
Catholic School Matters
June 14, 2022
Looking Ahead
Since this is the last edition of Catholic School Matters for the school year, I thought I would include a preview of things to come this fall.
First, the new website is online! Thanks to the Foundation we were able to build a completely new website. It’s not finished yet but over the next month we expect to have it closer to complete. We’re especially excited for the “Find a School” feature which will include a google maps integration. There are two main groups who use the website—prospective parents (who are looking to research and to connect with schools) and current educators/stakeholders (who are looking for resources). We built the site accordingly. The site will promote joy, collaboration, and growth across all pages.
Second, we’re moving ahead with the character formation programs, courtesy of the Executive Principals. We want to instill in our students an appreciation for a virtuous life and teach the building blocks of character. Each month we’ll send out a short video explaining the value and its connected behavior(s). We hope that each school finds a way to reinforce those values and behaviors throughout the month and finds a way to recognize students who are displaying them. We will ask for one nominee from each school so we can celebrate diocesan-wide. The plan for the fall:
- · September’s behaviors center around meeting, greeting, and shaking hands
- · October’s behavior is sportsmanship
- · November’s behavior is service
- · December’s behavior is appreciation.
Third, we’re moving ahead with activities and sports that will promote participation of all students. We’re planning to announce dates for Diocesan competitions in chess, science fair, spelling bee, robotics, and math competitions. Our hope is that this will jump-start the creation of curricular and co-curricular efforts in each school to establish teams and clubs to compete. A school might start a chess club, for example, and conduct a school competition. Or the science teachers might introduce the science fair and then schedule a school version.
In the same way, we want to introduce a couple of kickball competitions on Saturdays in hopes that the rules of kickball are taught in PE class and more students will want to come out and have fun—especially the younger students. We also hope to conduct a Diocesan Elementary golf tournament this fall—one day only with only one boy and one girl allowed to enter. Again, our hope is that this might spur schools to hold their own golf tournaments (maybe a parent-child tournament?). In the spring, we hope to do the same thing with tennis.
This fall, we also hope to have a flag football clinic to see if there’s enough interest to put on a spring coed middle school flag football league. We hope to also institute a 7-week “season” of bowling this fall. This will involve 6 weeks of bowling for fun when schools arrange to rent as many lanes as they would like during a set 90 minutes on Tuesdays at one of three bowling alleys. Then on the 7th week, the best team from each school will advance to the championship round. If this is popular, we’ll do it again in late spring.
We also might institute awards for schools with the most participants and this would involve forming some type of association with “non-Diocesan” sports. We don’t want to take over these leagues, only bring about some type of federation to recognize school participation across all sports.
Our hope is that these activities and sports will capture more students and promote participation and connection to their schools, building on the character efforts to build a stronger foundation of school culture. The stronger the school culture, the stronger the school!
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Dr. Tim Uhl
Kari Buchinger on Academics
The 2021-2022 school year presented a handful of challenges but it was also filled with an abundance of joy! To capture that joy we have put together a Year in Review for our Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Buffalo. Please share this link with your school community. We want to spread gratitude and joy.
You may even choose to create your own Year in Review to remember and celebrate the amazing things your students and teachers have done this year. Retention never stops and this is another chance to connect families to your school who might be on the fence about returning. To get started…
- Create an account at canva.com
- Click “Create a Design” in the top right corner
- Click “Flyer” in the drop down menu
- Search templates or create your own using your school logo and colors
- Add text, photos, animation, to celebrate school events throughout the year
- When you are all done Click “Share” in the top right corner, click the first circle labeled “present”, click “share a link to view”, copy that link and send it out via email and social media.
Previous "Academic Corner" posts from Kari
Office Updates
As you plan for your professional development programs for next year, keep in mind that Kari ("The Science of Reading" and "Core Instructional Practices"), Chris ("Serving all Learners") and Dr. Uhl ("Distributing Leadership") can all be scheduled. Here is a copy of the flyer.
Chris Riso is reaching out to schools who have expressed interest in the Virtual Math Academy for middle school. If you'd like to be involved in the planning, please let Chris know via email.
Here is the tentative list of dates for meetings & activities for the 2022-23 school year which includes a new date for final principal meeting of the year (now in June, not May).
Chris Riso on Government Services
Government Programs Checklist for 2022-2023: Since there will be no Catholic School Matters in July, I thought I would send out my updated “Government Programs Checklist for Principals” for 2022-2023. Please consider posting this list in your office or saving a copy to your computer to help you stay on top of important deadlines this coming school year.
Records Retention List: As the year draws to a close, you may want to think about destroying some of the records you have been retaining from prior school years. Please refer to the attached NYSED list of records that must be retained and the number of years you must keep them before you securely destroy them.
End of Year Checklist for Government Programs
1. Eight required Fire Drills and four required Lockdown Drills have been completed.
2. Complete a written 2022-2023 Professional Development Plan based on identified student concerns and faculty/school needs.
3. Elementary AIS Reimbursement form is due by 6/30/2022.
4. Arrange for Title I, Title IIa, Title III, and Title IVa consultation with the public school district of school location prior to signing the “Written Affirmation of LEA Consultation” form in August. You will need to consult with other districts for Title I funding and services, only, based on qualified 2021-2022 free/reduced or similar poverty lunch counts.
5. Based on your Professional Development Plan for 2022-2023, start to think about where you will “keep” your Title IIa funds: with the School District of location, Erie 1 BOCES, NYSCIRS, or any combination of those three options.
