St. Francis Borgia School Committee

School Committee – Overview
Characteristics of an Effective School Committee
Current School Committee Members

School Committee - Overview
The St. Francis Borgia School Committee assists the pastor and principal in the promotion and welfare of Catholic education. Members of the school committee are nominated by parishioners and chosen through prayerful discernment. (Prior to 2007, members were elected.) This committee is responsible for identifying and expressing the educational goals and objectives of the parish community. The School Committee compiles guidelines to define its mode of governance and operational procedures.

The committee serves as an advisory body to the principals and pastor and reports to the parish council. The committee dedicates itself to planning for the future, making policies based on sound educational goals, making responsible budgeting and financial decisions, promoting the school, and annually evaluating its goals and objectives.

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Characteristics of an Effective School Committee
Ideally, School Committee members should have the following characteristics and abilities:

Envision.
Members seek to enhance the school in ways that are lasting, yet flexible, visualizing different needs at a different point in time.

Think futuristically.
Members strive to work and plan proactively rather than reactively. They realize that present decisions impact the future and current objectives may have to be deferred for the fulfillment of future larger goals.

Collaborate with others.
Members interact and reach agreement or consensus with other Committee members and sub-committee members in their effort to continuously move forward.

Share talents and expertise.
Members willingly share their talents and strengths, knowing that humility calls us to recognize our own abilities and those of others. Members recognize that differing talents contribute to a balanced Committee.

Assume the role of advisors.
Members understand that their role is advisory, that is, a sharing of their perspectives, strengths, and resources. This contributes to enhancing school programs, and supporting students, school administration, staff, and parents.

Listen to different and divergent ideas.
Members see multi-faceted views as reflective of the the richly varied perspectives of school community members: students, staff, and parents.

Focus on the needs of the entire student body.
Members understand that their role is a responsibility to assure the best education for all students in the school; it is not the focus of individual students or groups of students.

Commit to and follow through on assumed responsibilities.
Members share their unique talents and abilities by assuming specific committee and sub-committee responsibilities.

Understand and support the school as one of the missions of the Church. Members see and support a Catholic elementary school as a specific mission of the Catholic church. This includes assuring that the school identity remains and grows in its Catholicity and that the school reaches out to impact beyond its own boundaries.

Understand the school as an integral part of and responsible to the parish.
Members know that the School Committee hierarchically is responsible to the Parish Council and the Pastor.

Understand that all discussion, sharing, decision-making, and implementation should be based upon prayerful consideration.
Members share responsibility for prayer to begin and conclude meetings. Prayer calls us to respect each individual’s unique ways of reaching our common goals.

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Current School Committee Members

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