Catholic School Matters
August 29, 2023
Taking the Stairs
Last week I watched a great documentary about the G League, Destination NBA. It was a fascinating and fun film about hoopsters pursuing their dreams to reach (or get back) to the NBA. A constant theme was the work, the grind, and believing the work would pay off. In one locker room was a sign “There is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs.”
That quote, which I later figured out was attributed to Zig Ziglar, stuck with me. In our Catholic school environment, everyone seems to be searching for the elevator, trying to find the easiest path to the top. Since so many have tried so many different things, I think there’s been a little bit of learned helplessness–the belief that nothing can be done to reverse the enrollment slide of the schools and the diminishing of the church. Recall that the learned helplessness experiment was when a dog started receiving shocks, it tried everything to make the shocks end. But when it figured out that nothing would make a difference, it just laid down and suffered. It learned to be helpless.
We need to reverse this helplessness by focusing on successes and the levers we can actually pull to make a difference. To illustrate the success, this week’s podcast focuses on St. Mary Magdalene School in San Antonio. Without school choice and in a poor and declining parish, Principal Bill Daily turned to a dual language transformation which suddenly made their school appealing. Over the past decade, he has seen the enrollment more than quadruple and this fall they opened a new campus. There was no elevator–no major donations, no school choice, no miracle. There was a whole lot of stairs as the school adopted a new model and worked to be successful.
What levers can you pull? Last week we talked about our communication strategies. You can control how much you communicate, where you communicate, how you communicate, and what you communicate. You can segment your parents to make sure you are meeting their needs and developing stronger relationships. And stronger relationships mean higher retention and more parent referrals.
Another lever will be your School Board. As we embark on new structures for governance, the more time you invest in developing a strong board could result in a stronger school. The all-day Board Worshop is scheduled for September 22nd at Hilbert College and is open to all School Board members, principals, pastors, and chaplains. Experts from Boston College's Roche Center have committeed to participating and presenting. You’ll have more help climbing those stairs!
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Dr. Tim Uhl
Kari Buchinger on Academics
Today, new teachers from schools across the Diocese of Buffalo are gathering together to prepare for the start of the 2023-2024 school year. With the help of Dr. Kaitlin Reichart from the Greeley Center at Loyola University Chicago, these teachers will learn how to build a joyful classroom environment for their students. This theme will be a thread throughout the year as we welcome back Dr. Reichart as our keynote speaker for our October 6 diocesan-wide professional development day.
Pope Francis reminds us, “Joy is a gift from God. It fills us from within.” As Catholic Schools, we have the privilege to help our students find great joy as they grow closer to God. I challenge you to ask yourself, is your school joyful? Is your classroom joyful? Do your students have abundant opportunities to encounter Christ and experience the gift of joy? If this is a strength in your school or classroom, I encourage you to share your experiences with new colleagues. If this presents itself as an opportunity for growth, how might you prioritize joy in your classroom or school this year? Best wishes for a year filled with collaboration, academic progress, and joy!
Principals, don’t forget to complete this google doc and return it to me as soon as possible. Our first district planning team and site coordinator meetings will be in September. Also, don’t forget to submit your school registration form to hmccorkle@msa-cess.org. If you need another form please let me know.
STAR Windows:
Fall: September 6-27
Winter: January 8-29
Spring: May 20- June 10
Previous "Academic Corner" posts from Kari
Office Updates
Weekly principal zoooms will resume on Wed, Sep 13th
8th Grade Mass at the Cathedral, Sept 19th, 10:30 am
12th grade Mass at the Cathedral, Sept 20th, 10:30 am
School Board workshop September 22nd @ Hilbert College
Fall Professional Development day, Oct 6, 2023 @ St. Mary's HS
Calendar for the Department of Catholic Schools 2023-2024
Please fill out this short School Contacts Form for the upcoming school year
Sign up by Sep. 20th for the Diocesan Fall Bowling League. See the flyer for details.
Sign up by Sep. 29th for the 2nd Annual Diocesan Golf Tournament at Grover Cleveland Golf Course on October 11 at 12pm. See the flyer for details.
Sign up NO LATER than Nov. 5th for the 2nd Annual Math Tournament at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. See here for details.
