So we had our Pre-k/Kindergarten Round-Up last night, and it didn't generate nearly as much traffic as the one we held in March. In fact, only two families showed up. But if they end up signing up for preschool, that's two more families than we had yesterday morning! Look at me, I'm an optimist! Plus, we advertised last night's event in conjunction with a second date two weeks from now, so hopefully people are just planning on the later session.
However, we sustained a serious blow to the plan. That Finance Committee that was so high on us after our meeting? They just issued some ridiculous decrees: we have until the end of May to get enough children signed up to hit our financial goal, and if we can't do that, we have until June 15 to fundraise the shortfall. If we don't come up with the funds by then, we are to notify the registered families and return their money. And they never bothered to consult with us to see how our progress is going. Besides the obvious, there are some major considerations to which they're turning a blind eye.
1. July and August are huge enrollment months for the Last Minute Louies who realize they forgot to sign up anywhere and then find other programs at capacity. Last year, the neighboring Catholic school closed its enrollment in early July, and our phone started ringing, but the Powers that Be would not grant us a reprieve.
2. We alienated a lot of people last year when we pulled the plug at the end of June. If we do it again, we might as well just roll over, 'cause we're finished. More than half of the current 19 kindergartners came from the preschool. At this point, we only have 10 total incoming kindergartners for the fall, and many of them are siblings of older students. Without preschool, we have no feeder program, and we're feeling it already after just one year.
3. We know that we have to bring in $65k to be self-sustaining. However, even if we have tuition commitments from enough families to cover that, $65k will not be showing up on the first day of school. The families will be on monthly payment plans, so why should we have to fundraise the shortfall before the school year even starts instead of all along during the year? Completely unreasonable.
I think I'm onto them, though. We are in a huge state of flux right now because both our pastor and our principal are leaving this summer. Their replacements do not start until July 1. Convenient that the Council gave us a drop-deadline before the new guys can show up, huh? I think they might think they'll look good to the new pastor if they show that they're in control and risk-averse, rather than willing to take a chance on us. Or they're afraid that their power will be diminished, so they have to flex their muscles in a big way one more time before the new regime arrives. One or the other.
Our little committee of three decided we'll wait and see how next week's Tuition Nights and the following week's open house turn out before we request another meeting. Hopefully they just need our reassurances, but I can't say I'm not extremely worried. In the meantime, I retooled our Shopper ad and the local newspaper Calendar blurbs today (90 minutes), so hopefully we'll generate some new interest. And of course, we'll keep praying!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Reinstituting Preschool Even If It Kills Me!
My focus this week is preschool. We had a great little preschool program for three years: a wonderful teacher and aides, happy kids who learned a lot and were more than ready for kindergarten. But the program was losing money, and the parents weren't alerted to the situation until it was essentially too late. We jumped in and managed to have 12 kids registered by the end of June, but the Parish Finance Council pulled the plug on us because they wanted us to have 16 kids. We could not convince them that many people wait until late summer to register. Sadly, that's exactly what happened, and had we been allowed to proceed, we would've had more than 20 kids enrolled for the current school year. What we ended up with instead was a bunch of angry families suddenly scrambling to find places for their kids.
This year, our Board of Specified Jurisdiction (fancy school board model adopted by the Archdiocese) decided that we can't increase enrollment without a preschool program to serve as a feeder to the school. So they asked those of us who had worked our tushies off last year to join with them and put together a plan for relaunching the program. Here's what we've done so far to get going:
1. Won Over the Powers that Be
We met with the Parish Finance Council to plead our case, present our plan, and get their blessing to proceed. The principal had handled the financial end, coming up with the tuition plan, and our financial guy presented that info. along with assurances of our ability to fundraise to cover any shortfall. Our second member has been working with the Archdiocese on development issues--she was able to talk about options for staffing that can keep our costs down. I put together a comprehensive marketing plan, including a competitive analysis of other programs available in our community. When the dust settled, we received many claps on the back and wishes of good luck--now we just have to deliver!
2. Grassroots Efforts
We passed out fliers at baseball registration two Saturdays in February; posted the flier in public places like the library and grocery store; made personal phone calls to invite parish families with children of preschool age; at our big annual parish fundraiser, handed out business cards promoting the open house on one side and Ladies' Night Out on the other; took a table at a park district market event, sold candy bars (leftover from another one of our fundraising efforts), and passed out the general info. flier, the open house invite, and a coupon for $50 off registration for families who would sign up at the open house.
