At our January 13th principal meeting, we plan to explore Operational Vitality—specifically your school's Value Proposition, your enrollment and retention trends, your enrollment projection, your tuition payment options, and simple budget principles. Our hope is that the result of this meeting will prepare you for a “State of the School” presentation to kick off registration during Catholic Schools Week.

To that end, we’re asking you for a little homework to complete. If you follow this link, you’ll be taken to a Google Form to fill out your work and we’d ask you to do this work before the end of this month. This work includes:

1. An exercise to explore your 5-year retention average. It’s a very simple process which can be done very quickly. If you ask your current 8th graders how many were in your school in 3rd grade in 2016, you’ll have one measure, and then if you explore the 7th graders to find out how many were in 2nd grade, the 6th grade for 1st grade, and 5th grade for Kindergarten, you’ll have 4 5-year retention measures. If you enter the numbers, we’ll do the analysis.

2. We’re asking you a simple question—what is your realistic goal for enrollment? We’re doing the work to enter in your historical data from the past 5 years to forecast your enrollment. We’ll give you that worksheet the morning of our meeting. We’re also collecting historical data (50 years ago, 25 years ago, 5 years ago, present day) to show trend lines for enrollment: nationally, Diocesan, for our open schools, and for your school.

3. We ask you to explain your school’s value proposition and how you’re positioned in relation to your competition. The Healey Foundation is going to come to present to us a workbook of resources on developing this further.

4. We ask you for your tuition payment options to get you thinking about how you structure tuition. Mike Ziemski from FACTS Tuition Management is going to present some best practices.

5. We’re also asking for total tuition collected last year and total expenses so we can present three simple data points: Cost of Education, tuition charged, and average tuition collected.

We know that this is a busy time but our hope is that it will take you less than 30 minutes to collect all this information. We’ll be spending time to collate and analyze this information so this will be a productive, working session. This meeting is open to private/independent Catholic schools, too, and if any non-Buffalo Catholic schools would like to participate we’re going to set up a separate Zoom meeting to explore these topics.

Want to keep up with the conversations surrounding Catholic education? Set up your own Google Alert, subscribe to this newsletter by clicking "follow," subscribe to the Catholic Schools Daily, or subscribe to the Catholic School Matters podcast.

Dr. Tim Uhl

1. Reminder that we are asking for all our Diocesan schools to follow a one spectator per athlete for our basketball league. Per NY state order, masks are required in schools.

2. Registration Form for January 13, 2022 Principals Meeting - https://forms.gle/MvFa9R2Jhrdw6moQ8

3. Years of Service Recognition Form - https://forms.gle/s2BAznMkaCNFc3G67

4. If you'd like to nominate a great Catholic school teacher for the "Making a Difference" award, the deadline is December 31st. Here is more information.

5. Please fill out this retention & enrollment prework by the end of December.

Writing these weekly blog posts has led me to frequent strolls down memory lane. Moments in time come flooding back as I prepare to share some nuggets of instructional knowledge I’ve learned along the way. In those moments, I am reminded of names, faces, and experiences with students, colleagues, and families that have impacted my life and my work. That could not be more true than a mentor I had in my first year of teaching.

One day during an Advent Service, our students were a little extra squirrely, and our priest wasn’t too happy about it. After he left the church, my colleague stood up in front of the students and stressed the importance of reverence during mass as we prepare our hearts for the arrival of Christ. She then dramatically pointed to the large crucifix above the altar. She said, “if Jesus can do that for us, then I think we can kneel correctly in the pews.” That was a common phrase that she would pull out from time to time. A little dash of Catholic guilt that led to an unspoken understanding. Jesus sacrificed for us, and remembering that sacrifice is very humbling when we think about day-to-day challenges. It doesn’t take away the challenge, but it can certainly put it into perspective. If Jesus can make the ultimate sacrifice for us, then we can dig deep and find the strength, courage, and persistence to face any challenge that is put in our path. But, just as Jesus gathered his disciples, we too must gather support teams to help us. No one said challenges have to be faced alone.

This is certainly true for our school leaders and teachers right now as they continue to face this pandemic. One teacher has to quarantine. Two students test positive. Seven students have to quarantine. Two more teachers, ten more students, and on and on and on. Before you know it, your sub list has disappeared, and you are scrambling to find enough adults to cover classes. The question starts to spin in your mind, can we stay open? Do we go virtual? How many parents will be furious because they have to take time off work? How many angry parent phone calls can I take before I break?

