January 31, 2023
To our beloved administration, faculty, students, parents, alumni, priests, and parishioners:
We all enjoyed the extremely well produced SJPII “Holiday Moosical” at the end of 2022 and are
proud of our coaches and student athletes as the basketball and bowling seasons are in full swing.
We are very proud of Katie Tiefenthal, Janet Halicki, and all of our teachers and administration
for their continued hard work, dedication and love for our students.
We are thankful for the companies that have participated in the EITC program as their funding
toward the tuition assistance program has been applied to needy families’ accounts.
On January 27th, George Becker, Janet Halicki, Angela Surano, and Patrick Zoccole
attended the bi-annual meeting at the Catholic School Office in Erie where we presented the
completed Urgent Performance Indicators that we referenced in our last letter to you. This was the
result of many hours of collaboration between the Board of Directors and the school administration
and we cannot thank everyone enough for this effort. The Bishop and the rest of the Members were
thrilled with the progress we have made in just these short eight weeks. It was determined that all
eight urgent indicators have been met or exceeded and our Phase I requirements are complete and
accepted by the Diocese! We have been instructed to release the 2023-2024 school tuition schedule
and proceed with the search and hire of our next school system President. This is truly fantastic
news for all of us!
We now enter Phase II which includes rebuilding the culture, interviewing candidates for the
President, and refining enhancing the school budget for next year. Once a President has been hired,
a Director of Finance and a Director of Advancement will be also be attained. Please note that
until those three key positions have been filled, everyone on the Board is working with the school
administrators in order to prioritize and address all key issues and concerns.
Our main goals right now are to ensure that we keep our Catholic doctrine, teachings, and faith at
the front of the education process. Simultaneously, we must ensure the high academic standard that
our Catholic elementary, middle, and high schools have always represented is enhanced and
supported. Culture change represents a new approach; a team approach among the Board,
Administration, and Catholic School Office in Erie. Culture change represents how our school does
business, how we communicate with one another and how we are viewed in and engaged with the
community. Culture change is the full understanding and appreciation of our local priests’ and
parishioners’’ financial and prayerful support of our System. Culture change within the school
represents how we all are accountable for stability and our success here. Culture change represents
where we are today and where we need to go in the future.
As mentioned in our last communication, we have now hired a firm to replace the roof on the middle
and high school. This work will commence at the end of this school year. Another expenditure that
happened this month is the purchase of upgraded servers. The IT system is currently being installed
and should be complete within the first few weeks of February. Our next communication will include
a broader explanation of the Board Committees and the specific work that each addresses. At that
time, we will
encourage individuals to speak with any board director regarding open positions on the board as
well as on our committees as we want this mission to be one shared by our entire school community!
The board is asking all of you as members of the Catholic family of schools to be ambassadors to
share this letter with everyone you can. We ask you to spread the word and invite others to tour
our school to join our community. We appreciate all that you do, and all your God-given talents and
support you bring to our school.
We are a new school, a new culture, built on history with a solid foundation of Catholic doctrine
with an excellence in academics.
TODAY IS A NEW DAY!
Christo Servire,
Board of Director Co-Chairs,
Angela Surano & Patrick Zoccole