3. Media Promotion
Submitted info. to local media outlets' calendar sections, including our daily newspaper, weekly shopper paper, and local-access TV station; ran ads in the weekly shopper; had write-ups in the church bulletin and monthly school newsletter.
4. The Event
We had our Early Education Round-Up Night in March. The old preschool room was restored to its former glory, and all teachers from preschool through 3rd grade were present in their classrooms to answer questions. We supplied each of them with a couple of neatly uniformed kids to show off their daily routines and good manners to the visitors. We didn't start until 7:00, which I thought was a mistake when trying to entice families with small children. But we did have people coming through non-stop all evening long. Our net that night: four preschoolers, several kindergartners, a 3rd grader and a 7th grader, who have put down money and will be joining us for the 2010-2011 school year.
5. Ongoing Efforts
This month, in addition to two more evening open houses, we'll offer weekly two-day sessions of Preschool Practice for three- and four-year-olds to come in and sample what actual preschool days are like. We promoted both programs in all of the same outlets, as well as in the flier we handed out at last week's parade (1200 copies!). Today, I worked on little table tents to remind patrons at our Mothers' Day Pancake Breakfast this weekend (1 hour) and wrote the ad for our local shopper newspaper (40 minutes). Now if we can just get those little bodies in the door!
This year, our Board of Specified Jurisdiction (fancy school board model adopted by the Archdiocese) decided that we can't increase enrollment without a preschool program to serve as a feeder to the school. So they asked those of us who had worked our tushies off last year to join with them and put together a plan for relaunching the program. Here's what we've done so far to get going:
1. Won Over the Powers that Be
We met with the Parish Finance Council to plead our case, present our plan, and get their blessing to proceed. The principal had handled the financial end, coming up with the tuition plan, and our financial guy presented that info. along with assurances of our ability to fundraise to cover any shortfall. Our second member has been working with the Archdiocese on development issues--she was able to talk about options for staffing that can keep our costs down. I put together a comprehensive marketing plan, including a competitive analysis of other programs available in our community. When the dust settled, we received many claps on the back and wishes of good luck--now we just have to deliver!
2. Grassroots Efforts
We passed out fliers at baseball registration two Saturdays in February; posted the flier in public places like the library and grocery store; made personal phone calls to invite parish families with children of preschool age; at our big annual parish fundraiser, handed out business cards promoting the open house on one side and Ladies' Night Out on the other; took a table at a park district market event, sold candy bars (leftover from another one of our fundraising efforts), and passed out the general info. flier, the open house invite, and a coupon for $50 off registration for families who would sign up at the open house.
3. Media Promotion
Submitted info. to local media outlets' calendar sections, including our daily newspaper, weekly shopper paper, and local-access TV station; ran ads in the weekly shopper; had write-ups in the church bulletin and monthly school newsletter.
4. The Event
We had our Early Education Round-Up Night in March. The old preschool room was restored to its former glory, and all teachers from preschool through 3rd grade were present in their classrooms to answer questions. We supplied each of them with a couple of neatly uniformed kids to show off their daily routines and good manners to the visitors. We didn't start until 7:00, which I thought was a mistake when trying to entice families with small children. But we did have people coming through non-stop all evening long. Our net that night: four preschoolers, several kindergartners, a 3rd grader and a 7th grader, who have put down money and will be joining us for the 2010-2011 school year.
5. Ongoing Efforts
This month, in addition to two more evening open houses, we'll offer weekly two-day sessions of Preschool Practice for three- and four-year-olds to come in and sample what actual preschool days are like. We promoted both programs in all of the same outlets, as well as in the flier we handed out at last week's parade (1200 copies!). Today, I worked on little table tents to remind patrons at our Mothers' Day Pancake Breakfast this weekend (1 hour) and wrote the ad for our local shopper newspaper (40 minutes). Now if we can just get those little bodies in the door!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Today's Tally: 3.5 hours
Stopped into the school office to drop off remaining fliers from last week's community parade so they could be sent home with the school kids in the monthly newsletter--15 minutes.
Finalized the "thank-you" and "upcoming events" program to be handed out at this weekend's Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, and emailed to the event chair for copying--30 minutes. It took me about an hour and a half to create this piece yesterday, using the one I did for the Ladies' Night Out event as a template.
Ran into the parish office after school to pick up brochures to be delivered to the Village Hall for distribution to new families who move into town--15 minutes.
Figured out how to cover up expired information on already-printed color copies of our preschool flier to be included with parish brochures being sent to Village Hall. Cut out teeny-tiny stickers with updated information, and applied to 100 copies of the preschool flier--60 minutes.
