion may I humbly suggest that you be specific?
Sounds to me like you have some sort of grudge against them and don't really want dialogue.
May I suggest you both pause in posting until we get a first draft of the "guiding rules" out.
ReplyDeleteI think you both mean well, but are coming at it from different perspectives. From B.E.S.T. Jaguar's viewpoint, we see it this way:
Anonymous "A" feels we have a culture issue, believes that his/her viewpoint is shared by others, and wants to raise the issue and expose what he/she believes is a problem to be solved. Fair enough -- part of our stated goal is to make this place the best it can be, and raising concerns so the SJCS family can help solve them is within that definition. Posting here invites dialogue by definition, so while perhaps there's a grudge, let's not jump to conclusions.
Anonymous "B" thinks its unfair to state opinions without stating the facts behind them. Also fair, and we agree -- and we will add to that, "and propose solutions". That both people choose to remain "anonymous" is intriguing and something we should think about.
The response to the site has been incredible...Thanks to all of you for the nearly 75 e-mails you have sent to bestjaguar.2010@gmail.com with your suggetions, as well as the comments above. We're working through them and will have something out shortly.
"Anon" at 2:43 and "Anon" at 1:37 are two different people (I'm one of them, but I didn't post both). So at least 2 of us think the administration has issues.
ReplyDeleteThe comments on the site will be paused this evening, but will be turned back on very shortly. Check back tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThese e-mails are getting to be like spam
ReplyDeleteJust a quick thought, why would you even consider facebook, and twitter?
Please, everyone offer up positive and constructive solutions, with your concerns.
Aren't Facebook and Twitter just ways of keeping up with the newest posts? Even Father Alfonse's blog allows you to follow via Facebook and Twitter. Have you seen his blog? It's incredible.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is a great idea to help develop new ideas and propose possible solutions to concerns families may have. The Guiding Principles & Posting Etiquette should help keep it fair and balanced.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify, the email I sent to all the parents was in response to the numerous questions and complaints we received Friday morning in regards to BEST Jaguar. Since the school had no prior knowledge of this blog and the creator chose to remain anonymous, we needed to alert the parents that it was not official communication from the school.
We realize that open communication is very important to the continued growth of our school. However, since the creator chooses to remain anonymous, the school is respectfully requesting that the blog become anonymous. Please remove the links and the name of our school from this blog. This will allow you to talk freely without the risk of hurting the good reputation that many people have worked so hard to create. Since the purpose of this blog is to help the school become the best it can be, then this request should not be an issue. We also request that you follow the spam rules that restrict unsolicited emails and exposure of the email addresses. You can add an opted-in link on the blog to collect and build your email lists. We have received numerous complaints about the unauthorized use of the email addresses.
We hope that a lot of good ideas will be generated in this blog. If you are interested in presenting the ideas to the school, then please post them on the blog on our school website or through emails or face-to-face meetings.
On a personal note: My family and I were drawn to this school mostly because of the wonderful spirit and sense of community that was so present. I pray that this spirit and respect for each other is maintained so that our wonderful community continues to flourish.
I think that this forum can be a vehicle for some very good discussion on ways to improve St. Joseph's. My family and I have been at St. Joseph for several years now and absolutely love it here, but there isn't an organization on Earth that can't improve in some way and good organizations are always interested in hearing new ideas. I also agree with the posters who have stated that this blog can be a good way for families to learn more about the school and get to know each other. I can envision the creation of topic subsections where people can share valuable information or even just discuss topics of interest: school policy, catholic education, athletics, issues facing our kids, news, school and/or social events. The free flow of information and ideas is always good. The only comment that I have is that words have power and it is important to choose one's words carefully in order to create an atmosphere for discussion rather than an argument. I am certain that as a long standing member of the school (you say "since its inception" so you go back farther than me) you have important points to make and I would be interested in hearing them.
ReplyDeleteThe big differece between this and the "approved" school method of submitting feedback is that this is wide open. Submit thru RenWeb and its a big secret. No one can know what anyone else is thinking, much less discuss things, collaborate, generate ideas for positive change, without being locked in a dark room so no one else will know that more than one person has the same feedback, or even how, or if, it's being responded to by the school. This is a great idea. Chris, i like your idea of topical conversation. Go Jags.
ReplyDeleteJulie - thanks for posting and fair suggestions. You'll see that we've made changes. Would you mind sending us a brief tutorial to bestjaguar.2010@gmail.com on how to add the opt-in functionality to the blog? We're learning as we go and appreciate the advice from those who know how to do these things.
ReplyDeleteChris -- we also like your ideas of topical message boards within the site. Not sure how to do that, but we're researching it. Maybe that's BESTJaguar 2.0! If you have experience here, please e-mail us.
Testing, Testing, Testing 1 2 3
ReplyDeleteHello? Hello? Is anyone out there??
ReplyDeleteI'm Here....got cold beer !!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteCold beer....hilarious. I left a comment on the official St. Joseph blog, which is really great. Kudos to the admin! My comment was about improving playground things for students and incorporating a garden (very simple to start) for all grades. I am too tired and too inept at copy/paste and all that to repeat all. Look at St. J. blog for details, but that is pretty much it. What do y'all think? i am ready to go all out to raise money, tap into parent/parish talent...whatever it takes, but we need to rally to do this, plus get school/parish on board. Opinions?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I did something to "follow" but I'm not getting an email to tell me if someone posts. how do I do that? Or do I have to keep checking back.
ReplyDelete