CSSC convocation creates vision for future

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
September 15, 2005

More than 400 people participated in a long-range planning convocation at Bishop Heelan High School on Sept. 9 and 10 to help shape the vision for the future of the Catholic Schools of Sioux City.

Father Patrick Walsh, president of CSSC, in opening comments of the convocation said, "One of the greatest assets of Catholic education according to Father Andrew Greeley is social capital. Social capital is the power of involved people who care about our Catholic schools, who want to make our schools strong and viable. We thank all of you gathered here this morning - you are the social capital of our school."

He told the people that they gathered for the ultimate purpose to enable change that would make the schools more viable in the future.

Bernard DuMond, senior associate with the Institute of School and Parish Development (ISPD), pointed out that he was proud to be the facilitator of this long-range planning process for CSSC.

He reiterated the importance of social capital. Over the course of the two days, he said they were asking for people's insight, creativity as well as their hopes and dreams.

"This development process cannot be successful without the meaningful involvement and engagement of people in our mission and vision," he said. "Nothing happens of real value without people involved."

He pointed out that ISPD uses a 7-I approach to long-range planning - identify, inform, invite, involve, implement, invest and improve.

The convocation represented the involve component of the approach.

"We are involving hundreds of people - our faculty and staff, our administrators, our parents, our board members, our business community, other educational leaders and our pastors," said DuMond.

He explained that this process began last spring when people gathered for meetings to identify concerns relating to 10 areas: spiritual life, faculty and staff, student life, academics, athletics, technology, administration and finance, building and grounds, development and marketing. Fifty-five specific challenges or concerns were identified.

All of the people who attended the convocation broke off into smaller groups to discuss challenges relating directly to one of the 10 areas. To aid in this process, they were given a SWOT analysis that included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats relating to the particular area - marketing, academics and so on.

The task of the people was to discuss and then offer suggestions by way of specific actions to address the challenges. The 10 groups prioritized the challenges relating directly to their areas and one spokesperson from each small group presented the potential plan of action that could help rectify the challenge.

The convocation concluded with participants taking part in a multi-vote process where everyone voted for what they deemed to be priority challenges. The top vote-getter was in the planning area of marketing - how does CSSC maintain and eventually increase student enrollment? Concerns relating to offering competitive salaries, being good financial stewards, creating a community that develops a strong Catholic faith and student character as well as a sense of belonging, ensuring financial security and creating a comprehensive master plan for all CSSC building and grounds were among the priorities with the top votes. All 55 priorities were ranked.

DuMond said prioritizing these challenges was critical to the next step in the process, which is implementation, and it ensured that the people's voices were heard.

Information from the convocation will be referred and then implementation of the strategic solutions will begin as soon as possible. People who participated in the convocation were encouraged to stay involved for the implementation process.

Cris Berger, parent of two students in the system and four graduates, said, "I thought it was very good. It will be interesting to see how it progresses from here. We need to do something - look forward to the future."

She described this long-range process as proactive and liked that it enabled so many voices to be heard. Berger was involved with the planning area of faculty and staff. She found that the discussions brought many different perspectives to the table.

Berger mentioned that the schools mean much to her family. She said tuition is the best check that they write.

Liz Rickert, a parent and employee of CSSC, found the experience to be very positive and thought-provoking.

"I liked it that you could see what was important to other people - the different perspectives," she said. "It was positive for us - parents, staff and other interested parties - to come together to help develop the long-range plan other than having the administration do it all on their own."

Rickert, who was involved in the faculty and staff planning area, was pleased with the turnout.

John Joines, a parent of two students in the system, participated in the marketing planning area.

"This is the most important investment of time that I could have," he stressed. "It is critical that we have strong schools, a strong faith-based community for this generation and the future."

Joines said it appeared to be an effective process that allowed people to continue to focus on the development of a plan and also allowed people to be heard.

"You have to have a plan with the details," he said. "The next step will be coming together to continue the momentum and for implementation."

For Jeanne Hindman, a parent of four in CSSC and two Heelan graduates, pointed out that over the years, she has worked on CSSC committees which addressed marketing, personnel, and this time she was involved with academics.

"There was something 'new' about this convocation. The mood was very positive and hopeful. The parents, teachers and friends of the CSSC who participated in this process witnessed a renewal of energy, enthusiasm and hope for the future of our Catholic schools," she said.

She stressed that as the committees progress toward implementation of their strategies, it will be very important to carry the positive mood and confidence which was generated during the convocation back to the parish communities.

"I do think that by prioritizing the challenges before us, we will be able to create a common vision," said Hindman.

DuMond said the convocation went very well, yielding some new great solutions to the 55 existing challenges. By November, the final plan will be presented that includes the multi-vote results, recommendations from his firm and all the solutions presented at the convocations.

"This is a people-driven process. People need to rise up and get involved," he said.