Getting After It

Oddly enough, I am having trouble finding the time to blog this year.  Despite have two extraordinarily capable principals, my time seems as engaged as ever, just with some different things.  So what follows below is a brief compendium of things I have been thinking about, but haven't had the time to address.

I was proud of the way our student comported themselves at Tuesday's basketball game with Bishop Gorman.  The Gorman student cheering section has watched too many college basketball games and apparently believe they are "the show," when it is the players who ought to be in the spotlight.  While I could go into more detail, check out the article in today's Review-Journal. I am hopeful that no similar article will ever be written about Faith students, but it helps that our administrative team makes its presence so visible.  I love our Crusader Crazies and their enthusiasm, but we will continue to hold them to high standards of decorum which leaves a lot of room to still have fun.

Many people have asked how we are doing in this economy.  So far, things are going okay. Giving is down and that is reflected in a number of ways. A few campaign pledges have had to be cancelled; the annual fund is not as robust as in years past.  Some families have talked to us about changing circumstances that have created financial hardship.  Our goal is to work with those families to keep kids in school whenever possible and certainly until the end of the semester. If you have money for a year-end charitable gift our scholarship fund is a worthy recipient. And despite a bad economy, new student enrollment is running substantially ahead of the pace of last year, so that indicator is positive.

People do want to know about what will happen in the future in terms of tuition. I can tell you that it is going to go up, but we hope to keep the increase to a minimum.  Interest payments alone on the new Chapel/Performing Arts building will add about $78 to each student's cost.  With no raises to the faculty our salaries go up over $62,000 because of step increases built into the schedule.  This adds about $48 a student. Then we have to have some room for inflation, technology, any salary/wage increases.  We are hoping to hold the increase to no more than 4% or another $336.  Tuition will be announced in mid-January.  There is no planned increase in fees.

We are very optimistic that we will launch our 1-to-1 computer initiative in the high school next year. In light of the economy, we will be moving conservatively, but I expect that each 9th grader will get an Apple Macbook as part of their educational equipment.  Freshman classes in subsequent years will get one as they enter high school and in four years, all high school students will have this technology integrated in their classes.  Middle school students will still get access through our mobile cart program.  Those carts will eventually be filled with Macs as well. Look for an official announcement after the 1st of the year.

At tomorrow's staff Christmas gathering PTF will once again hand out gifts gathered from our families. This generosity, especially in the midst of the challenging economic times, is a wondrous gift to those who labor to help students meet their potential.  It is always much appreciated.