6. 2021-2022 Mandated Services Folder – Receipts (BOCES; Scoring Workshop Fees; calculator purchases), Test Scorer Training Agendas & Sign in Sheets, Test Rosters with status clearly identified (Completed vs. Opt-outs; Exempt Students), copy of your Comprehensive Attendance Policy, copy of your Documentation of Integration of Required Instruction in 7th and 8th Grade (DIRI-Mandate 9), copy of school calendar showing student days in attendance and teacher days worked (after removing snow days).
Complete the School-specific Excel spreadsheet in July or August.
7. School Safety Plan – If not updated recently, set up June or summer meetings to update or convert your emergency plan to a “School Safety Plan” before school begins next fall.
8. Review NYS Teacher Certification Status of your teachers here
9. Textbook Ordering – follow district or BOCES procedures and meet deadlines.
10. NYSED MST Teacher Reimbursement Request is due 8/1/2022.
- http://www.p12.nysed.gov/nonpub/fundingopportunities/#mst - see the 5/3/22 Catholic School Matters for my advice on filling out your application.
Important Dates:
6/14/22 Erie County Schools Only – Complete Air Purifier Google Form
6/17/22 Complete 12 Required Drills; Four must be Lockdown Drills
6/30/22 AIS Reimbursement Form Due to NYSED – Elementary Schools Only
7/1/22 First day 2022-2023 Textbook Orders are allowed
8/1/22 NYSED 2021-2022 MST/STEM Grant Submission Deadline
Previous posts from Mr. Riso
Save the Date!
- July 13th Budgeting workshop at St. Stephen's parish. All school bookkeepers and principals are invited to share best practices around budgeting and financial reporting.
- August 18th all-day principal meeting. We'll start the day at 8:00 at CAWB parking lot. More details to come. We'll close the day with happy hour and dinner so you might want to block the entire day!
- Weekly principal Zooms at 9:30 am on Wednesdays. This week will be our final weekly Zoom.
- 175th Anniversary Mass for 8th graders, Sep 20, 2022, 10 am at the Cathedral
- Diocesan Professional Development Day October 7, 2022 at St. Amelia's.
- Diocesan Education Summit, November 10th. This is for principals, pastors/canonical administrators, board chairs, and one other stakeholder (4 from each school).
Resources
- Language for Anti-Bullying & Harassment for your handbooks, addressing hate speech, and the Diocesan DEI statements can be found here.
- We recorded a few short videos on May 12th from our veteran principals offering new principals advice. I had never used iMovie before, this is my first attempt. This is an 8 1/2 minute video with five different voices.
- The Diocesan Health Scorecard.
- The "Shoot for the Stars" one-hour TV special.
- School Pastor's Administrative Guide
- The Executive Summary. of this year's school data.
- Video recording of All-schools Mass at OLV with Bishop Fisher. Here is the link to Dr. Uhl's talk.
- "Principal Task List." This is organized as a living Google Doc by month.
- Here's a link to the forms on our website.
- New Policy Manual
- New Operations Manual
- Administrator Goal Sheet and the new Administrator evaluation form
Catholic School Matters Podcast
This week on the podcast, David Palmieri joins the conversation. David is a high school theology teacher who has started a grassroots network of Catholic high school educators to explore issues surrounding LGBT+ students in our schools.. Previous episodes:
- Dr. Molly McMahon of the Roche Center joins me to discuss problem solving in leadership and leadership formation
- Dr. Clare Kilbane of the McGrath Institute at the University of Notre Dame, joins me to discuss collaboration and Catholic identity
- Leticia Oseguera, the superintendent-elect for the Diocese of San Diego, joins me to discuss why she wants to be a superintendent and how her Latina heritage has shaped her leadership
- Kari Buchinger and I discuss the Diocesan Health Scorecards. We discuss how they came about, how they evolved, who was involved, and how we collected the information.
- I take a look at controversies that have impacted Catholic schools. There is not a guest! It's just me exploring the issues. There is a resource page, too.
- Earlier this month, the podcast features a great panel to provide a primer on the latest Congregation for Catholic Education's document, "The Identity of a Catholic School for a Culture of Dialogue": Dr. Melodie Wyttenbach, the Executive Director of the Roche Center; Dr. John Piderit, SJ of the Roche Center; and Dr. Lauren Casella of Loyola Marymount.
- Dan Horn, the President/Principal of St. Genevieve Parish Schools, joins the podcast to discuss his successful turnarounds at two separate Catholic school sin the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Dan is a transformational leader whose story is inspiring
Here is a link to the podcast on Apple Podcasts.
Articles for Your Reflection
Catholic School Matters
Email: catholicschoolmatters@gmail.com
Website: www.wnycatholic.org
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone: 716-847-5520
Twitter: @drtimuhl
My Last 5 Books
- 40 Days with God: Time Out to Journey with the Bible (2021) by Kent Hickey
Strategic Planning for Parishes (2021) by Tad Dickel
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (2018) by: James Clear
Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear (2022) by Michael O'Loughlin
How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (2021) by Katy Milkman
Click this link for a full list of my professional reading
Past Issues of Catholic School Matters
June 7, 2022 "Blessed are the Peacemakers"
May 24, 2022 "Bullying & Anti-Harassment Language"
May 17, 2022 "A Path Forward"
May 10, 2022 "School Health Scorecards"
May 3, 2022 "Government Funding"
April 26, 2022 Orchestrating Conflict 2022
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.