I don’t have easy answers to those questions, and unfortunately, we can’t always control the outcome. But, we can think strategically about our covid communications with families. Parents and guardians need to know where your school stands as we continue to experience an increase in covid cases. Transparency is key, even if it may lead to more phone calls of concern. To do that, you may consider:

• Stress to community members that your goal is to keep your school building open because that is best for student learning and social-emotional development.
• Be transparent about the struggle to find substitutes and encourage families to direct potential substitutes to your leadership team.
• Ask for volunteers whenever possible.
• It is almost Christmas vacation time for college students. This could be a great way to get some extras substitutes over the holiday season.
• Recognize the need to collaborate and work as a team both in school and at home. We can accomplish so much more when we work together.
• Get creative-Can the gym or cafeteria be used as a study room if a teacher in quarantine needs to teach virtually?
• Avoid sending your whole school to a virtual model if it can be avoided. Do you have enough teachers to support four classes? Then those four classes can be in school.
• Ask for compassion, understanding, and some extra grace during this difficult time. We are all human, and we all deserve it.

Leaders and teachers, keep the hope and remember that we can get through any challenge when we take the time to pray for strength and ask for help. Your work matters, you matter. This won’t last forever.

If any parents have tuned in for this week's issue of Catholic School Matters, I pray that this will inspire you to express your gratitude to your school’s leaders and teachers and encourage others to do the same. They are working tirelessly for your children and are performing miracles daily. A word of thanks can go a long way.

Previous "Academic Corner" posts from Kari

The message below is an important advocacy alert from the NYS Catholic Conference. Please consider forwarding this alert to your staff and school community and then encourage them to click the link in order to send a pre-written email to Gov. Hochul urging her to include funding for capital improvements at our Catholic Schools. Thank you.

“Governor Kathy Hochul is currently preparing her proposed state budget which we anticipate will include new areas of funding the Governor wants to advance for New York State. One of the requests we’re making of the Governor is to include funding for the facility needs of Catholic and other religious / independent schools. This funding is needed not only to help our schools address critically needed improvements such as air purification systems to deal with COVID and other airborne infections, but the funding will also help relieve the increasing burden on tuition-paying families. Please take a moment to add your voice to our request to Governor Hochul. Click here to take action. Thank you!”

Important Dates:

12/16/21 Fire Safety Report Must be Submitted Online by 12/16/2021

12/31/21 Complete Eight of the 12 Required Evacuation or Lockdown Drills.

Previous posts from Mr. Riso

1. Weekly principal Zooms at 9:30 am on Wednesdays. This week we're going to talk about the enrollment & retention efforts.
2. Administrators Meeting, 8-3, January 13th, St. Andrew Country Day School.
3. Cocktails for Catholic Education, January 27 2022, 6-8 pm.
4. Bishop Fisher's schedule for Catholic Schools Week is listed here.
5. The National Day of Giving for Catholic Schools is scheduled for Feb 2, 2022. Here's a link for more information.
6. X-Stream Games, May 15, 2022.
7. 175th Anniversary Mass for 8th graders, Sep 20, 2022, 10 am at the Cathedral

1. Video recording of All-schools Mass at OLV with Bishop Fisher. Here is the link to Dr. Uhl's talk.
2. "Principal Task List." This is organized as a living Google Doc by month.
   
3. Here's a link to the forms on our website.
4. New Policy Manual
5. New Operations Manual
6. Administrator Goal Sheet and the new Administrator evaluation form

Surprise! The podcast has returned. Here is the link to this week's episode. This week I speak to Faustin Weber, the author of the great blog post "Top Ten Suggestions to Avoid Principal Burnout." It's a 25 minute podcast filled with tips to create creative space in your leadership practice and de-stress your life as a principal.

Here is a link to the podcast on Apple Podcasts.

A weekly newsletter of resources to spur enrollment and excellence in our Catholic schools.

Email: catholicschoolmatters@gmail.com
Website: www.wnycatholic.org
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone: 716-847-5520
Twitter: @drtimuhl

Pictured above is St. Valentine's School on South Park Avenue, founded in 1920, closed in 1979

The first school in St. Mary's parish in Lancaster was a traveling school with villagers offering their log cabins for school sessions. St. John Henry Neumann visited the outpost and founded the church.

1. The Divine Comedy: The Inferno, The Purgatorio, and The Paradiso (2003 edition) by Dante Alighieri
   

2. The Future of Catholic Higher Education: The Open Circle (2021) by James L. Heft, S.M.

3. Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Practice & Principles (2006 ) by Peter F. Drucker

4. Retention: A Systems Approach to Growing Enrollment (2018) by Mike Ziemski

5. Creation: A Catholic's Guide to God and the Universe (2021) by Christopher T. Baglow

Click this link for a full list of my professional reading

November 30, 2021 "Communication Boundaries"

November 23, 2021"Gratitude"

November 16, 2021 "Leaves & Snowflakes"

November 9, 2021 "Crisis Operations"

November 2, 2021 "Chain of Care"

October 26, 2021 "Our Strategic Priorities"

For previous newsletters, click this link

A couple of 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.