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.