School Advisory Council Overview

The Latest Pulse – From October 13^th Heart Beat

Have you heard the buzz around school about PTAG and the School Advisory Board working more closely together? If so, you have heard correctly! The School Advisory Board and PTAG officers met at the September 11th board meeting and formally agreed to begin working together as one organization called the "School Advisory Council" (SAC). What you will see is less redundancy of valuable volunteer efforts, increased coordination of committees and, best of all, a solid alignment between committee work and the goals in the SHS Strategic Plan. We look forward to sharing more about this and further information about the SHS Strategic Plan at the Fall Parent Communication Meeting. Stay tuned for more details!

One of the first actions taken by the newly-formed SAC was the election of new officers for the 2008-2009 School Year. We are proud to announce Rick Pearce as SAC President, Ron Schmalz and SAC Vice-President and Shelley Cargill as SAC Secretary. For a list of current SAC members, please see the table at the bottom of this page.

Reminder: All parents, staff and faculty members are welcome to attend any SAC meeting. They are traditionally held on the second Thursday of each month, from 7-9 pm in the Parish Center. Minutes and agendas are available in the school office.

Strategic Planning Activities

During the last 6 months of 2008, the School Advisory Council (SAC) has taken several actions to move Sacred Heart’s strategic planning process forward. These actions include:

1. Unification of PTAG and School Board – the unification of these 2 organizations allows for more efficient and effective management of the school’s volunteer-driven activities, as well as more informed decision-making
2. Update of Governing Bylaws – the prior bylaws, in effect since 2001, have been updated to new Diocesan standards and also to reflect the unification mentioned above
3. Establishment of School Support Groups – In order to simplify the management of Sacred Heart’s volunteer-driven activities, these activities were reviewed and organized into 5 primary groupings of related activities. These groupings are referred to as Support Groups and include: Catholic Identity, Enrichment, Fundraising, Public Relations, and Strategic Planning. Each of the Support Groups has been given a charter which defines its purpose and the common cause for activities within the Support Group.
4. Creation of New Sponsorhip Role – In order to provide a communication link between each of the Support Groups and the SAC, a new role was created. This new role, referred to as Support Group Sponsor, is critical as a connection between the school’s volunteer-driven activities and the school’s administration. The Support Group Sponsors serve on the SAC and also maintain regular contact with the committee chairs in their Support Group.
5. Mobilization of 23+ Committees – During the months of September, October, and November, the Support Group Sponsors and other SAC members have been busy identifying committee members, chairpersons, and goals for the upcoming school year.
6. Fall Leadership Forum – In September, the SAC organized a 3-hour gathering of current and former leaders from the school community to gather ideas and suggestions to support the development of the new Strategic Plan and the goals for this school year. The Strategic Plan sets the course and direction to build a stronger and more viable school community for the future.
7. Development of Support Group Goals – Based on the information gathered during the Leadership Forum, Support Group Sponsors and their committee chairs have developed a list of goals and objectives for each Support Group. The committees in each Support Group are now actively pursuing these goals.
8. Winter Parent Communication Meeting – In early December, the SAC organized and participated in the Fall 2008 Parent Communication Meeting. During this meeting, important aspects of the school’s curriculum, operations, and volunteer-driven activities were presented and discussed with a large number of the school’s parents and faculty.

You may look forward to hearing more about these and other strategic planning activities through the monthly Pulse articles, regular updates to the website, and during the Spring 2009 Parent Communication Meeting – likely to be held in April or May of 2009.

School Advisory Council 2008 – 2009