The meeting commenced at 7:05PM.

Attendees:

Fr. Reilly opened the meeting with a prayer.

Last months meeting minutes approved.

Joan MacDonald gave her Principal's Report:

• The magazine drive netted >$9,000 to the school. Last year the amount was a little more than this year.
• Ninety (90) golfers have signed up for the Golf Tournament this Friday (10/8/04).
• The Candidacy (accreditation) process has begun as of Oct 1. It will take 2 years to complete with the Fall of 2006 the expected finish.
• A new music teacher has been hired (Karen Drumheller) and will start on October 18.
• School pictures were taken this week.
• The Enchanted Circle (Enrichment Program) was held. Its' mission is aimed as a stop bullying program for schools.
• Grade 2 made Rosary Beads for themselves.
• There is a trip planned for Oct 15 for Grade 2 to the St Anne Shrine.
• Grade 7 will be traveling to the Mashentucket Indian Museum.
• There are 200 children enrolled in the school. There are more interviewing for enrollment next year.
• Parents night (9/22) had good participation.

Fr. Reilly asked for reasons why there has been a loss of students. There is a report stating that School Choice, Tuition increase, moving out of the area and switching to local schools were the top 4 reasons. Fr Reilly stated that even with the monies allocated to help offset the tuition increase for some families, it was not enough to have some families remain.

CCD teachers will meet with the school teachers to assist with a perception of friction related to the school rooms being used by other than school teachers.

There is a Parish Talent Show tentatively scheduled for October 23.

There was a Calendar Meeting held in June 2004. The space (Parish facilities/school) was allocated for the full year (CYO Basketball, CCD, Guild, Parents Association, School Board meetings, etc.) Each year this will be repeated. Rooms have been allocated for each functional group.

Bay Path College wants 2 classrooms for Saturday morning classes. A proposal to add parking is being considered in the "green" space behind the church. The diocesan office is working with Fr. Reilly in making a determination about the proposal.

A Financial Report is being mailed shortly to the parishioners. In it, a request to make known how the school contribution to the Parish deficit was greatly reduced, was made. The initial deficit was stated to be approximately $313,000.00. At the end of the fiscal reporting year, the deficit was approximately $131,000.00. The deficit reduction was achieved through many avenues including budgeting, actual expense tracking, fundraising and space allocation.

A follow-up letter is needed to thank the Unico Club for donating the backstop and dugout fences, for the ballfield behind the school. Joan MacDonald will be addressing this issue.

New Business: a new member to the School Board, Chris Sarkis, was introduced.

Fundraising:

• The Golf Tournament is in two days (October 8)
• Candy Bars will be sold the last two weeks of January and the 1st week of February.
• The 2nd annual Fun Run is scheduled for June 4, 2005.
• Some discussion took place RE: investing in a new technology that would bring long term financial security to the school. More information is needed. Further discussion at future meetings with additional Parish Financial people is warranted.
• Krispy Kreme sales will be investigated. Some local schools are presently doing this with success.

Mary Lou Walthouse informed us about the Accreditation process. A Self Study is done every ten years. A comment was made by the outside team RE: information being made available on the Web Site. The School Board discussed the concern but sees no reason to alter the content at this time.

A recommendation was made to put a write-up in the bulletin reminding all visitors to the church and school to refrain from entering the parking lot when children are out playing.

A recommendation for a "clean up day" of a room off the gym was made. A tentative date of November 6 was established.

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 3, at 7PM.

Fr. Reilly closed the meeting with a prayer.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Kevin J. Hassett