Chris Riso on Government Services
8/31/23 Sign “Written Affirmation” forms for each District after Consultation
8/31/23 PDF/Copy of each Signed “Written Affirmation” form sent to C. Riso
9/1/23 Teachers are approved to be alone with students via VIRTUS/Safe Environment
9/5/23 New Concussion Management Training & Protocols have been Implemented
2022 MST Grant Payments: The NYS MST grant program, which the NY State Catholic Conference has long fought to keep and expand, will disburse the following Year 5 funds for applications made by the 8/1/2022 deadline in the next few weeks:
Number of Schools Total Reimbursement
Elementary Schools 18 $933,584
High Schools 8 $1,358,403
Total 26 $2,291,987
Mandated Child Abuse Reporter Training: I just wanted to give you a reminder that NYS Education Law §100.2(hh) requires our teachers, administrators, teacher aides, and bus drivers to comply with Section (8) of Chapter 363 of the Laws of 2018; they must complete two hours of coursework or training regarding the identification and reporting of child abuse and maltreatment and/or the new yearly “Child Abuse in an Educational Setting Training”. The training requirements, separated by personnel categories, can be found at Child Abuse Prevention Training | New York State Education Department (nysed.gov). We recommend that your staff do this training via the BOCES or other approved providers and then save the receipts for NPSE (Non Public Safety Equipment) reimbursement.
You have two options for the one course which must be completed each year: “Child Abuse in an Educational Setting Training”: training provided by Erie 1 BOCES or training provided by the Capital Region BOCES.
Erie 1 BOCES online training - Erie 1 BOCES has created a 30-minute pre-recorded PowerPoint training that meets the requirements of Education Law Article 23-B and the accompanying regulations requiring “ongoing training” of various school employees on child abuse occurring in an educational setting. Once purchased, the training can be replayed as many times as you need and can even be used in future years to meet the yearly “Child Abuse in an Education Setting Training” requirement. The cost of this training is a one-time fee of $200 per school and can be shown to a group or watched by individual staff members. If new topics are required by NYS law in future years, Attorney Dermott will update the presentation and then recommend you purchase the updated version for a nominal fee ($75?). Questions about this program can go to Amanda Dermott at adermott@e1b.org. If you are ready to purchase the training, contact Ashley Sweeney at 716-821-7115 or asweeney@e1b.org.
Capital Region BOCES Online Training - NYSED continues its partnership with Capital Region BOCES and PowerSchool to offer an online version of the new trainings that will fulfill the requirements associated with the amendments to the reports of child abuse in an educational setting adopted by the Board of Regents at their October 2019 Board of Regents meeting. To learn more about the online course offerings, including how to easily register, complete, and access your completion certificate, please visit the website here. Each individual staff member will pay for the online course (which I think is still $10) because the school cannot pay directly with the way it is currently set up; you would then reimburse each staff member for the cost of the course and retain all the documents (proof of attendance, payment receipts, canceled checks from the school for payment to each employee) to submit with your next NPSE reimbursement request and as proof that your staff met the training requirement.
Articles for Your Reflection
Catholic School Matters Podcast
This season's Catholic School Matters podcast season is underway. This week, I spoke with William Daily, the longtime principal of St. Mary Magdalene School in San Antonio which has undergone a remarkable transformation in the past decade. After converting to a dual language Catholic school (English/Spanish), the school's enrollment has quadrupled and this fall opened a second campus for the middle school in a closed Catholic school building that had been leased by a charter school. Previous episodes:
- Conversation with Christine Healey. The Healey Foundation has been in incredible partner with the Diocese of Buffalo and Christine describes the new direction for the foundation.
Here is a link to the podcast on Apple Podcasts.
Catholic School Matters
Email: catholicschoolmatters@gmail.com
Website: www.wnycatholic.org
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone: 716-847-5520
Twitter: @WNYCatholicEd
My Last 5 Books
The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (2007) by William Easterly
What is wrong with our schools? The ideology impoverishing education in America (2022) by Daniel Buck.
Playing God: American Catholic Bishops and the Far Right (2023) by Mary Jo McConahay
Nation at Thought (2023 ) by David M. Steiner
The 272: The Families who were enslaved and sold to build the American Catholic church (2023) by Rachel Swarms
Click this link for a full list of my professional reading
Past Issues of Catholic School Matters
August 22, 2023 "Singing as a Choir"
June 13, 2023 "Year in Review"
For previous newsletters, click this link
A few years ago I set out to write a book which would explore the challenges of Catholic school leadership. My premise that there are no easy answers and that we have to learn from our (and other's) mistakes in order to form a mindset appropriate for orchestrating conflict proved prescient as we all faced completely new and unexpected challenges in 2020. The book,Orchestrating Conflict: Case Studies in Catholic Leadership is now available on Amazon or on the Barnes & Noble site in print or e-book formats. The book explores issues in Catholic school leadership and the tensions between building community and following Church policies and introduces deliberate practice as a method for leadership formation. Most recently, I have completed a new book proposal so book #2 is underway!