Montana Catholic Schools Weekly
May 16, 2016
The Year's Best
This issue serves as the final issue for this school year. This is the 20th issue this spring and 36th this school year. This spring the newsletters averaged 1174 views per week. The top 3 newsletters all surpassed 1400 views. They were:
- Jan 10th "Why Are Catholic Schools Closing?"
- Jan 24th: "Growth vs. Fixed Mindsets"
- May 2nd: "Contracts, Benefits & HR"
I can also isolate the most popular link from each issue. Here they are:
- January 4th: 40 Hour Work Week for Teachers
- January 11th: Feedback vs. Criticism
- Jan 18th: All the Tiny, Beautiful Things About Being a Kid That Every Teacher Gets to Remember
- Jan 25th: Avoid a Toxic School Culture by Being a Mythbuster
- February 1st: 5 Essential Marks of Catholic Schools
- February 8th: St. Labre Basketball Star Shiloh McCormick
- Feb 15th: My Son Didn't Start Today
- Feb 22nd: When a School Becomes Toxic--What Can We Do to Change School Culture?
- Feb 29th: 10 Ways to Flip a Kid and Turn Their Day Around
- Mar 7th: Boston Cardinal O'Malley Praises "Spotlight"
- Mar 14th: What Feedback Is and Isn't
- Mar 21st: Why School System Leaders Need to Be Systems Thinkers
- April 4th: 37 Insanely Smart Teacher Hacks
- Apr 11th: How Great Teacher Candidates Interview Differently
- Apr 18th: How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence
- Apr 25th: A Work Schedule That Works
- May 1st: 9 Things Enormously Productive People Do
- May 8th: How to Influence Without Authority
- May 15th: Going Deeper Faith Formation Program
I'll return in mid-August with a Back to School issue. This summer I'll be taking 4 graduate courses to finish up my superintendent certificate as well as working on some major projects here in the office. But I'll find some time to go to Glacier, Yellowstone, Ft. Peck, and Seattle. See you in August!
Dr. Tim Uhl, Superintendent
The Week Ahead
Monday: Missoula meetings
Tuesday: Billings meetings
Wednesday: St. Labre Board & HS graduation (Ashland)
Thursday: Sacred Heart visit (Miles City)
Friday: office (Helena)
This week: 1,089 miles
Last week: 843 driving miles
2015-16: 27,271 driving miles; 14,969 air miles
Saints Wall of Fame
St. Joseph the Worker
Havre Central
What I'm Reading in 2016
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling.
- What College Trustees Need to Know (on deck)
- Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (finished)
- Getting it Done: How to Lead When You're Not in Charge by Roger Fisher & Alan Sharp (finished)
- Motion Leadership in Action: More Skinny on Becoming Change Savvy by Michael Fullan (finished)
- HBR's 10 Must Reads "On Emotional Intelligence" (finished)
- A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby Payne (finished)
- The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations by John P. Kotter (finished)
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen (finished)
- Motion Leadership by Michael Fullan (finished)
- The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda (finished)
- It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff (finished)
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip & Greg Heath (finished)
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeon (finished)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (finished)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (finished)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (finished)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (finished)
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (finished)
Montana Catholic Schools
Email: superintendent@montanacc.org
Website: www.montanacatholicschools.org
Location: PO Box 1708 Helena MT 59601
Phone: (406) 442-5761
Twitter: @mtcathschools
For Principals
- Many questions have arisen regarding the new overtime provisions. Please see the "Q & A" below. Two questions I have heard repeatedly can be answered simply: yes, teachers will remain exempt but all staff members will not (unless they surpass the income threshold), and the way that the Dept of Labor will monitor your compliance is through employee complaints.
- There's a great opportunity to study the practice of development monthly with other Catholic school personnel. Here's a webinar registration.
- Please reserve August 15th & 16th for the New Teacher & (current) administrator Retreat in Great Falls at the Ursuline Centre. Doug Tooke will be the director.
- Open Enrollment is the time when benefit-eligible employees can make changes to their benefit plans. The dates: Diocese of Helena (May 10-24) and Diocese of Great Falls-Billings (May 18-June 2).
- We currently have two principal openings: Our Lady of Lourdes parish school in Great Falls and Butte Central Elementary. Please direct interested parties to me.
- The Great Falls Task Force now has a web page with links to all meetings notes, etc.
- The Principal/President Evaluation process is now underway. Principals & presidents filled out goal statements last fall and will be asked to evaluate themselves as part of the process. Here is the form that I will fill out, too. I have scheduled dates for these interviews when I will come and visit the school and observe the learning climate, share the perception data, and talk about the principal's performance this year. The dates: Julanne Gauger, St. Jude (May 18th), Catherine Kirchner, St. Mary's (May 19th), and Bart Freese, Sacred Heart (May 26th).
- The Annual Report template is now posted and ready for each principal. This Annual Report is due June 9th at the June Principal Meeting in Livingston.
- There is one more survey regarding Professional Development. Every teacher & administrator is asked to fill out this very short survey. This will close tomorrow.