To: Parents From: George Hofbauer Reason: SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER AKA: HOFBAUERS HOT HITS!!!!
WHITE PAPER
We are off and running. The “Principal’s White Paper” is out. All parents should have received it in an E-Blast. Staff members are already discussing it. It has been posted on our Website if you have lost yours. It can also be found on my personal website —– georgehofbauer.com. It offers a potential plan for the future of Holy Rosary School. Discussions are already taking place. The staff has reviewed it twice. Make sure you read it and offer any thoughts to a member of the School Commission or one of your Parent Club officers. It is time to bravely step into the next 100 years with a plan that gets us to where we want and need to go.
BEACONS TO OTHERS
Five hundred little beacons were plugged in on September 3rd. The electricity is flowing and they are already getting brighter. Luckily the 60 larger beacons were plugged in during the last week of August so they could help light up the way. Holy Rosary School is lighting up Seattle, and we have only just gotten started! You can feel the energy in the air. A renewed sense of energy, mission, and purpose is fueling our lamps as it gives life and power to those who hold those lamps.
As others do their best for your child, so you too must feel called upon to do your best for their children. That is at the heart of membership in a Catholic school community. So turn on your beacon and “let it shine —– let it shine —- let it shine.”
COMMUNICATION
I intend to write one of these newsletters each month. I stated this commitment in the August issue. I am trying to improve communication between school and home and to have a place where everything can be easily stored and retrieved. Hopefully they will prove to be both interesting and informative. They will be posted on our school’s website and remain there for the year. Any general letters I send out, like the welcome back letter in the information packet you received, will also be posted there. I also hope to post any decisions that have been approved at any meetings I attend. My intention is to publish an Annual Report before the end of October, in which we will publicly acknowledge and thank our donors. Additionally, there will be a Kindergarten brochure, school brochure and Annual Fund brochure before the end of November. At the present time, I intend to cancel our phone communication service that auto dials everyone. It is expensive. It seems like it was used only once and that it may have been a bit confusing. In an emergency, a mass email will be sent out.
SNOW DAYS
Holy Rosary School will follow the Seattle Public School system when it comes to announcing closure for snow. That way it will be very easy to find out exactly what we are doing. We will also be announced on radio and T.V. stations. If the Seattle school announces a late start, Holy Rosary School will start one hour later than it usually does. Holy Rosary will not, however, have early dismissals. This becomes too inconvenient for families. That being stated —- there is nothing to prevent someone from picking up their child should they feel it is necessary.
CENTENNIAL
Yes this is the Centennial year for Holy Rosary School and because of that there is a great deal going on. Our Centennial Dinner will take place on Saturday November 30th. This signature event for our Centennial will begin at 5:00 in the evening at SODO Park at 3200 First Avenue in Seattle. We’ll have a wonderful dinner, tribute program and dancing to a live band. Kris Brown will be returning to celebrate with us and she looks forward to seeing everyone. Join us for a wonderful dinner. Purchase tickets in the School Office before September 30th for $225 each. This is a fundraiser. All profits will go to Holy Rosary School Centennial Campaign.. This event is not only an opportunity to celebrate the first 100 years of Holy Rosary School, but to show our commitment to the future as we enter our second century. Please come and celebrate this special occasion. Dance the night away to the tunes provided by the Dudley Manlove Quartet . It will be the social event of the century! Make sure you get your tickets soon. Come and celebrate!
A two-million-dollar Centennial Campaign has been launched. The good news is that I have solicited thirteen people for a grand total of $92,500.00 in pledges. The bad news is that I have solicited thirteen people for a grand total of $92,000 in pledges. I did this during the summer. So it has taken me four months! At that rate I will be 186 before I get to everyone and the $2,000,000 will only have $500,000 in purchasing power. I need help, and I need quicker responses to meetings. Thus far only two people have refused to meet. Actually, that is not that bad. I am 13 for 15! Any ideas on how we can get more life and activity into this? Hopefully, now that school is back in session this process will go more quickly. The funds, as voted on and recommended by the School Commission, will be used in the following way.
PLAY STRUCTURE 100,000
SCHOOL ROOF 300,000
SCHOOL WINDOWS 100,000
STAFF EDUCATION 200,000 ENDOWMENT 1,200,000 CAMPAIGN COSTS 100,000 TOTAL $2,000,000
Some have been asking if we could add both a sinking fund for deferred maintenance and a technology fund into this undertaking. I AGREE WITH THAT, AND I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THE CONCEPT, BUT I WOULD ONLY DO IT WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE SCHOOL COMMISSION, and realistically the funding would come at the expense of the endowment because I do not see a campaign of over 2,000,000 as a probability. But you never know. Call me IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO GET INVOLVED in the Campaign in any way! I am especially interested in ideas, solicitors, and ——- of course donorsJ.
