STATE OF THE SCHOOL REPORT
TO THE STAKEHOLDERS OF THE ST. ROMUALD INTERPAROCHIAL SCHOOL
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
It is my pleasure and high honor to report to you the status of the St. Romuald Interparochial School (SRIS) at this onset of this 2008 – 2009 school year. The nature of this report is to apprise you of where we are, and where we want to go from here. It is my hope that everyone reading this report realizes how much we value your continued support in making SRIS not only possible, but to thrive in an era when attendance at Catholic schools is diminishing both nationally and across the Owensboro Diocese. You have our praise for the sacrifices you continue to make toward our success.
SRIS opened the 2008 – 2009 school year with an enrollment of 237 students, our highest enrollment since 1989. This interest is a testimony to the sacrifices our parents are willing to make on behalf of their children and the dedication of the Breckinridge County parishes to support these students in pursuit of an education at our Catholic school. The really good news – there is no sign of enrollment leveling off! Growth is occurring and all indications are that it will continue to increase annually.
SRIS continues to operate on a very tight budget and we must be both frugal in our expenditures and continue to work hard to support the various fund-raisers that have enabled us to not raise our tuition nor to seek additional church subsidies. At a time when both the national and the local economy are in difficult straits, our fund-raisers remain vital to our operation. Bingo receipts have diminished somewhat over the years, but for the past fiscal year, the bingo generated nearly $40,000 for our school. At a time when our total receipts out-distance our total expenditures by only about $10,000, bingo and the other fund-raisers remain essential to our ability to serve our students. While I feel positive and remain vigilant in monitoring our finances, please be mindful that SRIS is only one catastrophic event (replacing an air-conditioning system or a furnace) from seeing our expenses exceed our income.
You have responded to our requests for help, and many times stepped forward in a most generous fashion. For this, we are grateful. I remain convinced however, that the most important action any adult can perform for all children, is to model the behaviors of stewardship and citizenship and leadership that make a society and culture successful. In addition to our service, we must show kids how to successfully navigate the perilous waters of today’s society. We must demonstrate compassion while demanding high standards. We must match our civic responsibilities with personal codes of integrity and evidence God’s presence in our lives. Thank you for demonstrating these qualities so well to our kids.
The future for SRIS should be viewed with cautious optimism. Growth is a good problem but nevertheless a challenge. We must have 21st century space to serve our 21st century students. As you may be aware, the estate of Roy and Marie Newby was very generous to our school. This money was specifically ear-marked for the construction of a new kitchen/cafeteria and the money will be spent for that purpose. I have however, asked the school board to delay this action for the time being, and we have invested that money, holding it in escrow and drawing interest on it at this time. With the current configuration of facilities at our school and church campus (including very limited available parking), it is not prudent to build another building without addressing the problems we currently face. The school board and I have set a two-year window to determine the feasibility of building an entirely new school, with the Newby estate money financing the new kitchen/cafeteria in that new building. We are working with the RBS Design Group in Owensboro and this week viewed a proposed new building and floorplan. You are invited to view this extraordinary proposal on site at SRIS or on our website: srischool.org. This building must be built without any burden to our parents or parishes and will be done in that fashion if it is built. The SRIS school board is currently developing a strategy for this capital building program, and in addition to the proceeds from the Newby estate, we are accumulating money in a capital building fund from the proceeds of un-earmarked donations, a receiving account from the Scrip Office on money not assigned to a specified student, and bequests not assigned to a specific project.
Additionally, we have laid the groundwork toward establishing a SRIS Endowment Fund. This fund operates under the motto: “Respecting our Tradition; Building our Legacy; Guaranteeing our Future”. We have gotten off to a modest yet very important start. We have applied a $10,000 anonymous bequest to establish this fund and have committed to not touch this fund until it has exceeded ($1,000,000) one million dollars and only then, use the interest of this fund for operation of SRIS. We will not aggressively pursue the growth of this Endowment Fund until the new school facility is built and we will not build the new facility until it is paid for. Obviously, we have set our dreams very high and we fully recognize that the new building cannot be built and the endowment cannot be funded by Fall Festivals and chocolate sales. As always, we will welcome any suggestions and thoughts. We may find out that we cannot achieve these goals, but, please do not tell us so!
I hope all of our stakeholders are familiar with the SRIS Scrip Program. It is not just for families of SRIS students. Personally, I find it to be one of the best ways to budget with discipline in today’s economy. If you are not familiar, the Scrip functions to enable you to buy gift cards for virtually everything most families use except utilities. Plan you monthly expenses and buy SRIS Scrip to be used at the grocery, for gas, at Walmart, at every place you want to eat, and use this scrip to pay your bill at those establishments. If you purchase a $100 scrip card to a business, between 5% and 20% remains here yet you still have a $100 scrip card for your purchase. If you have a child of family here, you can assign that 5% - 20% to that specific student. If you do not have someone to assign it to, I urge you to consider assigning it to the SRIS Capital Building Fund. While these proceeds will get us there slowly, we value every single dollar in reaching our building goals.
I could continue on with the many activities we have underway. However, I conclude with my sincerest expressions of gratitude for all so many of you do daily. Seeking no attention and satisfied with knowing that you have made a difference, I am in awe of your unselfish dedication. Pray for our success in meeting our daily responsibilities and achieving our future dreams. May God Bless You.