Catholic School Matters
November 28, 2023
Tuition Recommendations
With all the changes to parish governance and organization, the question that we hear quite frequently is, “What is our expectation of parish support for Catholic schools with each parish family?” The Finance Committee of the Diocesan Education Advisory Council set out to articulate the recommended procedures for parish and regional schools. The Tuition Recommendations can be found here.
Notice that there isn’t anything really different in the expectation that all sending parishes would provide support to active families approximately $1500 per student. The reality is that we want to support Catholic families and Catholic schools but the fiscal realities of our parishes have been challenged by falling attendance and contributions.
We recognize that challenge and thus our recommendations are only that. However, it’s also a challenge for us all to figure how to attract more families to Sunday Mass AND Catholic schools. We’re in this together! Without Catholic parishes, we lose the faith. And without Catholic schools, we lose the next generations of potential Catholics. Our hope is that you can take these recommendations and develop a way to make participation in Catholic parishes and schools more appealing.
Notice also that there are recommendations for the future. We believe it’s time to move away from parish discounts and towards a true cost of education. This also involves developing a Cost-Based Tuition (based on the actual Cost of Education) and Needs-Based Aid System. At the fall Board workshop, FACTS presented ideas on how this new system could work. We’ll continue to work toward this better system.
Previous blogs can be found here. Want to keep up with the conversations surrounding Catholic education? Set up your own Google Alert, subscribe to this newsletter by clicking "follow," or subscribe to the Catholic School Matters podcast.
Dr. Tim Uhl
Diocesan Math Competition
Here is the powerpoint that has all the winners names in it.
Grades 3-5 Individual winners:
- 3rd place - Tie with Caroline Agostino and Zoey Mann, both from St. Benedict's
- 2nd place - Joey LaMancuso, St. Benedict's
- 1st place - Michael Farley, St. Benedict's
Grades 3-5 Team winners:
- 3rd place - St. Benedict's Mathematical Brainiacs
- 2nd place - St. John Kenmore's Jawsome Jaguars
- 1st place - St. Benedict's The Smarties
Grades 6-8 Individual winners:
- 3rd place - Lucas Malecki, St. Benedict's
- 2nd place - Matt Cwiklinski, St. Stephen's
- 1st place - Thomas McKim, Christ the King
Grades 6-8 Team winners:
- 3rd place - Christ the King's The Denominators
- 2nd place - Christ the King's The Math Magicians
- 1st place - St. Christopher's Team 1
6-8 Countdown winner: Alexander Lane, SS Peter & Paul, Hamburg
Office Updates
***NEW DATE*** The Diocesan Spelling Bee will be held on January 31st at 6pm at Mount St. Mary’s High School. Please register your top 3 spellers HERE after you have held your own school-wide spelling bee. You can find resources and practice spelling words HERE along with some tips for your in-school spelling bees. Years of Service Certificates - All Catholic schools are asked to consider sponsoring the Catholic Education luncheon, purchase tickets and ads, and tables. Here is the link. January 11, 2024 - Principals’ Meeting Registration Form
Chris Riso on Government Services
Substantial Equivalency Update: Although there has not been a formal announcement about this yet, the deadline for your District (LEA) to indicate which pathway you have selected has been extended to 1/15/24. Notice of this change is on the Substantial Equivalency webpage under the “Local School Authority (LSA)” section; please direct Public School District staff to this website if they continue to ask for your Pathway decision by 12/1/23 (the old deadline). There still have been no updates to the list of approved assessments for Pathway 6 or the addition of a list of approved accreditors on the main webpage.
Fire Drills; Fire Safety Report: As December approaches, remember to finish your first eight required safety drills by the December 31st deadline. Hopefully you were able to complete the six recommended evacuation (fire) drills so you have December to complete two of your four required lockdown drills. Click here for a sample fire drill tracking form.
If your Fire Safety Inspection has not yet been completed, you must arrange to complete one prior to December 1st (this Friday) and, for most schools, the inspection report must be filed with the Commissioner via the Business Portal prior to December 16th. As I mentioned previously, the Fire Safety Reports for all schools that are located outside of the city of Buffalo with more than 25 students must be submitted via the NYSED Business Portal. Information on the process and the required Non-Public forms can be found on the bottom of this webpage. Several schools had trouble locating the online report so here is the best way to get to your report (from Directions on Accessing the Nonpublic School Annual Fire Safety Report (nysed.gov):
1. Log into the NYSED Business Portal at https://portal.nysed.gov/
2. Under “My Applications”, choose “Facilities Planning-Fire Safety”.
3. Once you select “SEDREF Buildings” your school will appear.
4. Select “Enter Report” to input the data from your completed Fire Safety inspection.
Previous posts from Mr. Riso
Articles for Your Reflection
Catholic School Matters Podcast
This season's Catholic School Matters podcast season is underway. This week, former Catholic high school president Lorcan Barnes joins to share his "Top 10 Lessons Learned as a Catholic High School President." Previous episodes:
- Lauren May and Ron Matus from Step Up For Students, a Florida school choice advocacy group, join the podcast to describe the Florida school choice landscape and what the research is showing
- I bring Kelby Woodard back on the podcast. Kelby is now the President/CEO of the Cristo Rey Network after previously serving as a Head of School. He updates the status of Cristo Rey schools in development as well as new challenges to Cristo Rey.
- In October, I kicked off a series of podcasts on leadership in Catholic schools. These five podcasts include a conversation with a Catholic school leader about five controversies which have impacted Catholic schools in the past year. Then I invite on another Catholic school thought leader to reflect on what they've heard.
- In the fifth and final installment, Chris Mominey of Avanti Advisers comes on to discuss a number of different controversies and then Dr. Daniel McMahon returns to the podcast to reflect on what he heard. Here's a blog about the episode
- The fourth podcast includes a conversation with Dr. Melanie Palmisano about five controversies and then a reflection by Dr. Antonio Felix of LMU. Here's a blog post about the episode
- The third podcast includes a conversation with Dr. Kevin Baxter of ACE about five controversies, and then a shorter conversation Dr. Bill Hughes. Here's a blog post about the episode
- The second in the series includes a conversation with Greg Richmond of the Archdiocese of Chicago and commentary from Faustin Weber. Here's a blog post about the podcast.
- The first podcast includes a conversation with Dr. Daniel McMahon from DeMatha Catholic High School and a reflection by Beth Purvis of Wake Forest. I've also penned a blog post which gives a little more context to the project
- I invite John Kennedy of St. Joseph High School in South Bend onto the show to discuss the school's decision to drop their Native American nickname and the process by which this decision occurred
- I spoke with Fr. Jack Podsiadlo, SJ, the author of the recent book "The Nativity Phenomenon." In the book, he tells the story of how the Nativity schools began and their incredible growth. Now semi-retired back home at McQuaid, this was a face-to-face conversation.
- I brought David Palmieri back on the podcast to discuss diocesan policies about human sexuality. Palmieri has done the homework to discover origins of different policies and find out how they are related to each other. We discuss the different types of policies, their origins, and their implications
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
A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped It (2023 ) by Timothy Egan
The Great Dechurching: Who's Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? (2023) by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan Burge.
The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century (2010) by Joan Chittister
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (2017) by David Grann.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir (2022) by Matthew Perry.
Click this link for a full list of my professional reading
Past Issues of Catholic School Matters
November 14, 2023 "Progress Report"
November 7, 2023 "Building Leadership"
October 31, 2023 "Positive Classrooms"
October 24, 2023 "Board Training"
October 17, 2023 "Systems Thinking"
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!