There will be a special Mass for the Dominican Sisters of Tacoma as part of our Centennial Celebrations. It will take place on Sunday October 26, 2013, at 1:00. There will be a reception for the nuns in the Social Hall immediately following the Mass. Archbishop Peter Sartain will be the main celebrant at the mass. The mass will be the last in a series of liturgical celebrations celebrating the 125 years the order has served the people of the Pacific Northwest.
The Holy Rosary School and Parish communities will have our official Centennial mass celebration 100 years of the life of the school on Sunday May 4, 2014 at 11:30. Archbishop Peter Sartain will once again be our celebrant.
Each grade level has committed itself to some special project this year as part of the Centennial Celebration. It is intended to help build community and awareness of this special event in the life of our institution.
GOVERNANCE AND DECISION-MAKING
I have not found this issue clearly defined anywhere. Therefore, it is important to explain to you how I see decisions being processed. There are a variety of committees. I do not know that I have met with all of them but sometimes the connections and the roles are a bit unclear to me. I see any committee having the ability to make any recommendation that impacts the school. It would, however, have to be made as a motion, seconded and then voted on. If it passes it would go to the School Commission, which would then vote on it. I can accept or reject the decision as the Principal. I have never rejected a decision by a School Commission, even when I disagreed with it. Fr. John can do the same thing, and he has the right and authority to overrule me. There are, however some areas where a motion cannot be accepted or discussed. This deals with personnel or other families, or core curriculum as mandated by the state or Archdiocese. But I have to admit that I have never seen a parent group cross those lines. So I do not see it being an issue. I have written about some of this in the “White Paper”.
CURRICULUM
MATH
During the 2011-2012 academic year the Holy Rosary faculty undertook an in-depth study of our math program. Data was collected, analyzed, and compared. The test results for Holy Rosary students were compared with the Archdiocesan schools and top public schools in our area. Holy Rosary students were found to score similarly to other schools in the Archdiocese in the ITBS. When compared to their counterparts in the Seattle and Bellevue School districts in the general proficiency area, it was found that Holy Rosary scored much higher in seventh grade. Seventh grade was concentrated on because it is the highest grade level in math where Holy Rosary students take the ITBS. The 2011 tests revealed that 95% of Holy Rosary students met or exceeded proficiency levels. The same was true for 76% of the Bellevue seventh grade students and 67% of the Seattle seventh grade students. Additional research revealed that Holy Rosary Students were above the national average in the common core of mathematics at all grade levels. For example our fourth grade students got 77% of the common core standards correct as opposed to a national average of 61%. Our seventh graders got 84% of the common core standards correct in comparison to the national average of 59%.
During the 2012-2013 academic year, staff looked more specifically at how we could use the data we gathered to increase student achievement. It was noted that, even though students performed well, scores appeared to go down a bit in the middle grades. An in-depth study was launched into our math curriculum to determine what should be done to make sure grade-level texts matched the higher rigor of the common core standards. It was decided to replace our texts in Kindergarten through grade six with texts that were built around the new common core standards. In order to choose a program that best matched the common core standards and the needs of our students, the staff continued to do a great deal of research. Years of data collection were reviewed; a variety of text book companies submitted samples that were reviewed; on-line resources were studied; meetings took place with math experts; meetings took place with staff from other schools concerning their programs and their use of adoptions we were investigating; and classes were taken from representatives employing the use of adoptions we were considering. In the end, the staff decided on a program that was built to their specifications of the common core standards.
During the present 2013-1014 academic year the staff is excited to be continuing the implementation of the common core standards into the teaching at Holy Rosary. The school will also be offering an additional 50 minutes of math instruction time each week for grades five, six, and seven. This year we are proud to announce that we are launching a more cohesive math program throughout the school that will allow the students to maximize their learning potential.
TECHNOLOGY
I am happy to report to you that the staff overwhelming voted to support that the money that was left over from last year’s Auction “Fund an Item” will be used to purchase IPads for grade three. I am still working on securing the funding for grade four. It may be that our technology reserves and our payments for technology for this year will make that work out. It is too early to tell as I write this. I have asked Jon Barker to develop a new technology committee to create a plan for the future as part of our “White Paper” planning.
