NUACS receive glowing report

By KEVIN SWEENEY

Journal Editor

NEW ULM -- After a three-day observation visit, New Ulm Area Catholic Schools received a glowing preliminary report on its reaccreditation efforts.

An observation team from the Minnesota Nonpublic School Accrediting Association spent the past three days observing classes, talking to parents and students, reviewing curriculum and procedures, and getting a feel for how the school operates.

The visit capped a two-year process of self-evaluation by NUACS staff, and the formation of a five year plan of improvement. Remarks by the team leader to staff Friday afternoon indicated the team agrees with the schools' self-evaluation, and that the NUACS plan is on the right track.

Team chair Linda Kaiser, who is school consultant for the St. Cloud Diocese, praised the staff for their honesty in the self evaluation. The team agrees with the NUACS evaluation and the plan, she said.

"In the school improvement plan, you have it all right here," she said. "Now you need to move forward with it."

Kaiser cited three strengths she and her team saw in the district.

"First, you have a strong, caring and dedicated teachers and staff, who care about what happens to the students.

"Second, you have partnership with parents. Parents feel engaged with the school, and students feel like part of a family.

"Third, there is a real relationship with God that exists in this community."

"Sure, there are some challenges, but look what you have to work with," she said.

Among the challenges are improving the school system's curriculum. Sr. Sharon Waldoch, elementary and middle school principal for NUACS, explained that the curriculum needs to be better coordinated from kindergarten through 12th grade, and needs some clearer objectives for each grade level.

Kaiser also said the school has some technology issues to deal with to help prepare students better for their futures in education and work.

NUACS also faces a challenge in changes at the top of its administration. NUACS Superintendent Dave Schieffert will be retiring at the end of the June, and the NUACS board of directors is in the process of selecting a new high school principal.

But Kaiser lauded the teachers for what they are accomplishing already, as evidenced by the 8th Grade Basic Skills Test results, and the focus the teachers have on individual students, helping them achieve their best potential.

Sr. Betty Larson, director of Schools for the Diocese of New Ulm, was also a part of the team, and praised the school for "doing your homework."

She challenged the staff to keep the NUACS mission statement and vision statements "viable, living" parts of the school. She said the school is indeed a Catholic school, not just through the outward symbols and regular liturgies, but through the "witness each of you gives" in dealings with each other and students. "The level of respect is tremendous," she said.

The team's final report will be prepared and sent to the school district in a couple of weeks, and Schieffert said the report's recommendations will be incorporated into NUACS's long-range improvement plan.