Updates for the Week 2/22/13

We had the opportunity to discuss several upcoming projects at the Board meeting on Tuesday.  As we move into budget time, we will be making some very big decisions regarding the future of Assumption and it is very important to have as many board members as possible in attendance.  .  I look forward to seeing all of you next month to review the proposed budget. 

This week I had the opportunity to meet with St. Paul and Lourdes parents to discuss the importance of the Family Tuition Plan.  As we all know, the Family Tuition Plan is a great program, but in speaking with those that utilize the program to send their children to Catholic schools and donors to the program, I really get a chance to see an all-encompassing view.  It puts in perspective the level of caring in our Catholic school community.

On the business front, our employees were given a presentation on our 401K program and it appears that all are happy with the changeover we made last year.  Carey and I continue to monitor the Diocesan efforts at a consolidated insurance program.  We should learn more about the direction of these efforts at our next meeting on March 6^th.  

The EOF 2.0 campaign continues to progress.  Thanks to all of those who have helped to this point and for all of those who have agreed to meetings in the near future.  

Good luck to the boys’ as they travel to Maquoketa tonight and the girls as they make the scenic trip to Des Moines.  Hope to see all of you there!

Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update 2/8/13

Updates for the week:

·        Friday I also attended North Scott Rotary with students. I had a chance through Rotary to take a few of our students on a tour of the Davenport police station on Monday.  It was a great experience not only for our students, but also for me.  Having never been in our police station, I was surprised by the sheer size of the building and the design and architecture that went into making it as energy efficient as possible. 

 

·        I met with our rep from our copiers company on Monday.  They have done a great job of supplying services over the last couple years, and we will be looking for some ways to potentially expand those services.

·        On Tuesday I was able to speak at kindergarten round up over at All Saints.  I spoke with the parents about tuition assistance and how to apply.  It was a great opportunity to help spread the word about tuition assistance and Assumption High School. 

·        On Friday morning Eric, Wade, Jackie, and I spent some time working on some ways to improve our custodian and bus driver schedules to increase efficiency.  I think we came up with some good options for potential improvements.

·        Some members of the Board of Directors participated in a meeting with St. Ambrose University regarding their facilities plan.  There will be a full update at the next Board meeting February 19, 2013.

·        Congrats to Emily, Bridget, Julie, Lynn, and Eric for holding a well-attended and informational 8^th grade parent meeting Thursday night. The information provided was well thought out and educated our future freshmen parents on everything from the Assumption family to what type of classes their students will be taking. 

·        I attended the AEA 9 superintendents’ meeting on Thursday and was able to hear Jason Glass, the director of the Iowa Department of Education, speak about education reform. It was interesting to hear about the ways current bills are progressing and the potential changes which could come to schools in Iowa.  We also received an update on the problems at the AEA that have been causing to our internet connection.  According to their presentation:

Current firewall equipment cannot handle the number of devices connecting to the internet.  A device is a desktop computer, laptop, iPad, tablet, smart phone, and IP phone. 

The AEA had been monitoring usage using customer bandwidth needs and was meeting customer bandwidth requests.  Unfortunately, it was discovered during troubleshooting that the number of devices accessing/hitting the firewall is also a factor.  The vendor stated this is becoming a global problem.  The customary fix is to a) restrict the number of devices hitting a firewall or b) upgrade to a newer firewall.  

In order to fix this they will be installing a new firewall this week.  Hopefully this will alleviate any problems.
 

Good luck to all of our students who are competing this weekend!