SCHOOL DOORS
Please remember that our main school doors are now locked during the day. One of the secretaries will buzz you in when you ring the doorbell. You will have to look at the video screen to the upper left as you face the door. Please have patience if someone is temporarily out of the office. Remember this is all about the enhanced security for our children. They deserve our understanding and support on this important issue.
ANNUAL APPEAL A.K.A. THE YEARLY SCHOOL PLEDGE DRIVE
Every Catholic grade school and high school and university, along with all other private schools, rely on an Annual Appeal as a major source of support for the school. This funding source usually helps provide for extras that a school is interested in to help support the education of the children. In a school like ours, however, where the tuition does not cover the salaries and benefits of the employees, the Annual Appeal really does pay for necessities. Everyone should be donating to the Annual Appeal. Those who do are truly helping your children. It is really incumbent upon each one of us to do the same for their children. There are a number of staff, like me, who do not have a child in the school yet are supporting the Annual Appeal.
It also becomes very important as we seek foundation support to be able to indicate the full support of our population. The basic reason for Annual Funds is that tuition does not cover the cost of education. Generosity is, therefore, exceptionally important. At the present time the Holy Rosary School Budget for this year is $3,556,096. (And this has nothing to do with depreciation or building reserves for accumulated debts like sick leave.) If you divide that by the 498 students we are presently serving you come up with a per-student cost of $7,140 per child. Our tuition for one student is $5,256. The second, third and fourth children in a family are discounted. So you can see why the Annual Appeal and your participation in it are VERY IMPORTANT.
This year’s Annual Appeal will go to support the following:
UTILITIES $80,000 (yes we have to flush toilets and turn on lights) DOOR SECURITY SYSTEM $10,000
MATH CURRICULUM $20,000
STAFF IN-SERVICE $10,000
STAFF SALARIES $60,000 (BECAUSE OF TUITION LEVEL AND PREGNANCIES) TECHNOLOGY $10,000
FINANCIAL AID $10,000
TOTAL $200,000
The goal was increased by $100,000 over last year’s goal and $120,000 over last year’s actual collections. So this is really a challenging stretch. But we simply cannot make ends meet without doing this. Please make sure you participate and encourage others to do the same. Those who have not responded as of yet with a pledge will be receiving a letter requesting your participation at the end of the month.
OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SELL THOSE MAGAZINES!!!!!!! SELL THOSE MAGAZINES!!!! SELL THOSE MAGAZINES!!!!
DID YOU KNOW?
Our projected tuition income for this year was budgeted at $2,376,794, and our projected cost for staff is $2,787,213. But now it looks like the actual out of pocket tuition people will be paying is $2,235,665. That is right; we do not collect enough in tuition to pay for our staff so our fundraising better be SUPER SUCCESSFUL!!!!!!!!!!
During the 2012-2013 school year which had a fiscal end date of June 30, 2013 Holy Rosary Parish had projected giving Holy Rosary School $280,903 to pay the schools deficit for the year. The Parish ended up having to give the school $378,809. About $50,000 of that is depreciation that will have to go unfunded.
You can register now for the Comerford School of Irish Dance at the West Seattle VFW. www.tonycomerford.com
You can contact Alicia Sands at 206 – 226 – 8176 to give her any contact information on alum students, parents and staff.
Eighth grades students should be contacting high schools to set up visits and get the packets they need to fill out.
YOUR PARENT CLUB OFFICERS ARE CINDY WINGO – PRESIDENT CINDYWINGO66@GMAIL.COM TRACY HONNER VICE PRESIDENT THONNER@COMCAST.NER JODIE UNDERWOOD ROOM PARENT COORDINATOR CHOPPERSMAIL@MSN.COM Laura Meyer treasurer lmyer@azblue.com CLAIRE FITTERER SECRETARY cfitterer@bblaw.com MEG PETERSON PAST PRESIDENT 143peterson@comcast.netYOUR SCHOOL COMMISSION MEMBERS ARE: ANN SUMMERS, PRESIDENT ann.summers@kingcounty.gov MICHAEL HOOKS, Vice-President mhooks@forsberg-umlauf.com TERRY BURNS terry@burnshouhston.com BRETT CONWAY brett@conway4.com CHRIS HENGGELER chris.henggeler@gmail.com AMY HUBER amyhuber@comcast.net CONRAD SMUKER Conrad.smucker@weyerhaeuser.com KEN TEWS twotews2004@yahoo.com MARITHERESE THOMAS maritheresethomas@yahoo.com CHRISTINE TOBIN-PRESSER ctobin@bskd.com JOHN VAIR cbuffsfan@aol.com