St Patrick Catholic School Board
September 27, 2023
Our next Catholic School Board meeting is tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 28, in the Parish Commons.
Dear School Families,
First, I want to introduce myself to you as a school board member here at St. Patrick. Our family has had four children attend St. Patrick School, since we first moved to the Cedar Valley in 2016. Currently, our youngest daughter is in the sixth grade, we have two children at Columbus High School (CHS), and our oldest son recently graduated from CHS. We are blessed to have a strong catholic education system here in our community.
The St. Patrick School Board is here to advise on policies and operations that are important to the wellbeing of our school community. It is our goal to connect with you to share updates on school board activities. Each month, you will receive a Message from a School Board Member which highlights the previous meeting. We encourage you to reach out with any questions or concerns.
During our August meeting, we discussed the progress on school security efforts, which include fencing in the playground (completed this summer), new procedures for accessing the building during Monday Morning Prayer, installing additional security cameras, and updating door access through key fobs. We will continue to work on implementing these measures as we consider the safety of our students and building staff. We are grateful to the Parish for their support of these efforts.
We also assigned school Board members to school and parish committees, to serve as liaisons.
The Board also discussed how the introduction of Education Savings Accounts have impacted our school to date. ESA’s are certainly a tool to grow our enrollment and this resource has been a blessing to many families. As we implement the ESA’s, it is our intent to grow St. Patrick in a manageable and meaningful way that does not sacrifice our quality education or compromise our Catholic values. If you know a family who might consider St. Patrick in the future, I encourage you to reach out to them! If you have not yet reviewed our spring ISASP scores, I hope you will take a look at them and share the quality catholic education that St. Patrick school provides!
I remember when, not long ago, my husband kindly corrected me when I referred to St. Patrick as a "Private School." He stated, rather, that St. Patrick is a "Catholic School." After reflecting on this, I quickly understood there is an important distinction. A simple google search of the term "catholic" brings up the adjective "all-embracing." Our Catholic school embraces the whole being of your child - in partnership with you, our teachers and staff, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Our school will always be a special place!
As you go through the motions of another busy year, I encourage you to find a way that you can become more involved during your child’s time here at St. Patrick! Get involved with CPTO, attend Mass with your child, visit Monday Morning prayer, serve on a committee, be a homeroom parent. There are many ways to be involved - and your efforts truly make all the difference!
Finally, please know you are always welcome to attend a school board meeting - which is held on the last Thursday of every month at 6:00 p.m. in the Commons. You may find a link to the School Board page on the website here. Please feel free to reach out to me or one of our school board members with any questions or concerns!
In Christ,
Lisa Ahern
School Board President
About Us
Facebook cfcatholicschool
Instagram stpatrickcatholic
Twitter cfcatholic
Email: office@cfcatholicschool.org
Website: www.cfcatholicschool.org
Location: 615 Washington Street, Cedar Falls, IA, USA
Phone: 3192776781