Director’s Corner - Various Updates

I sit here this morning in awe that we have already been in session for just over a month. It only seems like yesterday that we were hosting “Meet Your Teacher Nights” and orientation programs for 7th and 9th graders at their new school sites. At a recent Leadership Team meeting, the principals talked of how smoothly things were going, even with the significant enrollment increase and the number of new students in each of our schools. What a joy to step into a new and exciting school year on such a positive note. On behalf of all OCS faculty and staff, thank you for sharing your precious ones with us each day and choosing us as your Catholic education partner.

All School Mass

At this point, you have been informed that our All School System Mass will occur on Thursday, September 15th at 10:00 AM in the SportsCenter. It is our hope that you will be able to join us as we gather as a Catholic School System community to thank God for the special partnership between parish, family and school that allows us to work each day to fulfill our Mission and the Mission of the Church. We decided to move this special celebration from Catholic Schools Week to the beginning of the year because of the number of years we have been forced to cancel the Mass due to inclement weather. Again, I hope that you can join us for this important event.

Strategic Planning Process

The charge of the OCS Long Range Planning Committee is to keep its on eye on the future. Realizing that the current Strategic Plan was approved in 200 and in need of updating, the committee began the process of setting the stage for the development and creation of a new Strategic Plan last school year. Working with Dr. Regina Haney of the National Catholic Educational Association as facilitator, the committee met in early June to begin the process of identifying the critical issues and priorities facing Owensboro Catholic Schools as it looks out over the next five years. In October, Dr. Haney will be back in Owensboro to facilitate a Stakeholders’ Retreat where a larger group of OCS leaders will gather to take important next steps in building this most important road map for our future. Following the retreat, small groups will tackle the priorities and help to build sections of the Strategic Plan. It is our intent to have a Strategic Plan for Fr. John Vaughan and the OCS Education Council to review in the spring. I invite you to participate in the process. Your insights and opinions are important as we work to build a dynamic plan that will lead us not only through the next five years but also into the fore see able future. If you would like to serve on one of the subcommittees please contact me via phone at 852-8028 or email at ken.rasp@owensborocatholic.org . I also ask that you keep this process in your prayers.

Bus to Holy Name

Each fall when we visit Holy Name School to talk with the 7th and 8th graders and their parents about OCHS, concerns are raised about transportation between Henderson and Owensboro. The decision was made last spring to move in a direction that would allow us to provide a much different answer to the question. With the start of the 2011-2012 academic year, bus service is now provided both to OCHS in the morning and back to Holy Name School in the afternoon. With this pilot project we hope to eliminate transportation as a concern for those families who are discerning a Catholic School partner for their student and will ultimately choose Owensboro Catholic High School. We are ecstatic that as many as 10 students, one actually from Morganfield, have taken advantage of this new service running each day between Holy Name School in Henderson and Owensboro Catholic High School. Special thanks to Keith Osborne for being not only the point person in pushing this project to completion, but also serving as the bus driver for the first month of school.

Director’s Corner Blog
I have decided to make a bold attempt, really only bold for me, to move into the future. Actually it is truly an attempt to stay current. I am going to begin writing my Director’s Corner as a blog. Utilizing the blog format, my goal is write more often and in a shorter, less formal format. As with this Director’s Corner format, my ultimate goal will be to keep you informed and updated on key issues, priorities and activities. On Friday, thanks to the help of Karen Gross, I set up my blog. Please follow me at http://kenrrasp.blogspot.com. I hope to have my first blog out there later in the week.

I appreciate all you do to help us fulfill our mission of excellence in Catholic faith formation and academics. As always, your comments and insights are important to me. I can be reached via phone at 852-8028 and email at ken.rasp@owensborocatholic.org.

God’s Peace!
Ken R. Rasp
OCS Director