Collaborative endeavor
Councils brings support to Catholic education
By Scott Alessi
Staff Writer
With Catholic schools facing critical times and an uncertain future, the Diocese of Metuchen is looking to the support of the community to keep Catholic education alive and well. As the new school year begins, the diocese has mandated that all schools have in place an advisory council.
Ellen F. Ayoub, diocesan superintendent of schools, said the purpose of the council is to provide for the long-term strategic planning of the school.
“We need to be reaching out to parents and to people in the community to get involved in our schools to help us in the areas where we just don’t have the expertise, like marketing and development,” Ayoub said.
The school advisory council mandate came out of the recent study of Catholic education in the diocese by Meitler Consultants, Inc., Ayoub said. Previously, all high schools in the diocese had councils in place but only a few elementary schools had implemented them, she said.
A school advisory council comprises nine to 15 members of the community, including the pastor and principal, who wish to lend their expertise to the school. No more than two council members may be parents of students at the school and no paid employees of the parish or school may serve on the council.
“The idea of the council is for the principal and pastor to receive advice from people who are out in the business world,” Ayoub said. “Maybe they are doctors, maybe they are in real estate, maybe they are bankers or attorneys. Whatever it is, they can bring their expertise to the school.
“And we want them to be from outside the school,” she added. “We really want our schools to be involved in the community and the community involved in our schools.”
The council meets four to five times a year and conducts most of its business through committees. An executive committee of a president, vice president and secretary are recommended by the pastor and principal and are formally appointed by Bishop Paul G. Bootkoski.
Other committees focus on the areas of finance, development and marketing. A resource committee oversees the self-evaluation of the council, and the president may also call together ad hoc committees as needed.
Council members serve a term of three years and may serve up to two consecutive terms. Members who have served two terms may be reappointed to the council after an absence of at least one year.
Strategic planning
The primary function of school advisory councils is to form a strategic plan for their school to ensure long-term success, Ayoub said.
Even in the case of schools that are doing well, she explained, it is important to be prepared for the future.
“We are hoping that these councils start to anticipate some of the problems that may come along so that we are not always reacting to what happens, but we are being proactive about the way we support our schools,” Ayoub said.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of a school advisory council, Ayoub pointed to the example of Our Lady of Lourdes School, Milltown, which implemented a council as part of its plan to continue operating the school.
“You can very clearly see a difference there,” she said. “The school and parish have worked together extremely well and their council has been instrumental in development, fundraising, enrollment and public relations. They’ve really been a shining example of what a council in place can do.”
Role of parents
While the advisory councils will take on an important role in sustaining Catholic schools, they in no way limit the role of a Home School Association, Ayoub said.
“The HSA does a fabulous job in the schools with the fundraising they do,” she said. “We want to go beyond that and do some development, and the councils will take charge of that.
“But that does not change the valuable, vital role that the HSA performs now and will continue to perform,” she said.
It is also important, Ayoub said, for the HSA and the school advisory council to communicate and work together. The diocese is recommending that all councils invite their school’s HSA president to serve as a member, she said.