Went to work; served "dinner" (sandwiches) after kids got home from baseball practices; bathed the two of the four who can't do it themselves; helped with homework. Daddy handled most of the bedtime routine for the little ones.
Returned to the flier task, folding the preschool ones to fit into the pre-folded parish ones--90 minutes. I'll drop these off at Village Hall on the way to work tomorrow. Project complete!
Thank goodness for Tivo--I'm going to watch Lost now.
Finalized the "thank-you" and "upcoming events" program to be handed out at this weekend's Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, and emailed to the event chair for copying--30 minutes. It took me about an hour and a half to create this piece yesterday, using the one I did for the Ladies' Night Out event as a template.
Ran into the parish office after school to pick up brochures to be delivered to the Village Hall for distribution to new families who move into town--15 minutes.
Figured out how to cover up expired information on already-printed color copies of our preschool flier to be included with parish brochures being sent to Village Hall. Cut out teeny-tiny stickers with updated information, and applied to 100 copies of the preschool flier--60 minutes.
Went to work; served "dinner" (sandwiches) after kids got home from baseball practices; bathed the two of the four who can't do it themselves; helped with homework. Daddy handled most of the bedtime routine for the little ones.
Returned to the flier task, folding the preschool ones to fit into the pre-folded parish ones--90 minutes. I'll drop these off at Village Hall on the way to work tomorrow. Project complete!
Thank goodness for Tivo--I'm going to watch Lost now.
Third Time's the Charm
I've tried to blog twice before in the past, but I never survived beyond the first handful of posts. My first attempt was to chronicle my efforts at building a freelance writing career, and the next try was more of a "mommy blog," but writing for a living kind of drains me of the desire to write for pleasure. Sadly, most of my jobs have dried up along with the economy, so that's no longer an issue. Plus, this time, I have renewed purpose. I've become so bogged down in volunteer efforts that I really need to quantify my efforts so I can either streamline some things or back off others entirely. I'm tired!
Here's a little background. Three of my four kids go to the parochial school that I attended as a child. The Catholic school system nationwide has suffered some serious blows over recent years, not the least of which is our pathetic economy. So like many Catholic schools, our tuition is climbing while enrollment is shrinking, one feeds the other, and it's become a vicious negative cycle. Struggling families, my own included, are having a hard time paying for Catholic education. Couple that with a pastor who alienated many parishioners and school families who ultimately decided it wasn't worthwhile to stick it out, and we're facing real crisis in the near future. We currently have less than half of the student population that we had six years ago.
Enter the Fundraising Committee, which I joined at its inception two years ago. Our initial goal was to present some sort of money-raising opportunity every month, whether a big social event or something smaller, like a sale of some kind. My main part in all of this was co-chairing a spring Ladies' Night Out, an event that my co-chair and I created from scratch. We now have two of them under our belts, and showed positive growth in both attendance and profits after the second year. However, it's a HUGE undertaking, and I'm still recovering. My intention had been to track the time we put in so we could actually see how much our profits would pay out in actual labor hours. But I never got around to actually logging the time, and now I have to go back and try to estimate so I can fill out a report for the committee. Hopefully, this blog will take care of that for me in the future, assuming I can stick to it this time!
Here's a little background. Three of my four kids go to the parochial school that I attended as a child. The Catholic school system nationwide has suffered some serious blows over recent years, not the least of which is our pathetic economy. So like many Catholic schools, our tuition is climbing while enrollment is shrinking, one feeds the other, and it's become a vicious negative cycle. Struggling families, my own included, are having a hard time paying for Catholic education. Couple that with a pastor who alienated many parishioners and school families who ultimately decided it wasn't worthwhile to stick it out, and we're facing real crisis in the near future. We currently have less than half of the student population that we had six years ago.
Enter the Fundraising Committee, which I joined at its inception two years ago. Our initial goal was to present some sort of money-raising opportunity every month, whether a big social event or something smaller, like a sale of some kind. My main part in all of this was co-chairing a spring Ladies' Night Out, an event that my co-chair and I created from scratch. We now have two of them under our belts, and showed positive growth in both attendance and profits after the second year. However, it's a HUGE undertaking, and I'm still recovering. My intention had been to track the time we put in so we could actually see how much our profits would pay out in actual labor hours. But I never got around to actually logging the time, and now I have to go back and try to estimate so I can fill out a report for the committee. Hopefully, this blog will take care of that for me in the future, assuming I can stick to it this time!
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