Approved/Official Piqua Catholic School Board Minutes:
March 9, 2017
A. Call to Order:
a. Roll call: Joyce Thornberry, Matthew Schieltz, Andrea Karn, Cori Knapke, Joanne Detter, Georgia Hertenstein, Ellen Jay, Bob Termuhlen, Heather Monnin, Fr. Bolte (arrived later)
B. Prayer: Opening prayer was led by Ellen Jay
C. Approval of minutes: February's minutes were reviewed by Board members. Motion proposed to approve February's minutes, all Board members in agreement, none opposed.
D. Hearing of the Public: No guests in attendance at this Board meeting.
E. Principal report: The principal's report was distributed at the beginning of the meeting, reviewed by attending Board members and discussed by Georgia. Enrollment for next year is already at 117 students, including 22 of Kindergarten. Georgia mentioned the dilemma of where the schools draws the line between adding an additional Kindergarten class if enrollment size becomes much bigger or putting additional enrollees onto a waiting list. Further, there has been much success in having parents sign up for the EdChoice Scholarship.
F. Committee reports :
a. Governance: Did not meet
b. Finance: Did not meet
c. Marketing: Cori reported on the continued success and hard work of Cavaliers in Action (CIA) and important fundraisers that are upcoming, including a Dayton Dragons game. The Board reviewed the submitted CIA School Board Report.
d. Strategic planning: The Board reviewed the proposed strategic plan and there were no major changes to the plan required or suggested, so this was accepted and approved by the Board.
G. Comments from other members: The process for uploading PCS Board minutes and agendas to the website was reviewed; it was discussed that the technical aspect of allowing the minutes and agenda to be uploaded to the website was delayed last month and that the individual who manages the website will be contacted to discuss the procedure. Also, Bob asked a question about school voucher funding that the government may approve and how that may affect enrollment.
H. Unfinished business :
a. Discrepancy re: Health insurance numbers in the October Statement of Activities – Heather Monnin was in attendance to explain and discuss the PCS budget and fiscal year billing procedures for the health insurance. She discussed that she tends to run things about a month ahead, which also helps going from one fiscal year to the next.
I. New business:
a. Discussion of School Wellness program. Heather also discussed the proposed school wellness program that was distributed at the Board meeting. Heather reported that PCS and all schools who use the school lunch/nutritional program that PCS does are mandated to implement a school wellness program in order to be in compliance. The Board reviewed proposed school wellness program and Heather mentioned that it follows the same pattern and guidelines of the recommended wellness program from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, but tailored to PCS. The Board discussed that the procedures to gauge the effectiveness of the program outlined in the school wellness program policy need to be adjusted/changed, namely, the policy of tracking an individual student's weight, as this might seem offensive to some people/parents.
b. Proposed policy – Maternity Leave. The Board discussed the proposed maternity leave policy, which was inclusive of adoptive mothers, included language concerning the use of sick leave, FMLA, and also included setting policies regarding the teacher's responsibility to minimally discuss topics and standards that need to be covered during the leave in their classroom. The Board discussed these issues and voted on a motion to approve the policy.
J. Next meeting: set for April 6 at 6:30pm.
K. Concluding prayer: Fr. Bolte.