New School Principal Next Year
After 8 years of deeply appreciated leadership and service at our school, Mr. Dan Anderson will be moving back to California this summer to be closer to his mother and children. He has been offered the job as Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Monterey, and we are very happy for him that he has been given such an incredible opportunity. We will also, of course, miss him!
This is the first time I have had to search for a school principal, so I am learning the process along with everyone else. We have already written the job description, which will soon be posted on the Office of Catholic Schools’ employment website. Next, I want to hear from our teachers and parents about they are looking for in a principal, and I have now scheduled those listening sessions. The final step is to name a selection committee chair and to name a handful of school parents and parishioners to that committee. Once all of that happens on our end, the Office of Catholic Schools runs us through the process, which is a relief because OCS does this all the time and they know what they are doing.
Selecting a new principal will not be too hard because Mr. Anderson has left us an excellent example of what to look for. For now, though, he and I just need to get through Holy Week and the end of the school year, which is always plenty of work by itself.
Faith Community Scholarships
Speaking of the school, this month I am reviewing the applications for Faith Community Scholarships. You might remember the older system of “in parish tuition” where students from Assumption received a discount to their tuition, ostensibly to recognize that Assumption supported the school financially, and parishioners supported Assumption, so parishioners should have to pay less. When Assumption merged with Sacred Heart (the first time) in AD 2000, this “in parish rate” was extended to them, and then eventually to the whole county.
Well, last year we switched to a different system where parish support goes directly to the students in the form of “Faith Community Scholarships”. I deeply appreciate this system because it allows me to (1) be more responsive to the differing levels of financial need amongst our families and (2) check in with our families about their spiritual lives, to make sure our investment in their children is building on the foundation of weekly Mass attendance and parish participation.
At this moment, we have requests from 69 different students totaling $122,309 (median: $1,500, avg.: $1,772.59). And, unfortunately, I know there are still applications out there, so this number could go as high as $130,000. (Last year our total was $119,198.) I think some of our higher need families are realizing that we really do want their kids to attend our school, and they are asking for their actual level of need.
Every dollar of these scholarships comes out of parish collections, and I know that number can look startling high. But I believe it is a worthwhile expense, because every practicing Catholic ought to have the opportunity to send their children to Catholic school and our parish will be so much stronger in future decades if we make sure the students in our desks are also the children in our pews. I do not ask parents to prove their need, I simply ask the question “What level of support to do need to send your child to Catholic school?” because all I care about is getting their child into Catholic school.
Nevertheless, it is hard to see this number go up at the same time our parish is facing a $60,000 deficit this year. I do not want to deny or reduce these scholarships for any of our families, but we are definitely in a financial crunch. Blessedly, I have Holy Week to pray about how to square this circle.
Fr. Moore 